The arrival of the iPad initiated a phase-change akin to the mini-computer and the mainframe, the PC and the mini-computer, and client/server and host-based computing. “Good tablets” – not the sort that preceded the iPad – are increasingly opening up new ways of working, expanding the means of delivery of both applications and data, and introducing a level of integrated convenience that previously was absent. IT is already pushing back. External (to IT) pressures, however, will ensure that “IT will have to swallow its tablets,” with diverse implications for IT development and operations. Tablet platform acceptance – as with previous evolutions like mainframe to mini-computer or mini-computer to PC – brings out IT’s innate conservatism. Many in IT will resist tablet adoption. As in those earlier technology evolutions, there are plenty of good reasons for IT to push back.
For those in IT or those who have to deal with IT, this report sets out the fundamentals about why IT must not keep trying to “avoid taking its tablets.” Doing so will only cause even greater grief – which will produce greater costs, delays and risks – for all concerned.
The purpose and intent of this Report are to:
- Place tablets in context (both for IT and for wider consumption).
- Illustrate how and why tablets are so attractive.
- Demonstrate that resistance to organizational acceptance will be futile long term.
- Articulate why IT should act now rather than wait.
- Explore what IT can do now.
