Three Surprising Ways for Startups to Utilize Tablets

Many years ago, you might have looked like the savviest techie ever when you pulled out a new laptop computer during a business meeting. But now that laptop might look excessively clunky compared to the latest tablets. And in today’s mobile world, American businesspeople are only as flexible or connected as their tablets allow them to be.

Sure, plenty of people pass their leisure hours gaming or watching videos on their tablets. CMO’s senior and strategic editor Giselle Abramovich describes tablets as a lean-back device, and says that by next year, the “68 percent of U.S. tablet owners who use their devices while watching TV use them to surf the Web.”

Even though tablets are largely used as personal devices, they also provide access to plenty of business applications for fast-moving entrepreneurs in a variety of fields.

Tablet Presentations

With tablets, you never have to worry about forgetting your thumb drive at home. Jonathan Blum of Entrepreneur says that tablets “can be handy for one-on-one demos, but try using a projector for larger groups.” Projectors might cost an extra couple hundred dollars, but, depending on what type of meetings you need it for, the tablet still will be far easier to tote around than a laptop.

Blum also recommends web-based slideshow apps like Prezi and SlideRocket to go beyond the staunch presentations in Powerpoint. And, those apps provide HTML5 presentation capabilities built for the tablet screen.

Mobile Portfolio

Traditional painters and sketch artists can use their tablets like an easel. For instance, the Tayasui Sketches app is the top art app available for tablets, and is “one of the most delightfully simple drawing and painting iPad apps,” according to Creative Bloq. The app comes equipped with several virtual brushes that range from pencils to charcoal tools to classic brushes.

For artists or creative-visual thinkers, there’s a serious benefit to drawing digitally via the tablet. Everything is located in a central location, and you can take everything with you. Because tablets are so mobile, you can take your entire portfolio to present to colleagues or business associates, or you can work on the go. Saving a new piece of art is as simple as creating a JPG file and sharing it electronically.

In addition, the Samsung Galaxy Note has an S pen , which allows users to be more precise than a finger on the touch-screen. This is not only great for artists, but is useful for startup businesspeople who need to jot down quick notes, draw out diagrams or blueprints or even doodle during meetings.

Portable Whiteboard

You never know when ideas will come to mind, and carrying a laptop, notepads and other gear can be cumbersome. Consider using your tablet as your de facto brainstorming device. Apps like Air Sketch and Power Presenter allow you to put sticky notes on everything from documents to websites so you know exactly what you wanted from them.

Furthermore, the app Zamurai works like a virtual whiteboard. Instead of taking a photo of the whiteboard after a meeting that can’t be changed or adjusted, this app enables entrepreneurs to build and capture discussions in real time. Now, it makes that whiteboard interactive and accessible. It’s also a great way to consolidate media from PDFs, slideshows and other materials into a place where you can dissect them as a team.

Kevin Norvell,
Web Project Manager