Ipad: game changing or a toy?

July 27, 2010 — andrewnim

The Ipad has now been on sale in New Zealand for a few days. And true to form it has sold very well. It is undoubtedly the “must have” item of the decade. But what for?

Well that is actually one of the clever things about the Ipad. Like Twitter it is game changing because it is creating a new type of platform around which people will and are constructing never before thought of usage. We are still working out where exactly the Ipad will sit in our technology use. In some situations it will do very nicely and others not so well.

Some examples:

  • Police use with the right apps loaded yes, great for maps/ reports/rap sheets. Put one in every car and watch them find new  ways to use them. 
  • Same with Customs. 
  • Ambulance crews.
  • Doctors. The communication capability between the two would be great especially with a camera attached (Ipad is lacking in this area).
  • Teachers, a return to the old chalk slates (hence the term is used sometimes for the Ipad) Or the old Roman wax tablets (an idea 2000 years in the making). great for filed trips.
  • The supply chain, dealing with orders.

Notice that these roles all have mobility? I still do not see it as a major tool in the office, at the price it will never be a replacement for a fully fledge laptop or desktop computer. It cannot multitask and is no good for laying out complex documents. The viewable screen becomes too small. Great for meeting notes and brain storming,  not for writing them up.

The price is an issue, I recently bought a 13 inch Mac Book pro. It is with out doubt the best laptop I have ever owned or used. Feather light and easy to carry around it does everything I need. And has far more real capability than an Ipad. For office/ creative use at least.

 

Ignoring the suggestions above, the Ipad will be mainly a device for consuming. News, books, videos the web infect information of many kinds.

A comment I read recently, summed it up: “for me the Ipad has replaced the TV as my means of consuming world events and news” 

Game changing indeed.

Posted in Ideas, Knwoledge, systems. Leave a Comment »

What I want….

April 17, 2010 — andrewnim

Is not always what I need.

I read an article in our local press today which stated that 500 business’ in the Tauranga area have reordered the Ipad from a local Apple retailer. It did not state what type of business’ wanted them or what for. And thats what intrigues me. The ipad is untested and unproven in business. It may well be a great too and a wonderful boon to some types of business. I can envisage great things for web workers and many creatives.  I have had a good look and so far can find no hugely compelling reason for me to switch from a mac book to an Ipad. Which apart from the slate capability has less power, memory and storage than the mac book.

So what is it each of these 500 wish to achieve?  To be honest I doubt they know. They just want one and want to be one of the first to have one. Want not need.

Will the Ipad revolutionize their business? Wil it provide more apps than their Iphone? Will it actually provide an ROI?  For some yes, eventually. But for many it will be a toy and a toy which they will get annoyed with when they realize it does not play flash and that the web according to the Ipad is a bit like swiss cheese; as Steve Rubel playfully put it here in one of his posts about using his Ipad.

Dont get me wrong I want an Ipad too, it would be fun, or the rumoured Google backed Android slate. But do I NEED one right now?

No, I dont need one so I wont be pre ordering one. And I will only buy one when it can be justified as improving my workflow and my income.

Posted in Doing Business, systems. Leave a Comment »

The habits of time

November 10, 2009 — andrewnim

You cannot make more time, only work with what you have. One of the most required skills, but least well taught and practiced, is the best use of time. Prioritizing what needs to be done and when. I tell people “do one thing at a time” then ignore my own advice! It is so easy to get distracted.

But there is a problem which we need to deal with. Its called institutionalized bad habits. It begins when we are sat in a class room with 30 noisy peers and expected to concentrate on boring work while the other people sat at our desk want to talk about last nights TV program. We are not able nor trained to filter that and concentrate. Later as adults we realize all too late that we have a bad habit. We are pulled this way and that, reacting to new information and demands for our attention. There are some disciplines which require this ability. The military for instance. But they spend a lot of time and effort teaching their people how to absorb, analyze and then prioritize. It does not always work so they build systems to deal with it within the chain of command. This is not always possible in civilian organizations, especially small ones where individuals have a wide range of tasks to do.

Prior to the computer it was much easier, the pace of distraction was more limited. But now we have so many means of communication that we are constantly being tapped on the shoulder. Interestingly it is producers of some writting software who have identified this first. Some word processors now have a feature to hide the rest of your desktop. Other apps should follow suite. Working in a browser has become more and more common as more apps we use live in the cloud. Yet it can be our wost enemy as far as time management goes. Firefox created Prism which allows you to create a local instance of a web app. Its greatest feature is that it removes you from the browser and the distraction it affords.

People thought for a long time that gen Y was cool because they can multitask. Yes maybe they can or maybe they are just distracted. Multitasking is a myth. You only do something well when you are concentrating on it. Its called focus. Its essential to create true value and results. So decide when you are available to new information and when you need make time to focus. Turn off the incoming stream and put a sign on the door.

DO NOT DISTURB…..WORKING

Posted in Ideas, systems. 1 Comment »

Choosing a CMS

August 4, 2009 — andrewnim

I was asked for some advice on choosing a CMS and was preparing to write a post about it, when I found this article while looking at the site of a company a friend has moved to. Its one of those occasions when it really is better to pass it on. Why spend time writing when its been said so well here. My Thanks to onlinemarketer.co.nz for writing this great piece and sharing it.

So if you want to know how to choose a CMS follow the link and read on.

Posted in Marketing, systems. Leave a Comment »

Training, Training and Training

July 19, 2009 — andrewnim

I am a technology fan. I love technology. One of my favorite TV programmes as a kid was the  BBC’s Tomorrows World which showcase new tech every week. I enjoy trying new things and finding out what works but strangely I am not addicted to gadgets! I like to try things out and see if they will make a difference, not just get it because it’s the hottest new  item. Maybe this is because for me there has to be a point to the technology, it has to answer a need, or create it. The point’s always the same: does it make my life easier? does it make my work easier?  The new thing may be a great idea, but if it’s  badly implemented it is going to increase my work not decrease it and chances are no amount of training is going to change that.

But if it has been well thought out and implemented the new tech- say a web based accounting package for monitoring your bank account, some training is going to mean you are able to get the maximum use very quickly. My advice to anyone developing an application of this nature is spend at least 25% of the development time ensuring your user -experience is geared towards training simplification and that your training material supports it.

My advice to the user, whether an individual or a company installing a new system, spend at least 25% of the first month of use in training. Many companies often  spend thousands on a software package and not a cent on training, then wonder why they are not attaining the desired ROI. Outlook is a great example of the failure of companies to ensure optimum use of a man tool of the company.

Here is a scenario which is played out in hundreds of companies all over the world: It’s Monday morning and the new employee arrives, straight out of college and eager. They get a desk, they get a computer, they get a login and email via Outlook. They may get asked if they have used it before and about five minutes help logging in and they are off. Well not quite, what’s missing here is that they may know how to use outlook to some degree but do they know how to use it the way the company does? So, now the company has someone who is learning as they go and making mistakes which need correcting by another member of staff who is then taken from their work.

Now think about implementing a company- wide CRM or accouting package and not providing any training, just letting the staff teach themselves. Just how inefficient would that be? Sounds like madness when you see it written down here like this doesn’t it? Yet it happens.  Dont let it happen to you, use good change management techniques. Ensure you understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you are going to do it. Make new technology work for you and remember that your new technology is only going to work as well as the people who are using it.

Posted in Doing Business, people, systems. 2 Comments »