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Role player [Missoulian (MT)](Missoulian (MT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Ethan Kanning is an executive accounts manager on the go, a man who needs all the help he can get. Based in Missoula, the 26-year-old spends up to 10 days on the road each month, traveling a sales territory that stretches from Spokane, up the Flathead Valley, and into Helena for his job with City Brew's Cool River Roasting. Like many, Kanning has turned to technology to get the upper hand on his travel days. Most recently, he's added an iPad 2 to his arsenal. Streamlined and less clumsy than a smart phone or laptop, the iPad has replaced Kanning's laptop when he's on the road. Thousands of apps make just about everything easier, and the Apple gadget's uses now cross a broad spectrum of business practices, from scheduling meetings to managing a restaurant's infrastructure. "It does everything a computer does, and it's just less clumsy," Kanning said. "It's not allowing me to do anything I didn't do before. It's just making me more efficient." Kanning's iPad runs a Salesforce app that keeps all his records for individual accounts, storing them on a Web database that any authorized City Brew employee has access to. Using Salesforce, sales reps can log sales calls, invoices, complaints from vendors, and store all contact information for each customer. Whether he's about to make a call at the local grocery store in Livingston, or managing a complaint on a different account in Spokane, Kanning is synced with the rest of the system and armed with the information he needs. The device isn't just for traveling businessmen or women, of course. Missoula's newest bar and restaurant uses an iPad to control its televisions, thermostat, lighting, stereos and, soon, its security cameras. Tamarack Brewing Co. owner josh Townsley is a self-described tech nerd who decided to invest in the initial expense of wiring his bar to incorporate iPads into the operation. "When we were doing this remodel, it was, 'What's the future?' So you know, we just spent a little more to do it right. We have the shell, so why not wire it and do it?" he said. Whether he's upstairs or on the road with his iPhone, Townsley can monitor and change stations being played on Tamarack's dozens of TVs and sound system. He uses an app from Savant, which makes control systems that regulate all sorts of household functions, on three iPad 2s throughout the restaurant's sitting area and two bars. The iPad 2 debuted in April. It's thinner than the original model, and features a dual core processor with a front and rear facing camera. Apple markets the gadget as a "post-PC device" that simplifies and increases functionality for anyone who relies on a mobile device. More than 19 million iPads have been sold since the product was launched in 2010. The company says the iPad is already being deployed or piloted in 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, including Xerox, Estee Lauder and Disney. Count Vann's as a fan, too. The company both sells and uses iPads, said Vann's Claude Sammoury. He stores blueprints on the iPad, and also offers customers lightning-fast visuals of what sound systems might look like inside a new home. Sammoury also just helped a Missoula business install an interactive iPad system in the lobby of its new building. The tablet is so popular that Vann's has trouble keeping them in stock. Sammoury says there's simply no mobile tool faster or more intuitive for streamlining business. "The biggest thing for sure is the interface," he said. "It's the fact I can take this device and give it to you and you would know how to use it. It's very intuitive." Teaching folks to run new home sound systems can be complex, but iPad integrations have made the learning curve much smoother, Sammoury said. "I can hand them the product with the app on it, and you know, within two seconds, they get it," he said. "They know how to switch from controlling music in the den to controlling music in the kitchen." The price turns out to be pretty reasonable, given all the tablet can do. At Tamarack, the consolidation of equipment into one interface may, in fact, save Townsley money down the road. "The iPads look like this glitz and glamour, but as far as a system goes, you can buy universal remotes that are thousands of dollars more than an iPad;" he said. "So the system itself that operates everything isn't the cheapest, but if, when you come right down to it, you're breaking $1,500 remotes or they're falling in the water, an iPad is actually relatively affordable." The base model - running Wi-Fi with 16 gigabytes of memory - worked for Townsley and runs about $499. Though Townsley is only running infrastructure through the iPad now, he can see a day when the device plays an even larger role. He doesn't necessarily see the iPad replacing waiters and waitresses, because "you don't want to take the personal aspect out of it ever, but it's the world we live in," Townsley said. He does see a day when iPads are fixed to most tables so customers can scroll through the menu and choose their favorite brews and meals. In the meantime, he's happy with his iPad investment. The restaurant has been hopping and the staff is learning the system quickly. "We're still working out little kinks, but for the most part it's been a pretty smooth ride," Townsley said. (c) 2011 The Missoulian |