The problem was the process of filling out a form on carbon paper and making sure each copy goes where it needs to. Almost a year prior to this I had developed a web application to store this data and so I leveraged it to create a single page that emailed the information from the form to the required recipients.

The technical aspects of the change are trivial but the impact of the change takes the turn around time from days to minutes and makes it easier for all involved. That is the power of leveraging computers to streamline processes. Computers are great a storing and transferring information. A similar solution may help with pre-screening patients or clients. Email them a link to the form when you make the appointment and let them know it will save time waiting in your office. The real secret is that it will save your staff time from typing it all in and allow you to have a solution ready. That is a win, win, win!

The purpose of this post is to ask the question: what if? What if every week you find a small problem, not world peace, but a single stress point in your organization and come up with a different work flow to alleviate the pain. The worst thing is it did not work and you spent a day finding out it did not. What if a different way of doing things allows others time to do other, more valuable tasks?

Not all projects can be done in a day nor should some be attempted. The goal is to figure out which can and do them. Analyze the problem, determine a solution. Get buy-in from those who will use it. Create a rough draft and get more feedback. Leverage existing infrastructure. Do something!

Here is what I see as a viable product to compete with the iPad:

• Price: $299 on basic models
• Specs: close to the usability of the iPad 2 in speed
• Choice of sizes: 7″ or 10″ screens
• Choice of connectivity: Wi-fi only or 4G

As you can see above, the Xoom does not really fit in that mindset.  Granted the wi-fi only version is supposed to come out sometime in the next month but no one is sure where they can buy it or how much it will be.  It will not be $299 as I suggested above.  I believe the ~$300 price point is good to limit the upsale to iPads.  Imagine you were looking for a tablet, knew someone who had an iPad and saw a device that looked cool but was $449.  Immediately you make a choice, do I save $50 and buy this, go to Walmart and buy the iPad or buy a netbook for cheaper?  Now imagine the same scenario with the price being $349 or lower, it is between the tablet and the netbook.  The iPad is too much of a jump for the mind to make on its own.

High-end products are great, they show what a platform can do and provide an incentive for the budget products to keep getting better.  The thing is, they are not what average users are wanting.  The home users want something that is comparable to the computer they already have and priced accordingly.  My phone, the HTC Aria, has a 600Mz processor in it and has a 3.2″ screen.  Would I like a 4.3″ phone like the Droid X with all the speed and features? Yes.  Does it fit into my budget and do I require all of those features? No.  I use it to check email, read web pages, follow blogs and just about everything you can do with the top of the line phone.  It is a little slower but that is a trade off I make to fit it in my budget and pocket.  What I believe many basic users want of a tablet is something they can sit on the couch with and check their email and Facebook.  If you can do that and make it less than their car payment, you will sell well.

For more info: How much customers will pay for tablets

Image via: Android And Me

1. Video

Even with the growth of smartphone usage, most sites still do not have videos in a mobile-usable format.  Just today I noticed one of they guys I follow on twitter linked to a video on his site I wanted to watch, and, upon clicking on it I was brought to a page with a square box and comments below saying how much they like the video.  This was not a home video either, it was a well-known marketer selling a high-dollar product.  I did view the video on my laptop but think of the potential customers he lost because they attempted to view it on their smartphone or iPad and never revisited it later.

2. Flash

Flash does not work well on mobile devices, not at all on most of them.  At the risk of beating a very dead horse, flash hinders mobile users from viewing part  or all of your site.  Many sites use Flash in on part or another, mostly for viewing video, games or displaying ads.  It is a way to add animation to certain parts of your site that displays the same across all desktop browsers.  The problem lies when it is used to make the whole site or display major components of the site.

3. Lack of Mobile Site

Of the websites I visit, a mobile site seems to be the exception rather than the role.  This is even true of sites about mobile devices.  Major news sites and tech blogs have a mobile site but most of those without corporate backing do not have one.   One odd thing I noticed is many sites do not handle links within their site based on the user being on a mobile device.  Even if a site has a mobile version, it often shows my phone the desktop version if I click a deep link from a tweet or another site. Facebook is even worse in that some of their site does not seem to have a mobile portion, namely the Fan pages.  Even without a mobile site, most sites are useful on a mobile device if they do not utilize popups and non-standard menus.  Mobile users make following web standards a must!

4. Ability to Access Desktop Site

My final frustration is a critique on some mobile sites.  Many sites redirect to the mobile version if it detects your smartphone, which is fine, but it must also allow the user to visit the desktop version if the mobile version does not have all the functionality of the desktop one.  The best sites have a link to the desktop version near the bottom of the page.

Over these past three months I have enjoyed being able to browse the web anywhere I am at.  Overall, it is relatively painless on 3.2 inch screen when I am used to a 15 inch one.  The web is going more mobile and those that change first get an advantage over their competition.  Stay tune for some fixes for these frustrations.

QR codes are best used when either you know your customer has a smartphone or the information is useful but not required. The Android Market uses these codes to provide am easy way to install new apps. They can do this because they know their ‘customers’ have a smartphone. If your product does not require such a device, you can not make that assumption. I instead you can post the QR code along with an email or sms number so your feature phone customers are not left out.

Do you have a QR code strategy?

My wife has an iPad and we are acutely aware of the things it will not do.  Printing, unless you buy a new printer, does not work.  Nor does sharing file between apps.  You can not even start using the tablet without syncing it with iTunes (on your computer) first.  The are limitations but I also find that she uses it much more than she does her laptop.  Many consumers today spend all of their computer time on websites or checking their email, for those a tablet makes a simple alternative to the headaches of managing their own computer.

People are wanting simplicity and a computer that will just work.  Macs have provided that to a certain extent, people I know who have one, love them.  The downside is they are more expensive and they still require some management for programs and such.  Both Android and iOS tablets have a built-in apps store and purchasing system.  The user interfaces are more straight forward and boot time is much shorter.

I had a discussion with a friend about tablets and his main beef with them is they lack the ability to do many of the things he does with his Mac Book Pro.  Video editing on them can be done but it is not really a for anything but short clips.  Typing on a tablet is best left to short emails unless you buy a Bluetooth keyboard.  He also disagreed with the Mac Book Air’s lack of a DVD drive.  He wants a powerhouse. For this type of user the tablet will only be a second machine and not replace their main computer.

Tablets Will Replace One In Three PCs, Study Says — InformationWeek.

[H]uman behavior tells us that this is a more permanent effect than we realize. Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. More clutter isn’t free. In fact, more clutter is a permanent shift, a desensitization to all the information, not just the last bit.

And it’s hard to go backward.

More is not always better. In fact, more is almost never better.

Full article: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/the-inevitable-decline-from-clutter.html

For the operating system to matter, it must be unique to the point of only it can provide a specific solution for the user.  For the last two decades, Microsoft has provided what businesses need in the way of Office and email management.  There are other products that could fulfill those needs but none really has been a drop-in replacement for the Microsoft tools.  On the designer side, Macs have provided stable and powerful systems that support the visual design and movie editing applications noticeably better than either of the other OSes.  The explosion of web servers is really where Linux shines; its price, stability and customization allow it to power many of the web servers online.

Today, I do most of my computing in Google Chrome, store my documents on Dropbox and use TweetDeck.  All three of these applications have versions for Windows, MacOS and Linux so that it does not matter which one I am using.  Macs have become very popular due to their ease of OS management but, I believe, the mobile OS-powered devices are going to win that category as they gain more features.  For people that use video or graphic design studios, Mac OS really fits the bill but version of those programs are out for Windows and are slowly getting better.  Linux does not have many of the Adobe products, but it does have some free alternatives available.

For me and for most web users, I would venture to say that OS does not truly matter.    Users may have a preference, and they may buy to their preferences, but all OSes currently do what the majority needs.  Many mobile OSes even provide what is required for the common, home user.  The iPad has really taken off because it provides a full-sized browser on an easy to manage platform.

What OS do you use and does it really matter to  you?

We use the web for many things, I often search for online sales or information on things that I do not care where they are located.  I also search for places around me or around where I am planning to visit.  The web started out global and now it is becoming local as well.

What is Google Places?

Google Places creates a listing on your offline business on Google Maps.  This allows people to search for your business name or type and your general location to find you.  Google does a pretty good job at pulling in basic information about your business via telephone listings and other sites it crawls but its information can be wrong and is often outdated.

How can Google Places help me?

Your customers are searching, either they are new to the area and want to know what is around there or they have lived their awhile but still want a listing of their choices.  In areas with a lot of growth, a change or location move may be overlooked by your customer.  Google Places also allows you to upload pictures and video.  You can add your hours and coupons.  There is a way to even set how far you are willing to go to service a customer, perfect for delivery or home service.

Google Places is free and allows you, the business owner, to update and control your listing online.  For more information please visit Google Places and bring your offline business online.

Last month, John of Web Directions gave a pretty good summary of the benefits of using a mobile web application instead of a mobile app.   I thought his initial debunking of the myth a little slow but his points for the benefits of choosing a web app over native apps were dead on.  Mobile apps allow you a flexibility in both reaching your target on multiple platforms and what tools you use to design your application.  All smartphones have browsers so you can develop a web app to cover all of them, plus feature phones, for the budget of developing an iPhone or Android App.  You also maintain control over how you sell access to your information and remove the possibly of your app being rejected by the administrators of the App Store or Marketplace.

Consumer preferences seem to be moving towards using their browser to pull up information while leaving social media, music and games to native apps.  This is from a study on eMarketer which show the majority of those surveyed would rather read blogs, reviews and news via the mobile browser.  I believe sites customizing their site for rich mobile devices has a lot to do with it.  Browsing a site designed for the desktop browser is hard on a mobile phone, but companies are beginning to see the benefits of creating a mobile version of their site.

What does this mean to an online business?  Stop attempting to create a native app unless specific functionality that it can provide is necessary for your app.  If push updates or access to contacts is necessary, native is the only way to go at this point. If displaying information about your company and products you offer is primarily what your customers are looking for, the study above shows they want to do it via the browser on a mobile site.  When in doubt, ask them.