But it is the dumbest part of your entire content marketing effort.

That brochure or slide deck?

It doesn’t deliver information intelligently. It doesn’t capture or collect data. It doesn’t know where it is, to whom it’s being presented, or what that audience cares about. It is dull, static, linear and obsolete the moment you hit “save.”

Don’t feel bad. American businesses spent over $8 billion on digital printing last year. That ignores the cost to design, distribute, and deride PowerPoint presentations. And the opportunities lost accordingly.

In a world where we obsess over glossy design, email open rates, and social media metrics, marketing collateral – the flag that sales troops carry into battle – is as dumb, disposable, and forgettable as ever.

We see that changing.

With the advent of the iPad, marketing collateral is going from being a “dumb” slideshow or handout to sophisticated software that engages customers, closes the marketing loop and drives sales.

Get ready for smart collateral.

Here’s what to look for:

1) Information Gathering

Apps that gather client information as a part of the sales meeting. Either through a needs assessment questionnaire, video, or even photos – helping the client articulate the problem for which he seeks a solution. It’s a critical part of the sales process and one that’s very hard to train for. Smart collateral can routinize this step – then prompt the rep to showcase the appropriate content (a case study, for example). The information provided by the prospect can be synched to the CRM so the knowledge is institutionalized.

2) Data Collection

The iPad is used primarily as a content delivery device, but it’s equally powerful at data collection. A highly sensitive touch screen, microphone, GPS, and even the accelerometer can be harnessed to gather feedback from the audience. There’s still much to explore, but at a minimum smart collateral can tell us about:

Location – where is your collateral being viewed? In the field, at the office, at home?

Engagement – where are your clients spending their time within the content? We pay $20k/year for tools like Marketo to score leads based on content marketing. The same rigor should be applied to the content used in sales meetings.

Focus – where are your clients touching and interacting in the content? What’s “sticky” and what is getting glossed over? Just as eyeballs and clicks help us optimize landing pages, interactions with the touch screen give us clues as to how people are thinking about the offering.

3) Dynamic, Interactive Content

Keep an eye out for software that forces audiences to engage with the content.  Using interactivity, game dynamics, and non-linear navigation, smart collateral is closer to a journey of discovery than a linear progression. Clients have short attention spans and expect to participate in the learning process. Software that enables this will confer a competitive advantage to any marketer. That the content is kept up-to-date goes without mention.

Smart collateral is very much about using software to weave the sales and marketing effort into your brand’s every touchpoint — not least the moment your sales representatives shakes hands with a buyer.

We want these interactions to be smart, effective, and to deliver measurable ROI.

Don’t you?

The issue? How to make use of the company’s coveted mobile software budget.

The narrative is increasingly familiar. A company buys iPads, deploys them with a file sharing tool (Sharepoint, Dropbox) and then within 6 months starts looking around for software that leverages iPad beyond just showing PDFs and PowerPoints.

The marketing department secures a budget, but the sales team is the actual end user. Each has a distinct viewpoint as to how the money should be used. And most of the time, no one is wrong. Which is the problem.

Having seen this dynamic play out in conference rooms around the country, we’ve developed an opportunity framework to help companies move forward in a way that transcends turf to thoughtfully address the needs of key stakeholders.

1)   Define short and long term success for Marketing

Think about demand generation as a journey that continues through the sales process, to purchase and beyond. It’s understood that you need to communicate differentiators and brand – but how can you use technology to amplify the messaging? Also consider your twin customers – clients and the sales team.

2)   Define short and long term success for Sales

Sell more faster? Yeah, sure. But what about feeling more confident in your meeting? Better conversations where people are interacting with you and the content. Metrics on how long the presentations are lasting and how engaged the customer is. Wow factor. Think about the iPad as a conversation enabler rather than a prescriptive playbook.

3)   Prioritize

Put all of these ambitions on the whiteboard and tier them on a scale of 1-4. Be prepared to compromise but remember that this is the moment to take risks – you’re adopting a relatively new technology. Reward crazy ideas.

4)   Go Shopping

Have a look around and see what products will address these needs within budget. Talk to vendors about their product roadmaps.

5)   Pilot

Establish a time horizon and metrics for success. Roll out 1 or 2 options to a statistically significant sample group of testers.

6)   Measure

Review your success benchmarks. Try to be rigorous, but don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Fit – and as important, future fit – are equal parts art and science.

Using this framework can go a long way toward taking the subjectivity out of evaluating iPad apps for enterprise. Ultimately, sales and marketing share the same end goal. Getting alignment early on can save frustration, time, and money for everyone involved.

What’s been your experience negotiating the priorities of sales and marketing within your organization?

You show up to the pitch 15 minutes early and get started 15 minutes late – all because your laptop won’t connect to the client’s projector or monitor.  You force a smile while Jerry from IT finally makes it work. Momentum and confidence are lost.

As pitches migrate away from static materials presented on a laptop to dynamic, interactive iPad presentations, the stakes only increase.

How, then, can you avoid technical difficulties when delivering an iPad presentation to a group?

By following these three tips, we’ve had a 98% success rate in conference rooms on 5 continents.

1)   Carry a VGA to iPad adapter. Available at the Apple store for $29, this will connect your iPad to any modern projector (overhead or otherwise). Simply plug one end into your iPad and the other into the projector and the tablet screen will appear on the big screen almost immediately. Videos, interactivity, files – they’ll all show up. The scaling and aspect ratio issues that plague laptop-based presentations stop being an issue. Audio requires a separate connection from the client’s sound system into your iPad’s headphone jack. This cable usually lives alongside the VGA cable. If you can’t find it or need the volume turned up, you may need to call Jerry from IT. But it’s reasonable to expect that an audio cable is already installed and available for use. I recommend writing your name on the VGA to iPad adapter and keeping a close eye on it, particularly as you pack up your belongings at the end of a meeting.

2)   Also carry an HDMI to iPad or HMDI to iPad Retina or iPad Mini adapter, depending on which iPad you own. These cost $39 and $49, respectively. One end of the adapter connects to the iPad. The other plugs into an HDMI cable that leads into any modern TV. Once the iPad is connected to the TV, you may need to flip through the television’s input channels until you get the right one. Mirrored on the television, the iPad visuals will really pop. And the audio connects automatically. The variable with this setup is the presence of the HDMI cable. Most companies have the cable,  and it’s reasonable to expect that they do, but if you’re concerned then there’s no harm in asking about this beforehand.

3)   Local caching of your content. Make sure that the content in your presentation will play offline. Connecting to corporate wifi is seldom easy. Connecting with a mobile device tends to be even more annoying owing to security firewalls. This is particularly true for financial institutions. We don’t recommend relying on 3G for an important presentation.

What’s been your experience using your iPad to present to groups?

With new advancements in technology, come new, innovative and creative ways to curate and present materials. Together, the iPad and iPad presentation software such as StoryDesk, are reinventing the way presentations are demonstrated in the financial sector, namely hedge funds. Here are the top ways presenting a pitch book on the iPad can enhance an overall presentation and increase the likelihood of receiving new, and retaining current, investors.

Engaging Interactivity

While a presentation can be beautifully themed and aesthetically pleasing, it doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s static and does little to retain the attention of an audience. Traditionally, a presentation does little to engage a viewer, but presenting on the iPad captivates an audience. Having a presentation on the iPad allows the presenter to tap, slide, zoom, and expose data to facilitate a conversation. Engaged viewers will want to interact with the material, keeping their attention focused on the presentation.

Easy Navigation

One of the biggest frustrations with presenting a powerpoint or keynote presentation, is the fixed order in which a presentation is in. Clicking through dozens of slides to get a specific answer, graph, or screen is a time consuming and cumbersome process. Presenting on the iPad allows you to easily jump between sections and screens in seconds. Quick and easy navigation of a presentation allows for seamless transition, decreasing the length and frequency of unwanted breaks during a presentation.

Native Experience (Unlimited Media)

Presentations are oftentimes limited by the environments in which they are given. For example, not having internet access may prevent one from including extra video or audio in their presentation. The solution to this is having presentations live natively on the iPad. Not having to worry about whether or not you’ll have 3G or Wi-Fi access where you’re presenting guarantees that you can present and share all types of media anywhere and anytime with ease. Having multiple videos, images, audio, pdfs, and other supplemental materials embedded in a presentation, enhances the experience for both the audience and the presenter.

Sharing & Security

Working in a field where most information is confidential and secure, it can be hard to give a presentation. Printouts are a security liability as you have no control over what happens to them after they’re handed out. Storing a presentation on the iPad allows you to easily share and unshare it with both your audience and your colleagues. Control who can edit, read, and save a shared presentation all from the iPad. Advanced security measures can be taken to ‘shut down’ or ‘kill’ an iPad if it becomes lost or stolen to ensure no sensitive data gets leaked or distributed.

With StoryDesk as your choice iPad presentation software, all of these features are readily available and easy to use. By simply transitioning to the iPad, pitch book presentations will become more polished, compelling, and engaging for both the presenter and the audience.

Six months prior, Mark bought 75 iPads and rolled them out to his sales team. On each device he’d installed a file management app for easy access to PDFs and other collateral. Great outcome, right?

Sort of. The reps loved having all their files handy. But at the last sales meeting they kept asking why the app wasn’t “interactive.”

“What do you mean, interactive?” asked Mark.

Unbeknownst to Mark, this conversation actually began over 30 years ago. A young Xerox researcher named Thomas Malone published a paper entitled, “What Makes things Fun to Learn?” In it, Malone explains what makes computer games so captivating, and how these same principles can be applied to teaching.

Today, Malone’s conclusions seem almost banal: when people actively participate in the learning process, they retain more. And while Malone focused on how teachers can make learning addictive, or “intrinsically motivating,” we believe that these same principles apply to sales presentations.

Teachers and salespeople share a similar challenge: in 15 minutes, communicate your message to an audience more concerned about lunch than the material at hand.

In short, you’re competing with a bologna sandwich for your clients’ mindshare.

You’d better show up with more than a PowerPoint.

The breadth of wonderful iPad apps has shown us what’s possible on this device. Whether for travel planning, gaming, or project management, consumers expect to be able to interact with the information on screen. They expect to be able to pinch, spread and tap their way through an experience. It’s fun, addictive, and – wait for it – “intrinsically motivating.”

Which is why Mark’s iPad rollout was flailing.

The sales team, and their clients, expected to interact with the content in ways that would make the presentation fun. Flipping through PowerPoint slides wasn’t cutting it.

Fun doesn’t have to mean gimmicky or juvenile. To Malone, curiosity was a principle driver in making learning addictive. Presenting information in a way that is “novel and suprising” can be as elegant as gestures like:

Tap to reveal content - requiring the client to “open doors” keeps them involved in the presentation, ever curious for what comes next.

Pinch open for video – mixed media woven into the presentation keeps the experience fresh and engaging for the audience, and encourages a lean-forward experience.

Bird’s eye view – a map of your presentation will give the audience a sense of context and help them focus their attention accordingly.

Done well, interactivity helps your sales team explain what makes your offering unique or better.  And it helps your clients internalize this knowledge.

It’s an amplifier of messaging and sales effectiveness. Which is what Mark learned within about 6 weeks of rolling out his company’s new interactive iPad presentation app – his sales reps clocked a 6% rise in bookings, which they attributed directly to the app.

What’s been your experience leveraging iPad interactivity to drive sales?

For this reason, we put together a biased but useful framework to think about the true costs of building and maintaining an iPad app.

Conventional wisdom in IT circles has distilled buy vs. build decision making to one basic question:

Is the contemplated project part of your core offering?

If yes, then the answer is straightforward: put aside this email and go build it yourself. A lightbulb manufacturer should absolutely consider building software required to manufacture lightbulbs. But should it similarly build software to perform other critical functions within the business? For HR benefits administration or printing technology for its brochures or navigation software for its trucks?

The answer, for most businesses, is no. It’s the basis of Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy: do what you’re good at and nothing else. But the reality is a little more nuanced.

At StoryDesk, we well understand the surface appeal of owning software versus subscribing to it.

No one wants yet another monthly bill.

We also have some insight into the true cost of software development. The greatest misconception of app development is that once the software is built and deployed, the development ends.

In fact the opposite is true.

Software lives in a highly dynamic ecosystem wherein users, functionality, hardware, and operating systems come together in web of tremendous complexity and dynamism. As a result, software must constantly be evolved, reinvented, and rebuilt. All those app updates on your iPhone? Each can represent hundreds of development hours and tremendous expense – even if the changes appear trivial. When the first version is delivered the development isn’t over. It’s just beginning. Software is the home remodel project that never ends.

Like it or not, mobile software is an ongoing service rather than a build once and done product.

Given this, the question then becomes: do you want to develop this service capability in house, or would you prefer to partner?

It depends what all this costs, of course.

In truth, doing an apples-to-apples comparison of building your own presentation app versus buying StoryDesk is very difficult.

Here’s why:

StoryDesk has been built over 2 years by a cross-functional team of 15 developers and designers. Our HTML5 content management system, web-to-tablet sync technology, design and usability expertise, and analytics platform represent meaningful technical achievements. Replicating it won’t be easy or cheap, and by the time you’ve done it we’ll have evolved our platform a half-dozen times based on in-market learning.

Okay, fine.

But what if StoryDesk weren’t around? What would it cost to build an interactive presentation app for your team with the ability to centrally manage it?

Here are some rough numbers for version 1:

$25,000 for UI / UX strategy
$30,000 for design
$100,000 for iOS Development
$50,000 for server development
$30,000 for project management
Total: $235,000

Expect it to take about 6 months, start to finish. What you’ll end up with is a fairly basic 20-25 screen presentation app that has some video built in and hopefully some interesting interactivity.

(As a side note, some pharmaceutical companies are spending an average of about $500,000 for apps like this because they’re paying ad agency markups.)

But here’s the worrying bit: To maintain and evolve one interactive presentation app, with one presentation, you’ll need the following staff, either in house or via an agency:

1/4 time project/product manager ($25,000/year, annualized)
1/4 time iOS developer ($30,000/year, annualized)
1/4 time designer ($25,000/year, annualized)
1/4 time back end developer ($30,000/year, annualized)
1/4 time QA ($20,000/year, annualized)

In house, this adds up to $130,000 per year — assuming you’re able to attract and retain these people and can deploy them to other projects in their ¾ time. If these resources are engaged via an agency, expect that figure to be closer to $250,000.

Can an app be built and maintained for less? Yes, of course. There are app developers in basements around the globe who will be happy to take on your enterprise project.

If the direct cost comparison isn’t compelling enough, here are some of the indirect costs you should consider before deciding to build:

Time Cost
Doing it in house will take ~6 months.

StoryDesk can have you in market, learning, and improving within weeks. Our average time from project sign off to rollout is 5 weeks.

Learning Cost
Mistakes are inevitable.

StoryDesk is singularly focused on apps for presentations. We don’t do apps for gluten intolerance, parking space availability, or ill-tempered birds. We’ve rolled out apps in nearly every industry for thousands of users. We know what works and what doesn’t. Outsource the learning cost to us.

Innovation Cost
How will your app get better?

We release new features on a rolling basis, nearly every two weeks. This is part of our core offering, and usually comes at no incremental cost to clients.

Feature Cost
Cutting edge functionality is expensive.

We’re the only platform in the world to have cracked iPad-to-iPad sharing; our analytics platform leads in sophistication and accuracy; our HTML5 CloudEditor is the only system in the world that allows real-time changes to native iPad apps from the iPad itself. We can achieve these technical milestones because our development costs are amortized across thousands of users.

Design Cost
Interaction designers are hard to find and retain.

Our Lead Designer left Apple to join StoryDesk. Interaction design is a discipline distinct from graphic, print, or web design.

Support Cost
Who on your team will be available 24/7 to address the inevitable bug?

StoryDesk is a supported solution. We’re there to address technical glitches as they arise.

Opportunity Cost
App development can be a time suck for project leaders. Prepare to make a million small decisions each with weighty implications. Plan to devote a significant portion of your day to app-related questions and issues.

StoryDesk has already answered these questions.

Technical Debt Cost
New features don’t just get “slotted in.” Often times additive functionality requires significant changes to the software architecture, resulting in delays and technical debt.

StoryDesk’s modular architecture is designed to evolve with your needs. New functionality can be appended incrementally, and without incurring new technical debt.

What’s been your experience? We’d love to hear about it on Twitter.

What’s your approach to designing iPad apps?

Successful app design hinges on the interaction between user and product. The job of the designer is to help the user achieve his/her intended goal with mimimal friction. If I’m successful, the customer gets addicted to the product. The only way to achieve this is by truly understanding the user. So, for me, all app design begins with research. I like to put myself in the mind of the consumer. I want to feel their frustration. Only then can I design a solution.

How does app design differ from web design?

Mobile has unique hardware and user interface constraints. This forces some hard decisions about design. When I’m designing for an iPhone screen, there isn’t really space to include all of the features I might be able to include on a web site. So I reduce the number of available features, focusing the product. This results in a better experience for the user. Too much choice can be really frustrating for people. They want to get in, get what they need, and then get out.

When app design goes wrong, what are the usual reasons?

Often times, people want apps to accomplish multiple tasks. That’s a mistake. An app needs to be focused on one problem. When people try to solve for multiple challenges in a single mobile app, they end up creating software that is hard to build, use, and explain. Keep the product focus tight, and you’re much more likely to deliver software people enjoy using.

What are some of your favorite apps?

Summly is a news reader for the iPhone. It does a great job of using design to distill content. It offers up news in a way that’s consumable in bite-sized pieces.

Amplify, which I designed and built, is a music sharing app that’s going live in a few days. I’m a serious music person, and I wanted to be able to share my playlists with friends. Amplify does this in a really beautiful way.

As the head of IT at a Mid-Atlantic real estate developer, he’d bought 400 iPads for a cross-functional team of architects, project managers, execs, and salespersons. Now he was getting requests to build apps for these various functions. His colleagues wanted software for everything from engineering plans to timesheets to business presentations.

Rory started talking to app developers and discovered that building for iPad is both more expensive and more complicated than he imagined. Tiny icon, it turns out, does not always mean tiny project.  What to do?

Faced with a swelling demand for internal mobile applications, IT directors like Rory are trying to sort through their options for sourcing iPad apps for their teams.

Build it from scratch?

Buy it from the app store?

Rent it (software as a service) from a cloud provider?

In the interest of shared learning, we’ve put together a rough framework to help iPad project leaders decide which route to take.

When it makes sense to buy it in the app store….

-If you can buy it off-the-shelf, then this is a wonderful option. Apps in the app store are cheap, they’ve been vetted by Apple for stability, and more importantly, the general public has usually reviewed the software for all to see;
-If your budget is tight, the app store offers a lot of great software for not a lot of money;
-If you want to experiment with mobile apps in your company, and you’re looking for a proof of concept.

Examples: PDF annotators, travel tools, expense filing tools.

The quantity and quality of enterprise-grade apps available in iTunes is truly astonishing. And they’re cheap. This should be any project leader’s first port-of-call in exploring software options for his or her team.  Pay attention to who is building the software and vet the company before implementing the app. The downside of these low price points is that it’s often hard for developers to continually re-invest in the software. Also, recognize that the developer will build features according to the market need (as he or she perceives it) rather than according to your firm’s priorities. Be prepared to say goodbye to the app if the product heads in the wrong direction.

When it makes sense to engage an agency for a work made for hire…

-If your app will be functionally unique in the marketplace;
-If you don’t foresee changing the content within the app over time;
-If the app needs to pull from a specialized data source (like a trading platform);
-If you have the ability to manage the technology internally;
-If you believe that the lifetime cost of the solution (app + future innovation + maintenance) will be better, faster, and cheaper if done internally or on a work-for-hire basis.

Examples: specialized software for specific company functions, unique technology that confers defensible competitive advantage (algorithms, etc),

Plan on paying somewhere between $50,000-$150,000 to a development firm or interactive agency to build a custom iPad app. This will cover at least $20,000 for design; $150-$200/hour for coding; plus project and account management. You’ll take delivery on app that was built just for you. And you own the code.  (Tip: Be sure to request code documentation). That’s great news in that it gives you the flexibility to work with any developer you want and you’re not tied to a particular service provider. The downside? Significant upfront costs and long-term technology management.

One of the myths of software development is that once it’s been delivered, development stops. The opposite is true. Software lives and breathes. It must constantly be updated. Technology changes. User needs evolve. Glitches surface. So, be prepared to go back to your development shop on an ongoing basis.

When it makes sense to partner with a cloud-based provider…

-If an app’s functionality can be made useful with light customization;
-If the content is dynamic or otherwise requires a connection to external data;
-If you don’t have the capability to manage the technology;
-If significant up-front costs are a concern;
-If speed to market is critical;
-If you believe that the lifetime cost of the solution (app + future innovation + maintenance) will be better, faster, and cheaper if done externally by a specialty provider.

Cloud-based providers (like SalesForce, and StoryDesk, of course) usually offer apps on a monthly subscription basis. Building custom elements on an existing platform can mean the best of all worlds: a bespoke solution, speed to market, scalability, and external technology management.  Up-front customization costs are relatively low; ongoing costs range from $30-$80/month per user. Cloud-based services usually offer a portal for self-service management of the software. This shifts the day-to-day control of the app to someone on your team who needn’t be technically savvy. As important, a cloud-based option gives you access to an innovation pipepline so your software will continually be evolved and upgraded, minus the headaches of in-house technology management.
Service interruption and business continuity are the potential downsides. Find out where your cloud provider is hosted; vet his or her backup planning; and don’t be shy about asking for references. SaaS providers must continually work for your business; if they fail, you have the option of cancelling.

As to Rory? He’s decided to buy, build, and rent – depending on the nature of the software required. It’s sensible strategy that optimizes for internal demand, external expertise, cost efficiency and speed-to-market.

Through various smart phone, tablet and e-reader applications such as Newsstand, publisher specific apps and the Kindle Store (by Amazon), publishers can provide consumers instant access to the publications and titles they adore. The digitization of books, magazines, newspapers and other published content has transformed and continues to transform the publishing industry. Apple’s iPad has far and away remained the frontrunner in the tablet race, and the newly released iPad Mini appears to be following the same trajectory.

The following are tips for those in the publishing industry that are considering using the iPad as a presentation tool:

1) Optimize your content

It is imperative that your content be optimized for the iPad and/or iPad mini. Nothing is worse than content that isn’t optimized for mobile displays. Simply porting your website’s [sometimes complex] design to your app won’t do as the iPad’s form factor isn’t as conducive to such density and convolution. Clear, uncluttered, multimedia-laden app design ultimately results in better engagement, satisfaction and message retention. Publishers have done a remarkable job in the realm of e-books with respect to this. Magazines (the Daily), and newspapers (the New York Times) are also leaders with respect to app design. To reiterate – design is important. Presenting your story on the iPad or other tablets necessitates thoughtful, engaging, interactive design.

2) The iPad as a sales tool

Publishing sales reps who are tasked to sell to an array of accounts including retailers, wholesalers, bookstores, gift stores could benefit greatly from using the iPad as a sales tool. Digitizing sales and marketing collateral with an eye towards design and interactivity within an iPad app can create a compelling presentation that will wow prospective clients. The iPad was designed with content delivery and interactivity at the forefront. Studies have shown that the more engaged customers are, the more likely they are to effectively retain information. Communication, especially message and information retention, is the most important aspect of the sales process. Wielding the iPad as a sales enablement tool can drastically increase the efficacy of your reps’ sales pitch and ultimately lead to increased conversions.

3) Closing the deal + follow up

You’ve spent the last two hours attempting to sell your publishers’ latest release to Barnes & Noble and are on the precipice of closing the deal. If you’re in the type of business where you can take orders and sign deals on-site, then the iPad (with the right app) is uniquely capable of letting you take orders and get a signature on the spot. Send it directly to your sales coordinator. Try doing that on a laptop. Use an app to present, and then let the app be the “leave behind.” Include in your follow up email a link to download your company app. Use that as a communication and sales channel to strengthen ties with to your customer.

Beneath the din of publicity and propaganda, something larger is afoot.

Two years on, the tablet is now a hardware category in its own right.

Multiple players offering meaningfully differentiated products opens up the tablet to the mass market.

Internecine fighting about which tablet will rule misses the point: the whole pie is growing.

Teenagers and executives, hipsters and geriatrics – there’s now a tablet for everyone. Or at least there will be soon. Great software + cheap hardware will change the way we compute.

It’s easy to feel paralyzed by the choices before you.

Do I go iPad or Surface?
Is BYOD smart?
Can we use the iPad mini for work?

It’s a lot to handle. Some think it’s prudent to take a “wait and see” attitude.

We disagree.

If anything, now’s the time to leap forward.

Here’s why:

1) The cost of innovation is declining
The quantity – and quality – of apps for enterprise is increasing. From productivity tools, to social networking apps, to category specific software, there are some wonderful and inexpensive apps for businesses to start experimenting with. $100 goes a long way in the app store.

2) The cost of doing nothing is increasing
Existential questions about tablet adoption in enterprise have been answered. Will you adopt now, and get smart before your competitors? Or wait until someone else moves and then follow on? Within many categories the mantle of leadership on tablets is up for grabs. Go get it.

3) Hardware isn’t a lifelong commitment; it’s a ticket to the party.
It’s important to remember that the replacement cycle on tablets is akin to mobile phones: within 18 months you’ll likely have left it on an airplane, lost it, or be sick of it and ready for a new one. So try not to think too hard about which platform to adopt; you’ll have plenty of opportunities to revisit that decision later on.

What are your thoughts? We’d love to hear them on Twitter.