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Can you already replace your laptop with an iPad?

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As everyone knows, the future of work is becoming increasingly mobile. The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend has dramatically impacted the way people work. In my “Super Mobile” research last summer, I interviewed physicians, hospital administrators and those in the pharmaceutical industry on the impact of personal mobile devices for workflow, sales and business operations.  Tablets are now even more powerful and ubiquitous.

Organizations struggle to manage and stay ahead of this complicated mobile arena as individuals design their own preferences for workflow and productivity.

How does workflow change in a mobile environment? Can your tablet completely replace a laptop?

I was intrigued by this tweet from Syamant Sandhir, the Business Head for Futurescape. Futurescape is an experience, service design, and implementation company in India.

 

Syamant Sandhir specializes in using technology to drive innovative new services and communication platforms for organizations. He has over 15 years of experience in healthcare, mobility, retail and learning environments. Earlier this year, Syamant conducted a 60-day experiment to see if he could use a tablet device exclusively throughout his workday. He wanted to see how workflow changes in a mobile environment, and also uncover what is still missing in terms of tablet applications.

I actually was sure that I was going to fail in this experiment. I thought I would go back to my normal laptop because I didn’t think it would work.

Surprisingly, Syamant found he could use the iPad successfully for 90 percent of his tasks. Listen to my interview as Syamant shares his experience, and makes recommendations for the iPad apps he found most useful.

 

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/53197583″ params=”auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&color=ff7700″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

 

LESS IS MORE AND SIMPLICITY KEY TO TABLET APPS FOR WORKFLOW

Syamant believes in using a smaller set of highly functional apps for productivity, collaboration, and ideation. He doesn’t have any game apps or specialty to-do apps on his tablet.

The more apps that I had, it was a task in itself to remember what’s there and what I had.

In addition to Apple’s Pages, Keynote and Numbers for iPad, Syamant highlights his favorite iPad apps for work.

 

Initially, the app I used the most is SketchbookPro. People use it for sketching, but I use it to quickly record my ideas. What I normally would record on paper, I was able to do with a stylus. Taking my diary onto the iPad was very interesting for me.

iA Writer is a very nice application that allows me to type very quickly. I have this app on my laptop as well. With iCloud, I have the note I entered on the iPad also available on my laptop.

With Notability, I could take notes. I could sketch, and I could also record the live conversation from a meeting or workshop.

MindNode is a very easy and intuitive application for collecting, organizing and outlining your thoughts and ideas as mind maps.

I like the simplicity of MindNode. I found mindmapping applications with too many features distracting. The features would become more important than what I was actually trying to record, so I went back to MindNode.

The Business Model Generation app is a very impressive app, and not available on the laptop. So that was very nice to have.

Wordflex Touch Dictionary app is a tactile, interactive reference for word lovers in association with the Oxford University Press.

I would recommend taking a look at Wordflex–it’s amazing!

 

PHYSICAL TOOLS

 

ADDING A PHYSICAL KEYBOARD VIA BLUETOOTH

I needed to use a physical keyboard for about 10 percent of the time for my most intense work typing via the iA Writer application.

STYLUS

For the majority of my work, I was typing on the iPad directly and using a stylus consistently.

VGA ADAPTER and DIGITAL AV Adapter

I do a lot of meetings and make presentations, so I ended up buying the VGA Adapter and the HDMI connector. The iPad does very well in these conditions–quick start, get onto the discussion, it gets recorded, you make your notes, and that’s that.

AREAS WHERE IPAD APPS COULD IMPROVE: COLLABORATION TOOLS

The experiment was less successful in relation to collaboration tools. At the time of the experiment earlier this year, Syamant found himself going back to the desktop/laptop most for Google Docs. (See more on the new Google docs for iPad here.) He was happy, however, to have Skype and GoToMeeting collaboration apps available on the iPad, since he used these regularly on the laptop.

 

FINAL ADVICE

One has to look at how one works, and not have too many applications. Also, you are not sitting in one place and working. So when an idea strikes you, you have the option of noting it down quickly, and going back later to flush it out further.

THE CONTINUED METEORIC RISE OF THE iPAD IN HEALTHCARE

Syamant is interested in a more in-depth experiment on the iPad. He is studying mobile trends and the use of iPad applications for healthcare in India.

 

A recent report by Manhattan Research states that iPad use by U.S. doctors has nearly doubled in the past year and adoption is set to continue meteorically. They predict two-thirds of U.S. physicians will be using an iPad professionally by 2013.

 

  • What percentage of your workflow takes place on an iPad or another tablet? 
  • Do you think a tablet can completely replace your laptop in the near future?  Why or why not?
  • What are the go-to tablet apps you have come to depend on in your workflow especially mHealth apps?
  • How is your workflow changing in a mobile environment?
Please share your answers in the comments below.  I am also looking for physicians and others in healthcare who would like to be interviewed on their mobile workflow for a future post. Please add your name to the comments, too!
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HealthIsCool

@HealthIsCool / Angela Dunn writes about the future of health covering tech giants, startups and innovation. Topics of interest include: artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, precision medicine, and other trends. Follow on Twitter at @HealthIsCool.
  • Michaela Endemann

    HI, interesting trial! Just a comment – there is a bmg-template on googledocs
    https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1HiekB5uo1RYKLbr2EFTRM9sDstxBKfxR6XVYNM-iGdY/edit?pli=1

    my workflow is paper an pc dominant but I use a samsung tablet for writing on conferences and for presentations. But there is a never-ending trial of all sorts of apps/workflows to optimise work. Mostly unsatisfied with non-standard file-formats of some apps, but e.g. gtasks works fine 🙂

  • blogbrevity

    Hi Michaela!

    Thank you for adding your valuable comment. Great to have another perspective! I would love to follow up with you on your use of the Samsung tablet for conferences and presentations.

    Angela Dunn
    @blogbrevity

  • Michaela Endemann

    Hi Angela
    as apps I use Jota Text Editor – its simple and saves as .txt so I can easily transfer it to the PC. Mostly direct via USB or sometimes via Wuala. I dont like Dropbox as the data there are not encrypted, only the transfer.For reading txts I use Cool Reader – its fine to read big letters (ok we are not getting younger… 🙂 )

    There are many typos in the original text I write at conferences, but its sometimes easier to read than handwriting in the dark 😉
    @wissit