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How D7 Consulting uses the iPad at work
We've been covering the story of D7 Consulting for a while here on TUAW -- that's the company that originally won 20 iPads from Box.net through our comments section, and then became a showcase project for how the iPad can be used in real-life business. I called up CEO Joe Daniels for one final interview this week to see how things have progressed and what he and his company have learned from using their iPads while out and about. He told me that even though the dust has settled on the initial program, the iPad implementation at D7 "is going to be ongoing forever." It's "an evolutionary thing," Daniels said. But it has gotten to the point where the company no longer uses paperwork to share files. "Everything I do when I go out to a job site is done through the iPad and Box. I don't even take a file with me any more."
Final Box.net iPad campaign video
Box.net has released the final video covering their project to set up a company called D7 Consulting with 20 iPads to implement in their day-to-day business. It sounds like the whole thing has been a rousing success -- back when the project first kicked off, D7 said they wanted to use the iPad to track statements and reports directly from their construction work sites, and according to this video, that's exactly what they've done, reducing paperwork and serving as a great example of how to put Apple's consumer technology to use in the workplace. There's also some information in the video about Box.net and their service, and of course the whole project was developed partly as a demonstration of what's possible with Box.net's filesharing software. But what's really impressive about this for everybody is that with the ubiquity of powerful, connected devices like the iPad, almost every kind of business can benefit from having access to files and all of the other features that the iPad brings to the table. Stay tuned -- we're aiming to do one more visit with D7 Consulting to see how the project went and what they learned from putting the iPad to work in their office. TUAW originally helped kick off this project with Box.net by helping them choose someone from our readership to start using these iPads, and there's definitely more to learn from what Box.net and D7 have done with this project.
Box.net's iPad project at D7 Consulting: How the iPad works at work
Here's another update from the folks at Box.net on how the iPad deployment at D7 Consulting is going. Through TUAW, Box.net found a company to give 20 free iPads to. Box.net helped D7 set up a workflow that's built and run around Apple's tablet and their service. The first fruits of that collaboration are starting to grow, and as you can see in the video above, Box.net is getting some solid feedback from D7. Box.net is looking at using that feedback to develop future features for their software, including some methods for offline access. Another exciting forthcoming feature concerns more ways to share not only text and documents but also "rich content," including drawings and audio notes about those documents. CIO magazine talked to D7's president Joseph Daniels, who described five lessons he's learned in implementing the project so far. There's a lot of good stuff in there, especially if you're considering using iPads on your job. For the rest of us, what's probably most surprising is that iPads can take all kinds of abuse without having issues. The one problem D7 has had so far is overheating; on a job in the deserts of Las Vegas, an iPad did overheat on them after being in the sun. But 20 minutes in the AC got it back up and working just fine. Another problem is a lack of enterprise support from Apple directly. Don't forget that, while it has a lot of applications on the job, the iPad is still a consumer-targeted device, and D7 has bumped up against that designation a few times already. It's very interesting stuff. It looks like this collaboration is paying off for all involved, including those of us who are just watching to learn from the sidelines. We'll continue to watch how the project is going, and we'll provide you with another on-location look at the project here in a while. In the meantime, if you have questions for Box.net or D7, post them in the comments below. If Sean Lindo (of Box.net) or Terrell Woods (of D7) don't reply directly, we'll make sure to ask in the future.
Box.net's 20 iPads arrive at D7 Consulting
A few months back, Box.net launched its effort to deliver 20 brand new iPads to a business that could make use of Apple's tablet and the cloud sharing service in an innovative and interesting way. Box.net eventually chose D7 Consulting, a construction consulting company in Newport Beach, California, to receive the iPads. Yesterday, I drove down to the company HQ to see the beginning of the project. Over the next 12 months, Box.net will provide not only the free iPads but also free service to D7's employees. Together, the two companies hope to get a good look at, as Box's Marketing Communications Manager Sean Lindo put it, "the possibilities and realities of cloud and mobile devices for how people need to work today." TUAW will be following up periodically with Box.net and D7 to see how the project is going. As you can hear directly from D7 CEO Joe Daniels in the second half of this post, the next year is going to be an interesting experiment, not only to see how his employees are able to use iPads with their work on construction sites but also to see how Apple's tablet can be used reliably and well in the workplace. In the gallery below, you can see yesterday's unboxing. Read on for more on how this all came about and what challenges Daniels expects to face in the coming weeks. %Gallery-97114%
