Innovative uses for tablets across different industries

Businesses, healthcare, schools and government agencies continue to find innovative ways to leverage the powerful capabilities of tablets to enhance productivity, employee insight and customer experience.

Here are some industries and how they leverage tablets. This can serve as an inspiration for your business's tablet use.

Healthcare: Engaging with patients

Healthcare providers can use tablets to access patient information while moving from room to room. Examples include:

Patient engagement: Show patients X-rays, scans and other detailed visuals to help explain conditions and treatments
Telehealth: Provide remote care for patients who can't come to the office
Patient management: Access and update patient records from anywhere
Patient comfort: Patients can self-manage their environment with temperature control, bed adjustment and entertainment
Admin: Schedule follow-up appointments from the exam room

Hospitality: Leveraging real-time pricing

Restaurants can use tablets to provide interactive menus that can be updated in real time, allowing restaurateurs to update daily specials and change prices as needed. Examples include:

Taking orders: Waitstaff can immediately send food orders from table to kitchen
Instant Payments: Customers can pay from their table without waiting for servers to come back with their credit card

Finance: Working smarter

Finance administrators can use tablets to manage financial transactions without being tied to their desk. Examples include:

Portfolio review: Financial advisors can review performance without the need for a paper report
Branch efficiency: Enable mobile check deposits, digital forms and paperless transactions
Mobile approvals: Approve invoices, purchase orders and expense reports on the go
Expense management: Allow employees to capture and submit receipts for faster reimbursement

Retail: Improving the customer experience

Instead of buying cash registers and credit card terminals, brick-and-mortar stores can use tablets when they interact with customers. Examples include:

Mobile checkout: Process sales from anywhere in the store, with no lines required
Customer engagement and mobility: Provide answers about products on the go throughout a store with tablets
Virtual fitting rooms: Let customers virtually try on clothing using augmented reality

Manufacturing: Optimizing operations

Manufacturers can use tablets to interact with their vast network of IoT-connected machinery so workers can manage machinery across the factory floor. Examples include:

Near real-time analytics: Monitor production performance without standing by the machine
Machine operations: Interactive digital twins of machinery let maintenance staff explore a solution virtually before taking the machine apart
Remote IT support: Manage IT infrastructure from virtually anywhere in the building

Real estate: Enabling physical and virtual mobility in sales

Many realtors use tablets to provide buyers information helping them make an informed decision. Examples include:

Client presentations: Virtual reality apps on tablets can help you create, curate and present engaging home walk-throughs when an in-home tour isn't feasible; larger tablet displays may improve the experience over other smaller screens
Sales enablement: Easily share maps and local information with prospective buyers to sell the neighborhood
Digital signatures: Make an offer during the open house to speed up the contract process

Education: Improving the student experience

Tablets can sometimes replace textbooks and notepads to help some students improve their learning experience. Examples include:

Classroom engagement: Tablets are light, portable, easy to carry between classes and quick to start up
Remote learning: Larger tablet displays and haptic applications can keep students engaged and learning even during a snow day or other events

Field services: Increasing productivity

Contractors, installers, maintenance professionals, delivery drivers and other workers in the field can use tablets to stay connected all day long. Examples include:

Near real-time invoicing: Capture customer signatures, take payments and email a receipt the instant the job is done all from one tablet
Support: Track and manage support tasks for vehicle maintenance with applications on tablets