The New Workplace: How Tablets Are Transforming the Way Government Works

Frost & Sullivan white paper reveals device offerings best suited for government agencies and best practices when selecting tablets

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Frost & Sullivan

May 21, 2015, 08:15 ET

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan's new white paper, Tablets Are Transforming the Way Government Works, examines the trends around the rise in tablet usage in the federal government, including several use cases that will benefit agencies according to their roles. In addition, the new whitepaper recommends best practices for choosing the best device for a variety of environments, while ensuring they meet all security and compliance requirements.

Federal government mandates are changing the way public employees work, emphasizing flexible offices that encourage people to work from home, the road or a nimble satellite base. Agencies must find cost-effective ways to improve processes, speed decision-making, increase customer satisfaction, and drive results from all areas of the organization. To help achieve those goals, 52 percent of government agencies have employees who use tablets to improve communication and collaboration, cut costs, reduce downtime and increase productivity, according to a recent survey from Frost & Sullivan.

Employees are increasingly using and demanding advanced technologies in the workplace, which is changing the nature of how work gets done. Tablets are ideal for business processes such as communication and collaboration, content creation and consumption, and data entry. These features appeal to government IT decision-makers whose primary drivers for IT investments include improving productivity, driving collaboration, maximizing the customer experience, and accelerating decision-making.

In addition, tablets are less expensive than full-featured PCs and make it convenient for employees to work from anywhere. Effective uses of tablets in the government sector include citizen-facing services, training, in-field service and support, workforce management, and deployed military personnel. To maximize ROI when choosing a tablet device, government agencies should be mindful of cost, display screens, central processing units (CPU), operating systems, and support for enterprise applications.

"One of the key foundations of any tablet implementation is security. Mobile device management (MDM) is critical for companies that want to ensure that their employees can be as productive as possible on the devices they choose to use," said Frost & Sullivan Unified Communications & Collaboration Research VP Melanie Turek. "The first step is to recognize how employees intend to use their tablets, including the business apps and information they access, the networks they will connect to, and the personal preferences that shape their use."

There are several factors IT managers should consider when selecting a reliable MDM solution: it should require only modest incremental investment and the ability to compartmentalize devices; include pre-built configurations that enable self-provisioning without requiring the organization to surrender control; obtain government certification; and be designed with consistent and clear policies.

"For instance, Samsung's KNOX Workspace provides a secure and fully isolated environment on mobile devices. The KNOX container is managed by MDM policies and integrated with a variety of VPN solutions, allowing IT managers to tailor policies to the needs of the organization and end-users," said Turek.

"Technology, security and controlled access of sensitive information are paramount for many of today's government agencies," said Johnny Overcast, director of government sales at Samsung Business. "Many federal agencies have made strides in adopting new mobile technologies that are achieving new efficiencies and better serving citizens. With today's security platforms, we are nearing a tipping point in the government mobile market where agencies can move past questions about security to focusing on adopting mobile technologies that help them advance and focus on their mission."

A complimentary copy of the whitepaper can be downloaded here: www.frost.com/tabletforgovt

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan