iPad in the Enterprise: 3 Big Worries Remain
While employees join the iPad 2 party, IT worries about the hangover. Here's a look at the three biggest concerns.
CIO — Like a sucker punch, the iPad's popularity has taken the enterprise by surprise. Forrester Research (FORR) analyst Ted Schadler recently held a teleconference with 241 IT pros to talk about the impact the iPad and other tablets may have on their organizations.
Did they have questions? You bet.
Of the 15 million iPads on the street, Forrester figures half make their way to work. Forrester released results of a survey of 2,300 IT executives last week that shows one out of four companies using or planning to use tablets.
These figures are sure to rise given the hugely successful iPad 2 debut earlier this month. Demand continues to outstrip supply, with Apple (AAPL) stores selling out of their daily iPad shipments within an hour. Global rollout this week has been impressive, too.
There's no question iPad productivity apps are gaining momentum, such as QuickOffice, DocuSign, SoundNote and Salesforce Chatter. One company plans to upgrade senior executives to the iPad 2 so they can leverage a new feature on the device: high-def video projector mirroring output.
The enterprise embrace of the iPad has happened quickly, even surprising Apple. "I've never seen an adoption rate on the enterprise side like this in my life," said Apple COO Tim Cook late last year, well before the iPad 2 hit the market.
Such fast enterprise adoption—a trend largely driven by employees—often leaves companies feeling more than a little panicked. Here are three pressing questions about the iPad, based on Forrester's research:
What's the business benefit?
Let's face it: Making an ROI (return on investment) case for a major iPad spend could be a tough job for a CIO. Even Forrester's Shadler admits the business benefits are "still materializing." But there are signs that the iPad does improve productivity, especially in areas where perception matters—board meetings, sales presentations, and field service engagements.
"We have heard this from almost every major company: It makes you and your IT organization look great when you can give your C-level staff and board of directors an iPad instead of handing them a 400-page binder," writes Schadler in a research note.
At Conceptus, a Silicon Valley medical device manufacturer, nearly every executive (as well as salespeople) has an iPad. One top executive rarely touches the iPad, while the head of legal uses it every day. She always brings the iPad to meetings where she's often asked a legal question. Rather than sift through reams of paper notes, she quickly finds answers on the iPad.
