Perfect timing. Earlier today we talked about international insurer Lloyds starting to use the iPad with brokers as a writing tool, now SAP joins the list of large corporations deploying iPads to its employees. In fact, SAP’s may be the largest iPad rollout to date: with 1,000 iPads already deployed, ZDNet assumes that Apple itself hasn’t rolled out that many tablets to its employees.
What’s cool is that these iPads come with a lot of good stuff pre-installed: email accounts already set up, VPN (Virtual Private Network) access to server-based apps through Citrix and Business Intelligence tools. Also, Mobile Sales for CRM via wireless enterprise app distribution, built by Sybase.
ZDNet also reports:
According to Bussmann, the 1,000 iPads are spread among SAP’s 48,000 employees worldwide, not concentrated in either its home country of Germany or within its US operations.
And the 1,000 employee figure - a statistic which already comprises more than 2% of SAP’s workforce despite the iPad only being available for 4 months - is set to grow, promised Bussmann, who tweeted “More to come..”
I’d like to remind you that the Business category in the App Store is one of the best-perfirming ones, sales-wise. I have the feeling these rollouts aren’t going to stop anytime soon.
