StoryDesk

Report from the TabTimes Conference

Last week the folks from TabTimes put on an excellent conference around tablet use in the enterprise. The event drew a motley crew of software providers, tablet manufacturers, IT professionals, and a few end user companies.  The event set the table for discussions about implementation, security, and duopolies.

Suffice it to say that no conclusions were reached in the course of the day. If anything, I’d argue that if anything the panel discussions put fear in the heart of end user companies. Questions about security, competing platforms, and MDM overshadowed discussions about how tablets and software can create value for enterprise. Indeed, apps were conspicuous in their absence from the conference. This wasn’t a coincidence – clearly security, MDM, and Microsoft are top of mind for enterprise at the moment.

With that, if you weren’t able to make the conference here’s what you missed:

-       Alan Masarek from QuickOffice believes that Microsoft is too late to the tablet party, and it will spend heavily to acquire a minority share in the market. I challenge Alan to consider the case of PlayStation vs. Xbox before discounting Microsoft’s ability to arrive late to a category, apply it’s formidable market power, and then make an absolute killing.

-       Kevin Hart from Tekserve made the very astute point that businesses should have some sort of a plan before rolling out tablets. It sounds obvious – because it is – but it’s nevertheless a maxim widely ignored to the detriment and expense of enterprise.

-       Todd Barr from Alfresco took aim at traditional meetings and PowerPoint (albeit using PPT for his presentation) – correctly noting that creativity, spontaneity and all things good for business are generally strangled by the cold dead hand of a static slidehow. He’s completely right.

-       Chris Yeh from Box asked enterprise to consider the end user as the starting point for innovation and then worry about the implementation challenges later. I couldn’t agree more. Box is doing some really interesting work in the tablet space, and I look forward to seeing how their role evolves over the next 12 months.

-       Adam Bookman from Propelics gave us a window to some really smart thinking about using scenarios – rather than just simple transactions – to think about app design and development. It’s a human-centric approach which makes a lot of sense, and generally distinguishes an app that creates new value from one which simply shifts it from one platform to another.

Overall, an exciting an informative day in a category that is really just finding its feet. Kind thanks to Patrick, George, Steve, David, Pia, and Rick for making it happen.