What Types of Business People can Benefit from a Tablet PC?, Jul 27

After learning that I purchased a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC last month (thanks to Mike at TLC), Bruce Elgort asked me to comment on the types of business people that can benefit from a Tablet. As I've been using my Tablet over the past month, I've been thinking about how to respond. I see five main groupings:

1. Business People that Spend Lots of Time in Meetings ... and need to take notes, sketch out ideas, and capture action points and reminders. A notebook PC on the meeting table does create a physical barrier that is generally unhelpful, whereas lying a Tablet flat on the desk or holding it on your knee provides a way of capturing notes without that barrier. As you move from meeting to meeting, you have a complete history of all your meeting notes with you for ready reference when needed. Collaborative note taking, such as through the use of Microsoft OneNote Shared Sessions, would be particularly useful in the following types of meetings:




• Supplier Negotiation Meetings: Your side can co-create a single version of the truth when interacting with representatives from the supplier, including posing questions that someone else could ask to clarify a point or seek further information. A OneNote Shared Session would provide an invisible collaborative back-channel directly in the meeting room, and enable the coordination of joint action without requiring private verbal exchanges.


• Software Requirements Gathering and Confirmation: You are working with an external software development organization, and you have regular sessions to gather requirements and confirm progress. Whereas each side currently takes their own notes, a OneNote Shared Session would enable both sides to work together on a single version of the truth. The OneNote page could also be projected onto the wall, so that everyone in the meeting could see what was being committed as the conversation proceeded.




2. Business People that use Sketches and Drawings to Communicate ... Product Managers, Designers, Strategists, and even the odd remaining Middle Managers use more than just text to communicate their thoughts. A Tablet enables them to draw directly in the context of what they are working on, and then the ability to seamlessly share that with others. Work doesn't have to be digitized and then sent later; it can be done in context of the actual work and workflow. Mindjet's MindManager X5 is a favorite application of mine (and many others with Tablets) for visual thinking and planning, and Microsoft OneNote enables the intermingling of freeform drawings with text.


3. Business People that Lead Seminars, Courses and Workshops ... have been using notebook PCs and datashows for years, but a Tablet can add greater "humanness" to the leadership of the session. When I presented my 7 Pillars of IT-Enabled Team Productivity Workshop for IT Professionals at CTC 2005 in New York last month I used OneNote to map out the session objectives. These were projected via datashow onto one of the two displays I had for the day. There is a certain clinicalness in typing such material onto a notebook PC, although there is always the option of writing it onto a flipchart or whiteboard. Those latter two are okay, but involve you turning your back to those in the workshop. I've never liked that aspect of using a whiteboard ... and so a Tablet PC connected wirelessly to another notebook that's powering the datashow enables you to keep looking at the people you are working with, or even to walk away from the podium and sit in their midst while they give feedback and provide comments.


4. Business People who Review and Edit Letters, Documents and Other Papers. Does this scenario sound familiar? You get sent a document to review, and the author wants written feedback. You print the document out, take your red pen, and go through it to mark up comments, questions, and points of clarification. You then swivel back to your computer, and transcribe your comments as text into the electronic version before sending it back. Doing the transcription piece takes just as long, if not twice as long, as the original red pen mark up. A Tablet enables you review a document on screen with a "red" pen in hand, and then send it back just like it is. You don't have to transcribe anything into text, and the author gets your feedback in a form that looks natural. If you are reviewing and commenting on 3-4 documents a week the old way, then a Tablet PC will make an immediate and ongoing productivity improvement in your work.


5. Business People that Like to Use a Whiteboard for Communicating and Sharing Information. Building on the seminar and workshop point above, a Tablet can be a replacement for using a whiteboard in a meeting. Get two computers ... a notebook PC to power the datashow, a cross-over cable, and a Tablet PC. Start a OneNote Shared Session, sit around the desk with the others in the meeting, and pass the Tablet to whomever wants to graphically or textually contribute to the meeting. Thoughts are immediately displayed on the wall, and you have been able to remain seated and involved in the give-and-take of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, you already have an electronic edition of the meeting notes that is easy to share with others via a collaborative workspace or email.

In conclusion, I don't think that every business person needs a Tablet PC, but I am firmly of the opinion that adoption will trend upwards in the next 2-3 years. And if Apple releases a Tablet Mac, like I hope it will, then I'm betting that Michael Hyatt will be one of the first on the block to acquire one.

What Do You Think?
Do you use a Tablet PC at work? Do you see promise or peril ahead? Please share your thoughts in a comment below or via an email to me.

Comments

[Mickey Segal]

These 5 types leave out another group that may be as big as all them put together - people who want a computer small enough to put in a jacket pocket but powerful enough to run any software that runs on standard desktop machines. This group is not devoted to pen input per se but is glad to use a pen instead of fiddling with keyboards and other types of pointing devices. This is the group targeted by Microsoft's Ultra Mobile 2007 form factor, most closely approximated today by the Motion Computing LS800. It may take a while to get the hardware and software optimal, but there is a huge potential market there.

[Jean-Francois RUIZ]

If we consider teacher as some kind of business people, i think it would be great to use a tablet pc to keep eye-contact with the students during the sessions. As well, the use of a software like Camtasia could allow to save a copy for the students support.

[Mickey Segal]

These 5 types leave out another group that may be as big as all them put together - people who want a computer small enough to put in a jacket pocket but powerful enough to run any software that runs on standard desktop machines. This group is not devoted to pen input per se but is glad to use a pen instead of fiddling with keyboards and other types of pointing devices. This is the group targeted by Microsoft's Ultra Mobile 2007 form factor, most closely approximated today by the Motion Computing LS800. It may take a while to get the hardware and software optimal, but there is a huge potential market there.

[Steve Hoffman]

Another group would be people that fill out paper forms on a regular basis (Healthcare, Real Estate, Insurance, Government, etc.). Paper forms must be manually rekeyed into the computer. By digitizing the form and entering the data directly onto the Tablet PC, you eliminate this step.

[Michael Sampson]

Mickey ... good point.
Jean-Francois ... yes, agreed. I guess I don't classify a school teacher as a "business" person, but the value they would derive from it would be excellent.
Steve ... filling out forms ... yes, another great area for adoption. Instead of digitizing the form, however, a forms-based application (Microsoft InfoPath, PureEdge, Notes, other) would be better for tick and check-box items, with pen-enabled input for the softer and less repeatable data.

Thanks all for sharing.

[idylld]

>Another group would be people that fill out >paper forms on a regular basis (Healthcare, >Real Estate, Insurance, Government, etc.).

Yes! but especially those who fill out forms in the field, where you can't expect to have a plug or a desk. Such a tablet would have to comparable in weight to a 'box' type clipboard.

I'm surprised that mobile workers in general haven't been mentioned yet.

[Cameron Reilly]

I personally think EVERY laptop user needs to move to a Tablet NOW. Microsoft and partners have done themselves and their customers a major dis-service by focusing on the "forms" aspect. In the six months I've been using a Tablet, I've constantly been amazed at how the pen has impacted on my creativity and productivity. Until you've used a pen instead of a keyboard for a couple of months, you don't really grok the difference but it's real. I haven't asked any neuro-scientists about this, but I'm quite convinced different parts of my brain are activated when I pick up a pen to scribble, doodle, draw diagrams to clarify my thinking, etc. When I type, my brain goes into 100-words-a-minute mode. When I pick up the pen, I take more time but there is a creative aspect that comes into play. Mindmappers know what I'm talking about. The more creative your mindmap is, the better retention you have. And it's hard to be creative with a keyboard.