Tablets Will Overtake PCs in the Enterprise: 10 Reasons Why

by Don Reisinger

Apple has been making a strong push into the enterprise. The company has discussed the ways in which its iPads can appeal to corporate users, and on every earnings call, tells investors how many major companies are either deploying or testing the slate. And since those figures are only increasing, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if iPad shipments to the enterprise soar in the coming years.

Intel has tried to position its Ultrabook spec as the go-to alternative to tablets. The trouble is that those devices are not nearly as appealing to corporate customers as Intel would have the IT side believe. The computers are expensive, they’re optimized for the hated Windows 8, and they lack the intuitive design of tablets. All of that spells trouble for PCs.

Can anyone truly say that desktops are the future of the enterprise? In the vast majority of companies, desktops are becoming relics of the past, devices that are given to a receptionist before they’re thrown in the garbage. With desktop shipments falling, a key component in enterprise computing is on the downswing.

Although some companies are still deploying new notebooks each year to different groups of employees, in many cases, firms are deciding that it’s best to hold on to the current devices and start delivering tablets to complement the computing experience. After all, investing in notebooks today is costly, and older devices are already running the operating system of choice, Windows 7. What’s more, notebooks are better built than they used to be and are holding up for longer periods of time. All of that is hurting enterprise PC adoption and helping tablets.

The bring-your-own-device craze has swept across the world and turned the enterprise IT paradigm on its head. Now, employees are deciding which products they want to use in the office, and the IT side must allow that. Increasingly, that means employees are bringing tablets into the office. After all, if they’re using devices like the iPad at home, why not bring them into the office?

Windows 8 could be a major reason PCs aren’t seeing strong growth in the enterprise. The IT side is scared to death of Windows 8, due mainly to its new design and steep learning curve. So, rather than risk productivity losses by deploying Windows 8, companies have decided to go with tablets that offer a more intuitive interface and won’t hurt productivity. That trend should continue for the next few years.

Years ago, the IT side decided what products and services the company would use, and that was it. But now, with more people adopting technology in their personal lives, things have changed. Nowadays, the business side is infringing on IT’s territory and telling CIOs and other IT decision makers what products it wants to use. The result: more tablets and fewer PCs.

The IT side loves one thing about tablets that can’t be overlooked: the ability to build proprietary applications for use inside the office. Companies are using software development kits to build programs that solve a problem their employees are facing. And best of all, those programs can be used internally to give them a leg up over competitors. What’s better than that?

One of the nice things about tablets is that they have an ample number of applications available. So, if enterprise users need a new security or productivity application to deploy across the company, it’s as easy as choosing the right app and going from there. While PCs have all kinds of applications available, the ease-of-access for digital applications in the tablet space has yet to be rivaled by PCs. Microsoft has tried to get there with its Windows Store, but more needs to be done to catch up.

Security has always been a major concern for companies. Realizing that, it would only make sense that they’re investing more heavily in tablets than PCs. After all, Windows PCs are still being hit from all sides by malware. With Apple’s iPad, especially, security isn’t nearly as big of a concern. The same is even true with BlackBerry 10. For now, tablets are winning the security game.