Stop the Noiz

iPads Improve Employee Morale

Frank Fox - 2010.09.14 - Tip Jar

Popularity:

Short link: http://bit.ly/bQg5oh

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.

Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed

Recent Stop the Noiz Columns

Lion and the End of Bootable OS X Installers, 2012.05.23. Mac OS X Lion is only available as an upgrade from Snow Leopard. Is this the end of bootable installers from Apple?
Who Is the Ebook Villain, Apple or Amazon?, 2012.04.19. Amazon.com wants the right to sell ebooks below cost. Apple wants publishers to guarantee it can retail ebooks at the same price.
5 Reasons the iPad Is Not Killing Off PCs, 2012.04.10. Apple designed the iPad to complement your computer, not replace it, which means the iPad has significant limitations.
More in the Stop the Noiz index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Unitron Mac512, introduced 1985. Unauthorized Brazilian clone of the Mac 512K.
May 24 in LEM history: 99: Mac sales up, iMac sales down? - 01: Speeding up digital photography - 02: The Internet, research, and plagiarism - 04: NewerTech TiBook battery - Optical mice from Contour - 06: Power Mac today or Intel tomorrow? - 07: G5: Apple's last fling with PowerPC - G3: From 233 MHz to 1.1 GHz
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay