iPad & Tablet Business Use Grows For Video & More

iPads and tablets are popular for watching videos and playing Angry Birds, but they're also gaining traction in the enterprise and in business to business uses. Here's a look at how hospitals, corporations, manufacturers and an independent auto dealer are using these new devices. The good news? The auto dealer has tripled sales by adding iPads to its sales process.

iPads & Tablets For Business Use

Forbes recently reported that the iPad is changing the way businesses communicate internally and interact with their customers. Companies like Xerox and SalesForce are using it for customer engagement, Cedars-Sinai for hospital applications, and companies like GE for training and currency tracking.

Now, another interesting example is an independent car dealer, RC Auto, in Phoenix, Arizona. They're now using iPads in virtually every aspect of the sales process, Apple says. Such as sharing pictures of cars and available options with customers, calculating payments and total cost, performing appraisals, drawing a diagram to explain depreciation, or completing a transaction on the iPad.

RC Auto is also using it with potential customers out of the dealership as its sales staff makes appointments with potential customers at their office or a restaurant, for instance. They bring along the iPad to easily showcase cars.

Now, of course, the upshot of all of this is that the car dealer has tripled used car inventory and tripled sales of that inventory by adding iPads to the sales process.

I talked with a number of thought leaders at media agencies, and they all agree that the iPad and other tablets, indeed, are going to be used by businesses and customers in all sorts of innovative ways.

So think about how your business could use tablets to drive sales and improve customer loyalty.