Today FileMaker released the results of a study concerning mobile applications and the new definition of “mobile worker”. With millions of deployments, including more than 500,000 downloads of FileMaker Go, a free app for accessing FileMaker databases from iPad and iPhone – surveyed customers included almost 500 who have deployed FileMaker solutions on iOS devices.

“The next wave of business mobility, fueled by iPad and iPhone-equipped ‘productivity warriors,’ is delivering real ROI by automating processes in the building and on the company campus,” said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president of marketing and services for FileMaker, Inc. “Of course we see many traditional road warriors using FileMaker, but we were surprised to find how much use was actually occurring inside the building. We were also impressed at how frequently businesses are replacing paper-based processes with iPads and iPhones, thus automating areas of their business not practical before.”

Actually, this is not surprising [to me] at all. I wrote in depth about this exact idea here (in 2010), and here (in 2011), and in my 2011 white paper (Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization).

In the white paper, Donald Farmer, former business intelligence visionary At Microsoft and currently product evangelist at mobile business intelligence company QlikTech, had this to say about mobile workers.

“… you don’t have to be a mobile worker to need mobility.”

Donald Farmer is not alone in this assertion; the definition of mobile worker has been transformed in the last decade.

Mobile employees are found in the company cafeteria eating lunch while reviewing performance data, in the hallway having an impromptu sales conversation, and in conference rooms two doors down, or across town, or in a different country. The geo-location of a worker has no relationship to the definition of mobile work. At no other time in the history of computing has the availability of truly portable and highly useful personal computing devices been pervasively available and at relatively low cost. Predictably, the definition of “mobile worker” has changed because the nature of modern mobile devices has changed. Advanced software solutions designed to enhance the new freedom that mobile devices offer, will rapidly transform the nature of work and where it can be accomplished.

The Always-On Employee

Today, nearly every worker is a mobile worker. Some are more mobile than others. But all workers can benefit from the increased agility of doing work-related stuff in any geo-context. Organizations expect it’s employees to be always-on. As invasive as this sounds, most workers would rather have it that way. Employees want to be in touch; they want to be in-the-loop, and they typically regard other employees who aren’t immediately accessible, as a hinderance to the overall ability to get stuff done.

The data in this InfoGraphic and the survey results confirms my earlier assertions – the difinition of mobility has little to do with where your workforce gets the job done.

Given today’s mobile and presentation broadcast technology, meeting planners and presenters in all capacities of business should consider shutting down the projector for good. Here’s why. 

Since the dawn of mobile computing, roughly speaking the mid 80’s, the presence of computers in the conference room is fundamentally viewed by business leaders as a distraction. For the better part of the last 15 years, attendees have shown up with laptops eagerly seeking the best location to reach a nearby power source, or to position the screen so that the seeming appearance of meeting-related work could performed while working on tasks that were perceived as more important.

A conference room with laptops encircling the table, subliminally represents a digital wall separating the participants from each other and worse, from the presenter. Perhaps unintentionally, laptop screens mimic a defensive posture not unlike folding your arms; certainly not an ideal environment creating understanding and compelling people to take action.

In 2005 the devices began to downsize as feature phones evolved, and email emerged in more functional mobile user interfaces. When iPhone appeared in 2007 and unexpectedly penetrated deep into the enterprise, especially among managers and executives, the presence of laptops on the conference table began to wane; meeting-goers now had a wholly new form of distractive eye-candy. One that could go anywhere, magically traverse the corporate network, run for ten hours without a power source, and all while enabling attendees to discretely carry on “business” affairs.

The emergence of the smart phone and its computing capabilities on par or exceeding laptops, made it clear that the mobile device was not going to be checked at the door like firearms at a poker game. High resolution cameras, integrated voice recording, and even immature note-taking apps signaled a new era in [potential] meeting productivity.

Capturing the content of a meeting was now possible without ever touching a writing instrument. Digital snapshots of whiteboards, texting outward to a team – these were the early behaviors of what has now become a billion dollar industry segment – mobile apps that transform devices of all sizes into bona-fide tools that accelerate meeting productivity – for planning, facilitating, and attending business gatherings of all types.

Until recently, the only “legitimate” computing tools in meeting spaces have been those that are tasked with displaying PowerPoint slides, typically using a projector with a screen. And despite the tsunami of opportunities that mobile computing has unleashed in the meeting and presentation segment, the presence of other computing devices are still seen in many organizations as detractors from the core focus of a meeting and the expectations of the presenter.

The presenter wants you looking up, not down.

Indeed, corporate meeting policies and unwritten customs range from a polite nudge (i.e., silence the smart phone), to an all-out ban on anything that has a screen. In some companies you have a better chance of playing Angry Birds on an iPad during takeoff than tapping out a few notes during a market strategy session with the CEO.

These policies were not unreasonable when screens came with a large comfortable keyboard. Given the opportunity, people cannot resist watching their screens and multi-tasking during a less-than-intriguing slideshow with an endless supply of bullets.

But times have changed. We work in an ever-accelerating business climate. Our employers expect us to be always-on. Our colleagues and staff need attention and guidance with Ferrari-like precision and speed. Our families expect us to be ready to communicate whenever we’re awake. And not by coincidence, our mobile devices are ready and able to perform precisely the magic act we require in this climate.

Given today’s mobile and presentation broadcast technology, meeting planners and presenters in all capacities of business should consider shutting down the projector for good.

If you want the full attention of your audience, consider placing the presentation content into their hands. Remove the opportunity to multi-task. Eliminate the distraction; transform the participant’s device into a visual communication channel.

John Windsor, founder and CEO of Creating Thunder, makers of Peak Meetings, an iPad app designed to help plan and facilitate faster, more productive meetings, notes that,

“… the momentum [in business meeting culture] is definitely toward putting the meeting content in people’s hands, and that is a very good thing. It can make the data more personal and, hopefully, better invest the results across everyone in the group.”

When participants are provided direct access to meeting content, they not only feel more empowered and trusted, they are more empowered. They can organize their thoughts better and they can shape dialogue with greater confidence.

There’s a natural tendency to look at things close to you, especially things you may be holding. Allow your guests to immerse themselves in your message by enabling them to cradle your presentation content.

Instead of fighting for attention, convey your message at a personal level; directly into the hands of your meeting guests. Disarming this conflict is relatively straight-forward.

In stark contrast to generally accepted presentation practices, companies should encourage the use of mobile devices in meetings, not fear them.

Two Apps That Facilitate Meetings and Captivate Audiences

There are two apps that provide breakthrough performance for companies that want to embrace the new success factors of meetings and presentations in this decade. One focuses like a laser on the planning, management, and facilitation process; the other is keenly designed to leverage existing presentation assets while providing a multi-faceted approach for conveying presentation content.

Peak Meetings

There are so many meeting planner apps available for iPad, but only one stands out as a vehicle for creating seamless connectedness between your company’s strategic plans and execution.

Peak Meetings, by Creating Thunder, has hit on an idea that blends the importance of meeting content with the meeting management process.

It’s obvious that the designer of Peak Meetings has really stepped outside the traditional scope of the definition of “meeting”. They’ve taken great liberty to innovate on the essential responsibilities of meeting planning and created a much broader concept that redefines what it means to create successful meeting outcomes.

In Peak Meetings, the envelope has been opened so widely that the mere process of setting up a meeting invites you to justify it in the context of tactical and strategic objectives. This app doesn’t make it easy for you to take the latitude of calling a meeting without expressing merit, conditions, and outcomes that everyone must be aware of.

If your company can agree that this app is the framework for planning and managing meetings, a natural success pattern starts to emerge and a knowledge base reflecting intimate planning and execution details, begins to unfold. One must wonder if the app designer considered the inherent relationship between meeting content and the bigger scope of enterprise knowledge management, deep collaboration, and sustainable collaborative processes.

John Windsor, the founder and Peak Meetings and the app designer is extremely vocal about the strategic advantage meetings may provide if they are more structured.

“There should be structure and guidance about how to get through meetings more effectively.”

No one will argue that businesses hold meetings far too often that last far too long. And yet, few of them can actually be mapped to key performance metrics, let alone strategic plans.

It seems as though businesses, large and small, suffer from a chronic disconnect between the many elements of a vision, and the implementation steps necessary to achieve those visions and which are generally discussed in meetings. Mr. Windsor believes the glue that binds vision with implementation steps lay in the meeting planning and management arena.

Institutionalizing a process that creates a tightly bonded relationship between meetings and plans is likely to pay big dividends.

SlideShark

No other app and service comes better prepared to transform the culture of business meetings and presentations than SlideShark. And with the newly announced SlideShark Broadcasting, the combination of seamless integration with PowerPoint assets, a flawless mobile implementation, and direct-to-attendee content conveyance has pushed the science of presentations to new heights.

While SlideShark for iPad is ideal for untethered presentations in a conference room or one-on-one for sales meetings, iPhone is at the nexus for the next frontier of enterprise presentations. SlideShark for iPhone elevates the rich abundance of PowerPoint presentation assets to provide ultra-lightweight presentation options that are available in an instant, and capable of performing well under any lighting and environmental conditions.

By daisy-chaining three simple technologies – iOS computing devices, Airplay-enabled display devices, and SlideShark – businesses are able to transform presentations and meetings, and all while addressing the lofty expectations of participants. And the icing on the cake – SlideShark for iPad is by far, the most effective presentation dashboard for presenters. It’s rare that user interfaces are modeled to meet both presenter and attendee requirements with such precision and grace.

The launch of SlideShark Broadcasting opens the floodgates for new and innovative use of iPad and iPhone as presentation solutions. With Broadcasting, meeting facilitators and presenters can invite others to view their presentation as it’s being delivered live. Participants, whether across the table or across the globe, can see the presentation on any Internet-connected computer, tablet or smartphone – viewing slides as they’re advanced, animations as they unfold, as well as drawings and annotations as made by the presenter.

Imagine “mobilized classrooms” for training. How many companies hold training sessions indoors or in digitally-outfitted classrooms because it’s [currently] impractical to hold them in more suitable and relevant location contexts? Imagine presenting from an iPad to a group of manufacturing quality control engineers as they move around the manufacturing floor. This is not a new idea but it is one that is made newly possible; an innovative alchemy of training plus mobile plus broadcast location context.

If presentations can be unhinged from projectors and meeting rooms, the very definition of a meeting is transformed into anytime, anyplace learning and collaboration.

It’s already difficult for presenters to compete with distractions; mobile computing devices are the most egregious. Brainshark CMO Andy Zimmerman sums it up in this way.

“As a presenter, it can be frustrating when your audience comes to a meeting equipped with their own mobile devices, and you find yourself competing for the audience’s attention.”

The idea of empowering the audience while mitigating the distraction factors; indeed leveraging the very devices that have here-to-fore created the greatest potential for presentation continuity, is a compelling value proposition that SlideShark Broadcasting provides. Mr. Zimmerman suggests that the value proposition may actually change the dynamics of a meeting.

“Our latest technology advancement presents an opportunity to capitalize on the ubiquity of mobile devices and change your perspective. With SlideShark’s new broadcasting capability, you won’t mind meeting participants looking down at their devices to view your presentation up close and in real-time on their device at hand, while you continue to control the slides. This can completely change the dynamics of the meeting and, most importantly, your impact!”

SlideShark has reached a pinnacle in the meeting and presentation segment by carefully positioning its solution at the intersection of mobile computing and the personal conveyance of knowledge. Indeed, Broadcasting makes it possible to turn off the projector, focus on individuals, and expand meeting collaboration. In concert with Peak Meetings or simply in the spirit of creating a managed progression toward presentation objectives while conveying content to form-factors that participants use, presenters maintain control over the content, the message, and the overall cadence of the meeting.

And at the meeting’s conclusion, SlideShark presenters also receive detailed reports about audience viewing activity and attendance. It’s no surprise that analytics is emerging as a key attribute in the presentation segment. By embracing individual’s needs in the context of a business gathering, the opportunities to gather helpful data becomes far more possible.

So what are you waiting for? Pull the plug on the projector and get on with presenting in the 21st century.

Not likely.

According to TabTimes,

“A recent study showed just how much time iPad owners spend on email and it was a pretty startling figure given one true fact: email on iPad isn’t all that great.”

And Incredimail does little to mitigate the communication nightmare that has haunted us for more than two decades.

I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with Perion, the creators of Incredimail, but I have to call it as I see it. The “study” mentoned in the TabTimes article is Perion’s own research. Not ideal. And there are plenty of independent studies concerning email use and how poor the experiences can be, especially if you care about business productivity.

DashOne – Lightweight Dashboard Reporting with Google Docs

For businesses of all sizes, email is where knowledge goes to die. But I don’t get the sense that any mobile app-builders are paying close attention to workflows, processes, and the context of mobile workers, such that they can much headway solving the challenges of email as a core activity for all workers.

Steve Jobs would likely lump email in with many of the technology segments that he was begged to solve — email is an intractable problem that even if solved, is incapable of sustaining high profit margins.

Incredimail, as a consumer-focused app, actually provides a pretty nice experience.

Patterened after FlipBoard and other visually satisfying content experiences, it delivers a crisp and engaging view of your inbox. This is not a new idea; FileBoard created a near duplicate aproach more than a year ago. I’d link to them but I think they rejiggered the company and have given up on trying to change the email game. More evidence this is indeed an intractable problem.

Since the app is free in the app store, I won’t make this any longer than necessary. Download it and connect it to your email account and decide for yourself. It’s certainly worth a few minutes of your time.

For iPad business users, here are some points that you should be aware of.

• Markup in PDF documents will not display when previewing the PDF in the app. My clients and teams all use marked up PDFs so this is probably a showstopper for most.
• All delete options in the UX require repeated confirmation (i.e., two taps to delete one item). I expected to see a config option that would allow uses to bypass this additional step. For the average business user, this amounts to 30 hours of extra tapping per year. Imagine spending an entire vacation week tapping the confirmation delete button.
• Images in attached HTML documents do not render in preview mode.
• The photo inbox should ideally not be limited to Facebook. Why not allow all sorts of photo sources to be detected and utilized for this feature? Why not allow attachments to serve as thumbnails for better inbox visualizations.
• I’ve noticed a few crashes.
• Sometimes, refresh is very sluggish even on a 25+MBs connection.

There are seriously big opportunities to leverage gestures for great email productivity; MailBox has a few. Yet, Incredimail hasn’t scratched the surface. The designers rightly use swipe-down to display message options – a nice touch that we’ve seen with exquisite precision design in News360. However, even simple ideas such as swipe-right to archive, and swipe-left to delete, would be very helpful. Imagine swipe-hold provides options to file a message into a folder or schedule a reminder with the message content. These simple gestures could really improve productivity for business and non-business users in meaningful ways.

Perion’s own research (and lots of others) indicate that iPad is primarily a triage tool for email. I think this applies to consumers and business people alike. Its puzzling why they haven’t seized upon this data and built the interface to address the challenges of rapid triage.

Okay, so I have to say that overall, I like the app – it serves up a fairly good UX and the integration options seem reliable and simple to set up. But despite how close this app could be to meeting it’s own marketing hype (Email Gets an iPad Makeover), it’s not going to change much in the iPad business world unless it really steps up the level of innovation.

Just sayin’ …

’bout time.

After 8 Years On The Web, Project Management Platform Basecamp Finally Launches An “Official” iOS App
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/08/after-8-years-on-the-web-project-management-platform-basecamp-finally-launches-an-official-ios-app/

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I’m still not feeling the love with Siri, but these tips certainly help.

Use These Special Siri Commands When Dictating Text On iPhone Or iPad [iOS Tips]
http://www.cultofmac.com/215017/use-these-special-siri-commands-when-dictating-text-on-iphone-or-ipad-ios-tips/

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This is cool (if you’re an iOS app developer).

Kickfolio lets you embed your iOS app on any webpage, adds iPad support, slashes pricing
http://9to5mac.com/2013/01/28/kickfolio-lets-you-embed-your-ios-app-on-any-webpage-adds-ipad-support-slashes-pricing/

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Since the dawn of iPad, January 27, 2010 to be precise, businesses have envisioned the ability to rapidly capture data in the field without friction. iPad (and iPhone) are ideal instruments to bring this possibility to life and especially so when coupled with form tools to connect some very important dots.

The process is deceptively simple. However, until recently, a cost-effective solution has continued to evade even the most innovative business people.

Since you’re reading this GuidePost, you likely already understand the benefits of iForm. Simply stated, iForm makes it possible to capture data on remote devices, and integrate the data into your business.

But what’s missing are some basic reporting features that even the creators of iForm will admit are both necessary and important in the overall scheme of data management.

Missing or Not Included?

We often assume if key features are missing, it’s the fault of the product designers. Imagine debating with a Ferrari engineer about the lack of cup-holders. Arguing that iForm should have cup-holders, er – I mean reports — is an equally pointless idea.

By design, iForm is not about reporting, or notifications, or anything except one thing – capturing data efficiently on mobile devices. And it does it exceedingly well. iForm is all about the data.

Adding Cup Holders

Throughout many of my articles concerning iForm and Google Docs both separately and combined, there is a common integration thread that exposes the benefits of combing a great iPad forms system with the Google’s popular Office-like cloud.

With unrelenting interest in the combination of these two products, I decided to write a simple eBook describing and even simpler example – a mobile customer feedback solution that can be deployed to any iOS device. The promise of this eBook centers on automatic processing of iForm data using Google Apps Scripts.

It sounds technical but it’s not. With clear steps and simple examples, I demonstrate how to connect iForm data to Google Docs spreadsheets and then use automated script triggers to puch the data out through email notifications and even report document attachments.

The concepts and examples presented in my eBook have been researched and improved over a period of two years. The thought of calculating a reasonable break-even point on this ebook frightens me. And for twenty bucks you get the results of many hundreds of hours of tinkering, probing, and testing.

In app development, anything is possible – it’s all just a matter of time and money.

How Long Does It Take To Build A Native Mobile App? [Infographic]
http://readwrite.com/2013/01/09/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-native-mobile-app-infographic

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iOS

This year they’ve decided to shape the conference more closely to iOS; smart move.

Read more at ABetterBlogsite.com.

Here’s what The Build Network is all about…

• The Build Network’s focus - How do you design and build a high-performance team? What’s your role as its leader? And how do you create a top team that brilliantly drives your whole business toward What Comes Next?
• The Build Network’s aim – To filter the world — to separate management-insight wheat from chaff and bring you only the ideas and information that mid-sized business builders need.
• The Build Network’s process – To provide the ecosystem for a first-of-its-kind collaboration. We’ve already begun to co-create our management network with you (at Build/Live events, in Build surveys, through Build CEO interviews). Together, we’re going to discover the insights, tools, premium service partners and peers that can drive your competitive advantage.

Self described and closely aligned you wou, the readers of iPadCTO, The Build Network is the new source of insight and connection dedicated to CEOs and executive teams of mid-sized businesses — the economy’s hot core.

Soft, Fuzzier Content

I’ve read numerous articles by the team at Build and the content is uniquely different than say Fast Company, or Inc. Magazine. In keeping with the the overarching theme of the network, this is less about experts telling you how to management your business and more about ideas that you can use to shape your own solutions. The articles are compelling in an innovative sense that exudes confidence in the reader as a business domain expert.

There are few networks I would recommend for anyone, but this one is shaping up as a key C-level resource not to be missed. Invite your colleagues – they’ll thank you.

But I really want to benefit from its advantages. Why does art have advantages?

People can relate more effectively to complex or simple ideas much more readily when presented with colorful illustrations. And the more technical the subject matter, the more likely color and the less precise edges of drawing and shapes will have a positive impact on the communications objective.

I’ve written about Paper (by FiftyThree) in the past but nothing in-depth. But despite the lack of coverage, I’m starting to develop a keen sense of how Paper can be used in business.

Aside from the usual suspects – diagraming for client edification, capturing fleeting ideas, and just doodling for fun which may lead to business benefit – Paper has a horizon of really important opportunities to help you communicate more effectively. Because of it’s nature (i.e., a certain roughness and impreciseness) it has the ability to really attract eyeballs.

But I’ve noticed something far more powerful than attention – it’s a desire to understand that which is represented by colorful blobs and soft edges. For some weird reason, even the most technical content presented in Paper becomes the centerpiece of study by those who absorb the imagery.

I can’t explain the remarkable impact that something so low tech can achieve even when immersed in seriously high-tech topic matter. There’s something about this style of communication that fires synaps in the brain. Clients want to draw and sketch right along with you when they encounter this canvas.

To me, this has become a business canvas; a gateway to unique and innovative presentations.

How to Create Innovative Technical Illustrations with iPad

Paper, like iPad, is magical.

Pick up a copy of my 8 page paper on Paper. You’ll see how I use it with Reflector app and mylar. Yes, I said mylar. ;-)

EBook: Curate Like A Pro

The demand for more about this topic and how I instrumented On My Radar encouraged me to write an ebook about my curation process. You can get it for eight bucks.

This practical guide provides deep insight into how I crafted and use my own mobile curation model. If you spend too much time copying, pasting, organizing, and emailing to your friends, colleagues, and customers, you might want to invest in a repeatable and sustainable process that will save you tons of time while improving your top-of-mind presence and curation precision.

Pick up a copy; it’s cheaper than a six-pack of tacos.

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TabTimes recently published “7 tips to consider when developing and designing mobile business apps“.

Ad: iForm Reporting with Google Docs

Not a bad collection of things to consider. However, I’m amazed that an article like this can be crafted without once using the term “requirements“. But this is not an isolated case. Everywhere I look, advice concerning mobile app strategy and development is void of any discussion about business requirements.

Certainly, a few of the 7 tips offered by TabTimes touch on requirements in a peripheral way. But failing to identify the true business requirements without ambiguity can trigger a cascading series of missteps for a mobile team.

But that’s not all…

Many teams decide at the outset that they need to “design” an app when they really need to design a “solution”. While this is also touched on in the TabTimes article, the very idea that an “app” needs to be designed and developed rules out many implementation strategies that may address the true business requirements without ever building anything.

A good example of alternative mobile implementation strategies is Wufoo or perhaps iFormBuilder.

These front-end mobile form tools are sometimes ideal frameworks for rapidly designing and deploying mobile business solutions. Coupled with a cloud data layer, clever form design, and custom reporting, businesses can often put a secure mobile solution into production in a fraction of the time and almost zero development cost.

All too often we assume “business apps” is the axis we need to pursue. We’ve become so app-centric that it clouds our requirements management process and our judgement.

Just sayin …