The introduction of the Apple iPad has been one of the mostly widely anticipated technology introductions since Apple rocked the smart phone market when they announced a full-on attack against Blackberry. Is it a true tablet computer or simply an oversized iPhone? Honestly, after living with my iPad for the last two weeks I’m still not sure.
Regardless of definition I am assured of one critical item – the iPad absolutely has a very real and reasonable place in the enterprise. Earlier today I had a detailed conversation with the Food & Beverage Director for a well established hotel chain and he immediately recognized the value that the iPad could bring to his organization – offering it to solo diners to help them occupy their time, using it to manage their employees while away from his desk, as well as how a concierge could leverage this to provide incremental services of value to guests. He saw this as a strategic business tool rather than an overpriced toy, and realized that it can be a differentiator in the services that are provided.
If there is a role for a role for the iPad in a hotel, there very much is a place for this business tool within the Human Resources function. Imagine a walk-in candidate for a job being handed an iPad and asked to complete an online application or complete a candidate profile in the company’s talent acquisition tool. While a kiosk can be used, the iPad provides a unique way to offer some elegance and portability while at a lower cost than a typical desktop PC. Assuming you have wireless internet available (or a 3G-enabled iPad), you can move the process into a conference room, your waiting area, the cafeteria, etc.
Other specific examples:
- Online training program delivery: providing eLearning delivery while away from a learner’s computer. This allows the learner to step away from the disruptions of the telephone and email while not leaving the premises
- Online benefits enrollment: Many organizations with a large number of hourly workers do not have full internet access or even corporate email addresses. Having access to an iPad in the work environment could help to increase adoption of direct access transactions in an environment where access to computers can be challenging
- On-boarding can be delivered 100% electronically while conducting an in-person indoctrination of sorts
- Exit Interviews – Literally hand a departing employee an iPad and ask them to quickly complete an online survey
These are just a few of countless areas where an iPad can very easily and seamlessly integrate into the enterprise. This technology has the ability to completely alter the way that HR services are delivered to the enterprise.
The question is whether HR is pushing for this change, having this change pushed upon them or resisting the change. How is it at your company and where else do you see impact? Please join the conversation by commenting below.
>> “Literally hand a departing employee an iPad and ask them to quickly complete an online survey.”
1) Then watch them carefully so they don’t walk out the door with it!
2) Or, let them walk out the door with it, and then track them by GPS, so that they do not go work for a competitor!
Otherwise, paper will do…
@ Valdis – LOL. But seriously, a HR professional can hand it to the employee during an exit interview, not literally as they walk out the door. The applications are endless….
Thanks for the comment.
We have an app for both the iPhone and the iPad — http://www.generalmotivationblog.com/new-ipad-application-hr-at-your-fingertips-for-ipad
We released the iPhone in mid-March and we were accepted into the App Store for the iPad in time for its April 3 release. There has not been one day since April 3 that we have not had iPad app sales, and only one day that we have not had an iPad sales. We just submitted an upgrade to our iPad app and it is currently under review.
We all know how much paperwork can be involved with HR – an iPad could go along way to streamlining a few things. Thanks for the insight.
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“Tablet” computers have been around for years and years and yet prior to the iPad they have not gained any significant traction. The Windows development platform is mature and full featured and Windows has supported touch for some time. The CrunchPad, oops I mean JooJoo is now shipping but it’s been tossed to the curb already since the iPad announcement. It looks to me like the iPad is going to succeed where the other tablet computers have failed. What are you seeing in the iPad that looks like Apple has a tablet winner versus all the other tablet losers that have come and gone?
@Mike – While tablet PC’s have been around for awhile, they have been plagued with two key disadvantages: 1) Expensive and 2) clumsy user experiences.
The simplicity of the iPad is the source of its appeal. While it can’t multitask, that shouldn’t be viewed as a negative thing – it’s a limited purpose device. Users can pick it up without any training, it’s the most intuitive computer I’ve ever used.
As for price – $500 USD is hard to beat.
Bryon, in your experience have you found that there are a lot of sites out there that use flash, and that it impacts your user experience while browsing with the device?
I also found it somewhat annoying that, because it runs on the iPhone OS, that it also opens all blogs in their mobile format.
Multitask will come when the next iPhone OS is available, so that doesn’t bother me that much. The lack of flash support and non-expandable memory are significant drawbacks though IMO.
The points you make though, assuming it is a ‘limited purpose device’ are quite valid (although I bet a lot of online learning also leverages flash!)
@Jason – I’ve noticed that there are some sites which are impacted, but many are already transitioning to HTML 5 video which can display properly on the iPad. CNN, Yahoo, MLB, and a variety of other sites have made the switch and many more continue to do so. As we continue to drive towards ubiquitous access, the user experience continues to be refined (simplified?) such that the features that make Flash sites attractive might end up backfiring.
You raise a good point regarding the fact that it is viewed as a mobile OS, which could impact how some websites redirect to mobile versions of their websites. In my experience, this has happened only in limited instances. I have both an iPhone and iPad and find that websites render differently between the two – an indication that the sites have the technical capability of determining the difference (based on OS version perhaps?). Additionally in Google Analytics the two platforms are differentiated.
In some cases the technology has arrived before the need or the ability to absorb its capabilities, but in this case I feel that there is enough of a use case that the lingering limitations can be identified and mitigated in some capacity. It’s not perfect, but it sure sends a message to a newly hired employee about the “cool” factor of a company.
With a million iPads sold in the course of a month, Apple’s iPad is a huge win. Price is reasonable and will drop, making it a perfect portable do-anything platform. I think we’ll see much more of it.
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i am planning to buy an iPad since it looks lighter than a regular desknote and i don not use much of the features of a laptop.`:.