This article was inspired by MicroStrategy, a business
intelligence software maker,
switching its employees to iPads. I think the real message is that
an iPad is an inexpensive way to improve employee morale, and it might
just save your company money.
Employees like to get laptops. I've seen it at work and heard it
from my wife and friends.
For businesses, a laptop is often seen as a luxury item. The pecking
order is usually management and sales get laptops while the worker bees
have desktop computers. Why? Because these hardworking managers and
salespeople take their work home with them or are on the road.
This creates a cachet that those with laptops are more important. A
simple reality check: Don't management level employees have computers
of their own at home that they could do work on?
I know that my own limit is not lack of a computer - or even a
laptop - to use, but not having the software I need installed at home.
If having a work laptop means I am expected to do work at home, they
can keep the laptop.
Others disagree and swoon over getting a laptop for work.
Since having a Windows laptop is of no importance to me (and
probably many others), what could replace it as a productivity tool and
employee morale boost?
I propose that the iPad is perfect for
that roll. As an added bonus, the iPad is capable of lowering the cost
of technical support for a company.
It is easy to see why computer technical support is a constant
expense for companies. A company's computer support group lives in
terror of some dumb manager downloading and installing a free screen
saver from the Internet.
The first level of problem is the weird conflict it may have on that
person's computer, which might requires several hours of
troubleshooting to resolve. And the worst case is if the free download
happens to have a virus payload that then infects the company network.
The cost to disinfect would to huge.
How does that compare to the closed system of the Apple App Store?
Again, that same dumb manage might install software from the Internet,
but this time the app has been tested and approved by Apple. The
configuration of the hardware and software is limited, so if a conflict
occurs, a reset is just a few minutes of work. Optimally, the manager
could sync and fix the problem without calling support.
Clearly, service costs are going to be lower for an iPad than for a
Windows laptop.
Now the company can afford to trickle down the savings by giving low
level managers iPads, or even giving out iPads based on merit.
Employees will feel better for being recognized, and the company will
save money to boot. 
