December 2, 2012
You already know the iPad and other mobile devices can be
extremely helpful for personal use and just plain fun, but can an iPad really
be productive in business? Well, that
depends on what business and job functions we are discussing. Since the release of the iPad, business users
have needed the ability to do more than just read documents. As it stands now we can do a whole lot more
than just read stuff.
For business use of an iPad I strongly recommend that you
add a Bluetooth keyboard and stylus.
These two additional devices will expand your business use capabilities
dramatically. Also, there are apps such
as Air Display that will allow you to use your iPad as a second monitor for
your laptop. The last recommendation on
hardware is that you buy the iPad it’s own data plan and hopefully you have LTE
available in your area. LTE is
significantly faster than 4G.
The key to successful use of an iPad in business revolves
around the job function of the user. If
the user can do his or her job by viewing and editing information then the iPad
has a chance at success. People that
consume or use information are great candidates. For example, a controller can run the
corporate accounting via an RDP (Remote Data Processing) app, such as Citrix or PocketCloud, and get the
information they need beyond email and instant messages including running the
legacy accounting application from the iPad.
Believe it or not, you can run older Windows accounting systems with the
iPad touch control. Of course this
requires some setup on the server side but is very possible. For events where I speak I often show Open
Systems TRAVERSE running on my iPad via PocketCloud Pro (courtesy of Open
Systems, Inc.) And it runs very well.
On the other hand, people that produce information are not
good candidates due to the smaller keyboard, screen, hard drive, and limited
applications in this area. For example,
a tax preparer can easily review tax returns on an iPad, but preparing them on
an iPad even with a RDP tool can be very tedious.
Also, there are some industries that just fit. For example, a large national delivery
company is now fully committed to the iPad Mini because it is a powerful iPad
in a smaller form factor and can be held in one had for signature on package
delivery. The Mini is not expensive or
hard to find if a replacement is needed.
Advantage, iPad Mini.
iPads can also be as secure as you like. With 256 bit AES encryption built into the
hardware all you really need to do is stop using the simple lock code in
General Settings and go for a more secure passcode. You can also use the Apple Configurator, a
utility to manage corporate policy settings, on either a Windows or Mac system then upload the HTML
file to the iPad. This will lock the
iPad and users can only reset back to factory settings if they try to go around
corporate policy. You certainly want to
setup each iPad so that it can be located from iCloud including invoking Erase
Data setting after 10 failed passcode attempts which is located in Settings,
General, Passcode Lock.
No USB port on the iPad?
No problem. You can get data
files from email or data sync applications.
I prefer to use the data sync approach and my preference right now is
Dropbox or ShareFile.
Data Sync apps:
·
Dropbox
·
ShareFile
·
SugarSync
·
Box
You can read, edit, and even sign PDF files easily. In my opinion, all a business iPad user will
need is the free Adobe Reader for normal use and GoodReader for large
documents.
Popular PDF apps:
·
Adobe Reader for iPad
·
GoodReader
·
Penultimate
·
SignMyPad
·
iAnnotate PDF
MS Office documents can be a challenge. Apple’s office tools Keynote, Numbers, and
Pages are not really MS Office compliant.
While Microsoft has announced a version of Office for the iPad it will
not be here until late spring next year.
In the meantime, here are some apps that do work they just
require a bit of learning and setup. If
you need to view, edit, or manage MS Office documents then you need to
investigate this list. The most
impressive one on the list, OnLive Desktop, requires that you upload and
download files via your desktop or laptop to the OnLive Desktop website. You can then edit them with your iPad. You can even pay $5 per month for the Pro
version and get full flash browsing via IE 9.0 on your iPad. Other users combine Dropbox with CloudOn and
they are good to go. One caveat - CloudOn
has a built in auto-save mode so you don’t want to make changes to documents
unless you want to keep the changes.
Popular MS Office apps:
·
SlideShark
·
CloudOn
·
OnLive Desktop
For the CPA in public practice we are starting to see many
iPad apps that will draw information from your practice management, tax prep,
and even client’s QuickBooks data installed on their systems.
CPA firm apps:
·
Mobile CS – Thomson Reuters
·
Practice Intelligence – CCH (access via Atomic
Web browser app)
·
CCH Mobile
·
CCH Tax News
·
Avatax Rates
·
Five Plus (coming in Jan to access QuickBooks
data)
Accounting solutions with mobile apps:
·
Xero
·
Concur
·
Freshbooks
Bottom line, can an iPad replace a laptop? Yes, if all the user needs to do is manage
information such as email, PDF files, MS Office files (review, edit, make small
changes to documents). An iPad is not good
for someone who produces a lot of information.
Instead it is an excellent tool for someone who consumes a lot of
information with small management tasks.
