The debate about the iPad, which sounds like an expensive tampon, about is it a PC minus the keyboard, USB ports etc etc or is really an iPhone which won't fit in your pocket...  is missing the point.

Yes Steve Jobs failed to make the launch visionary  and instead made it a tech fest for Apple afficiados. so yes, many will get bought regardless of the price/functionality.

But what the iPad should have done is started busineses thinking about where they could use a very visual, wifi connected, touch screen device to enable mobile workers to be more productive.

By that I mean BPM applications running on the iPad or equivalents such as Plastic Logic QUE and HP Slate.  Now when I say BPM I do not just mean automation / workflow / form filling applications.  Your local UPS guy has had one of those for ever with a grey LCD screen.

The awesome screen resolution of the iPod Touch / iPhone means that the entire operations manual for the company can be delivered so that workers can follow and understand the combination of manual and automated activities, plus links to the supporting documents, policies, forms, images and systems.

Let’s give an example, which one of our clients was describing to a journalist today.  He is Head of BPM for a global oil company.  His business is strongly regulated; Health and Safety and also SOX. 

 

He has staff on rigs or in refineries that are several miles square.  Operations staff are often out and about taking samples, checking on equipment and maintaining plant.

 

They have a wide range of responsibilities and often come across situations where they need guidance;

 

For example: A leaking pump that may require certain valves to be shut down. The operations manual could describe the sequence of activity supported by photographs, a link to the maintenance intranet page to report the fault, and the PDF with the pump schematic and the different maintenance fault codes.  The alternative would be make a note and then decipher the handwriting, possible soaking wet after a 10 min walk across the windswept Aberdeen site in northern Scotland.

Alternatively senior management are rarely at their desks, but need to make decisions, authorise actions and support staff.  Their iPod Touch  /  iPhone could be loaded with their process-related walkthroughs:

-    The budgeting cycle with guidance, hints and tips and links to the correct screens in the budgeting application

-    The HR review process with links to useful training videos which can be watched on the train into work prior to conducting the review meetings. Or equally valuable, guidance on interview best practice or the redundancy process.

-    How about processes which are disposable, relating to a specific event?  The step by step process for a 2 day conference or analyst/press roadshow, complete with links to the briefing documents, media clips or webpages at the relevant step. Or maybe the detailed step by step process for an M&A transaction.

 

So where does this information come from?  A centrally managed process repository. It consists of a governed process map made up of a hierarch y of thousands of diagrams.  Process related documentation; policies, work instructions, screenshots, links to systems, metrics, dashboards.

 

And also role-based end to end flows – guided walkthroughs – which we call Storyboards or Playbooks.
All this information can be accesses directly through the web or synchronised with a PC desktop player or onto a mobile device .
Is this the future.  Were we waiting for the iPad to make this possible?  Absolutely not.

 

Nimbus Control BPM software has been managing the enterprise process repositories for major blue-chip clients for over 10 years, and as a Cloud based app for 4years.

We’ve just launched Nimbus Control for the iPhone (and I assume for the iPad once we get our hands on one to test) to enable end users to get away from their desks and still be confident they are doing the right things the right way.