Impact of Tablet Use and Clinical Trial Apps in the Pharma Industry
My last few blog posts have focused on how tablet computers and clinical trial apps may change the way we conduct trials. In order to better explore the impact of tablets on the pharmaceutical industry, I decided it was important to understand how they are being used more generically in business.
As part of my research, I watched a very insightful webinar presented by Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company, focused on the growing role of tablet use in business. While the webinar presented multiple insights, one highlight stood out to me as a very surprising and forwarding-thinking trend.
The webinar includes an online survey which polls viewers on tablet use in the work place. Based on about six months of survey results, 20% of companies are considering an "equipment agnostic" approach to tablets. Rather than invest money and resources into a specific brand of tablet, they will offer employees a "grant" to purchase their own preferred equipment which can then be used for both business and personal use.
As someone with a work laptop, iPad, and PC, a home PC, and my wife's iMac and iPad, the opportunity to streamline my life by reducing my computing clutter certainly appeals to me. Paul Hopper, BioClinica's Vice President of Enterprise Information Technology, and I have had a number of conversations about this notion of a single device for personal and business use. This is a major change from traditional information technology policy which would make security a multi-level challenge. While there is the obvious need to protect my tablet's BioClinica information from outside threats, I would expect my personal stuff to remain just that – personal and private – if the BioClinica IT team is working on the equipment.
Will Windows 8 Change the Game for Tablet Use and Clinical Trial Apps?
The other item that caught my attention from the Gartner webinar came up during the Q&A session. In the presenter's opinion, Microsoft's soon-to-be-released Windows 8 operating system will give Apple's tablet dominance a real challenge as it will run on PC laptops, tablets and phones.
As most companies use Microsoft products for general productivity (think Outlook, Word, and Excel) the potential for clinical trial apps to have the right look and feel while running on one platform for both business and personal use is huge. In a prior blog I mentioned Evernote as a useful tool, but SharePoint could overtake its use if this complete suite works the way the Gartner team suggested.
As a Microsoft partner, this obviously plays to BioClinica's strengths. In fact, Gabor Fari of Microsoft is already blogging about running BioClinica products on Windows 8-based tablets. While we still have a long way to go within the pharmaceutical industry and related services, perhaps Windows 8 will usher in a new era of PC, tablet, and phone integration that will truly make our lives and our jobs much easier. One can only hope.
Click here to view the Gartner webinar "iPad and Beyond: The Media Tablet in Business."