Mobile devices. From tablets like Apple’s (AAPL) iPad, to Smart Phones. (not to mention what other devices may show up tomorrow) There is no debate about this part; these devices have changed how we consume, view, and manage information.
For those of us in business, we need to be reviewing our internal processes to see where these mobile devices could possibly improve user or customer experiences, improve sales processes, or possibly reduce data entry in field service or inspection roles.
In this post titled; The iPad And The SME I wrote that in my opinion, the power of these devices is the ability to go beyond static online web pages, the power to be able to leverage the touch screen motions to move, size, flip, and change the orientation of images, tap fields to open or to modify – all through the application (or app) that can provide true benefits to our businesses. To quote myself on that post;
….Also imagine inspection or field service roles where checklists of tasks have to be performed. Do it on paper and perform data entry into a computer? or open the App and Tap, Tap that each has been checked?
Writing in a post titled; Why apps are not the future, Dave Winer disagrees with me.
The great thing about the web is linking. I don’t care how ugly it looks and how pretty your app is, if I can’t link in and out of your world, it’s not even close to a replacement for the web.
To be fair, Mr. Winer is speaking as a consumer obtaining content from media and news outlets. However to me, linking or not, the static web does not have the power that I see providing the largest benefit in many internal business processes.
As an example, if you manufacture high end furniture, you already know that a retail outlet will be able to carry just one of your fancy sofa’s, they will also have a huge binder of material swatches to demonstrate to potential customers what that sofa would like in different colors or fabrics.
To me, a static web page showing the same swatches is useless – but how about a tablet app that shows that sofa staged in every fabric and pattern – full sized glorious images – expand, flip, rotate…
The SMB Takeaway
These new mobile devices are more than just a technology – they are a paradigm shift that we are only beginning to understand. Considering mobile devices as simply another ‘mini-computer’ to view web pages is to miss this shift.