Tablets in business: Missing the boat on b2b?
More to think about
The tablet is going to completely transform standard b2b situations, but it appears that many businesses will miss the boat. The future winners in this game already understand that printed materials and flip charts are going the way of the abacus.
The time is ripe for getting a head start on the competition. In a world of marketing brochures and product catalogue presentations, you can instead bring your entire factory, every item in your product range, and every member of your company’s staff to a sales call – in a tablet.
Same game, new playing field
It’s a familiar game with familiar rules, but the playing field just changed radically.
Armed with a tablet, sales representatives go into a sales call with a multifunctional arsenal of tools in a handheld device. And this playing field is vastly more interactive – invite your clients to actually touch and manipulate your products, split them into components, rotate each element and then show them a price quote calculation on the spot. Questions or comments? Hold an impromptu video conference with engineers and designers anywhere in the world.
The rules are changing, the playing field is changing, and the battle is changing – make sure you have a gun for the gunfight.
At the intersection of innovation and perfect timing
The range and potential of applications that you can develop for customers is virtually limitless. At this early stage of the tablet, it’s still likely that new ideas and concepts will surprisingly and rapidly launch a handful of companies to sweeping success.
Innovation becomes even more priceless when combined with the right timing, and this intersection is exactly where we stand with the tablet.
Benefits of use = added value
The first stage of tablets was focused on technological features. However, the true added value will be found by those who understand how to unleash innovation that translates to benefits of use. Imagine, for example, a real estate agent showing a house to potential buyers and decorating the rooms with furniture, calculating prices, interest rates, exploring the neighbourhood schools, etc.
The natural difference
You may be thinking that you could do all of these things with a laptop computer, which is true. So why don’t you? The answer is likely NUI – Natural User Interface.
Tablets replace the Graphic in GUI with Natural, transforming the user experience into an intuitive and open form of interaction where clients get involved and begin developing a sense of ownership at a very early stage of the sales process. The tablet takes these activities from accessible to natural.
The time is now
This window of opportunity is wide open and very real, but speed is of the essence. In addition to effective new tools and applications, the first movers will enjoy lucrative competitive advantages. In short, the value added by pursuing such opportunities is significantly greater today than it will be tomorrow.
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