Tablet PC sales continue to grow and it’s not just consumers that are buying.  Businesses are increasingly recognising tablet PCs as a platform for innovation. New specification tablet PCs – which now combine portability with the power of a laptop and experience of a desktop, complete with enterprise-level security – are becoming important components in mobility strategies.

In South Africa, where businesses have been slow to adopt mobility strategies, the tablet PC offers more than a few answers. Global sales of tablet PCs, which will overtake sales of desktop PCs in 2015, support the notion that these devices are becoming much more than mere personal productivity tools.

Says Llewellyn Chame, Mobility Specialist at Dell: “Disruptive business models that enable companies to do things faster, better and with less effort are appearing everywhere and they are being powered by smart mobile devices. These business models discard traditional business and operations models, which are largely paper-based, in favour of digital processes. These digital processes lower the cost and risk of doing business, increases the pace of business and, perhaps most importantly, improves customer satisfaction. Tablet PCs, because they are now more powerful, feature rich and secure, are becoming an important part of these strategies.”

Notes George Lodewick, Dell Commercial Product Specialist at DCC: “Tablet PCs are incredibly versatile. They remain portable with form factors of between 7 and 11 inches, however, they now also have all the power of a midrange notebook, a Windows Operating System (OS) that adds the tight security integration that enterprises demand, and full Microsoft Office productivity suite capability.

“The touchscreen and icon-based menu makes them familiar, comfortable devices to all levels of staff – from power users like executives, managers and sales teams that want to access back-end systems whenever and wherever, to staff with low tech literacy that organisations must now integrate into new, more efficient and effective digitally-enabled processes.”

Explains Chame: “For mobile users, who have different requirements, the high-end tablet PC offers convergence of two devices – the notebook and the tablet. Today’s tablet line-up, however, offers a range of processing options – from quad-core Atom processors to third-generation Intel Core i5 processors.

“2-in1 devices offer additional features with a flip-and-fold keyboard that also acts as a case. Tablet PCs offer a host of features that will benefit the user including up to 8 Gigabytes (GB) of Random Access Memory (RAM) coupled with Intel i5 processors, Windows 8 and Microsoft Office Pro and up to 256GB of internal storage. They literally turn a tablet into a notebook as and when needed, while retaining the light tablet PC form factor convenience. The speed and power of these devices easily equate to last year’s top end notebooks.”