The Tablet PC has been all the rage in recent years, prompting Mobile Enterprise magazine to call 2011 "the year of the tablet." As tablets become more standard in the consumer market, enterprises start looking to adopt them in their own day-to-day operations.
However, business needs are very different from consumer needs. They must perform more specialized tasks, track and collect more data, and use devices that can withstand more wear and tear than consumer-grade devices can generally take. In short, companies want a mobile computing solutions with maximum uptime to guarantee productivity. For these reasons many companies have shifted their focus away from consumer-grade devices and toward the enterprise-class Rugged Tablet PC.
Who's Using Rugged Tablet PC Systems?
Just as tablets have become indispensable to consumers, rugged tablets are becoming more integral to business.
At first, Rugged Tablet PC systems were used by the military, where they had to be able to withstand very hostile environmental conditions. But over time, they've found uses in a number of other industries, including:
Meanwhile, new studies show that tablets and other handheld devices are now outselling laptops 2-to-1. With such widespread adoption, many companies are likely to find that rugged tablets make business more efficient, seamless, and ultimately more cost-effective.
When Should I Start Using Rugged Tablet PCs?
Rugged tablets are ideal for companies that typically deploy laptops to their field workers, or those that issues PDAs and other handheld devices to their mobile workforce. Other companies find that rugged devices are especially useful for their warehouse operations.
But not everyone is immediately sold on rugged tablets. A lot of people still don't know if their features and benefits justify the up-front cost. Answers to a few key questions can help them decide:
- Is the device
exposed to water and shock?
- Is it likely to be dropped?
- Does the user travel often, or work off-site?
- Will it have to work in extreme temperatures?
- Does it need a long battery life?
- What functions does it need to perform?
- Will it be used during most of the workday?
If the answer to most or all of these questions is yes, then a rugged device is not only useful, but essential for doing business.
What Does the Rugged Tablet PC Offer?
In a nutshell, rugged tablets combine the portability of handheld devices with the functionality of laptops. They're lighter and more compact than traditional laptops, but unlike PDAs, they have a full Windows 7 operating system, which allows workers to access standard vertical application software and perform standard office tasks on the road.
Three things in particular make the rugged tablet ideal for enterprise use:
1. Durability
In industries like construction and field services, workers are out of the office more often than they're in it. They need devices that can work in the field, in transit, and in any type of climate. Plus, their tablets have to continue working even if they've been dropped or something is spilled on them.
Rugged Tablet PCs are built to withstand conditions that would degrade most non-rugged devices. They meet a variety of military-grade standards based on how well they perform in even the harshest conditions, like:
- Extreme heat or cold
- Dust
- Rain or ice
- Shock
A lot of this durability comes from a sturdy magnesium casing that's 20 times stronger than plastic casing.
In addition to being more durable, rugged devices are also easy to handle. Smaller rugged tablets can be as small as 8.8 inches wide and weight anywhere from 2.5 to 4.5 pounds. Larger devices are up to 12 inches wide and weight 3.5 to 6 pounds. At those sizes, users have no trouble bringing rugged devices into any environment.
2. Performance
The durability of Rugged Tablet PCs directly impacts their performance and makes workers more productive.
Since they can operate in the most extreme condition, they shut down and crash far less often than non-rugged devices. According to VDC Research, the failure rate of rugged tablets is 8.5% versus 16.7% for commercial (non-rugged) devices. The result is more productivity and less downtime.
Long battery life plays a big part in this performance. Hot swappable batteries can keep tablet PCs running longer than commercial-device batteries, so workers can perform multiple tasks, longer, without losing power. Adapters also make it possible to recharge in the car. And since tablet batteries are as tough as the tablets themselves, they keep going even in the harshest conditions.
Finally, rugged tablets are already pretty powerful with Windows installed, but they can also be configured to perform even more tasks with features and optional accessories such as:
Bar code scanners- RFID readers
- Credit and smart card readers
- Cameras
- GOBI, Bluetooth and WAN radios
- GPS
Rugged devices can also use the same software and applications found in the enterprise, giving remote workers the same functionality as their office colleagues.
3. Total Cost of Ownership
Businesses can be put off by the up-front cost of a rugged tablet PC, which can be hundreds more than a consumer-grade non-rugged PC. But once the device is out in the field, the long-term cost savings become abundantly clear.
The total cost of ownership (TCO) of a device is a lot more than the acquisition cost. It also includes:
IT and support costs- Training and operational costs
- Lost productivity costs
- Upgrade and replacement costs
When you consider these costs rugged tablets are clearly a better investment for use by mobile workers in typical field business environments.
A broken device can cost up to 41% of the TCO. When an office device breaks down, the user can find another workstation. But field workers don't have this option, so when their devices break, they're immediately rendered unproductive. VDC Research says this downtime can last 50 to 80 minutes per failure.
When that happens, time and money are wasted trying to fix or replace the device, and customer confidence erodes. But on a rugged device, business goes on. Revenue comes in, tech support can focus on other issues, and the Rugged Tablet PC remains intact and viable.
As a result of cost savings on the back end, the TCO of a rugged tablet comes to $2814, versus $6598 for a non-rugged device. Over five years, that difference widens to $14,071 versus $34,788.
In other words, a consumer-grade device costs 2.5 times more to maintain and operate than a rugged device.
Business happens anywhere and everywhere, so business devices need to work in any situation. Rugged Tablet PCs deliver the reliability, performance, and cost savings that make remote workers more productive, no matter where they are or what they're doing.
If you would like additional information on Rugged Tablet PCs or would like to discuss your mobile computing productivity needs, let us know.
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