In the Fall of 2013, the Los Angeles Unified School District signed a $1.3 billion contract with Apple and Pearson, and began handing out iPads preloaded with the Pearson curriculum to its students. The goal of this program was to leverage new mobile technologies to facilitate the learning process in an efficient, engaging, and environmentally-friendly manner.
The program was ultimately a total and complete failure. In August of 2015, the school district halted its contract with Apple, citing crippling technical issues with the Pearson platform, and an incomplete curriculum that made it nearly impossible for teachers to teach their students. The LAUSD’s iPad implementation failed mainly because the district did not think the program through before approving the project. Rather than assessing the school district’s needs and then prescribing appropriate technology, the district’s officials went straight to purchasing brand new iPads, and developed a plan for their use after the fact.
While implementing iPads or other tablets in the workplace is quite different from an implementation in the classroom, businesses can definitely learn a few things from the LAUSD’s tablet debacle.
1. Make sure you implement new technology for the right reasons.
If other companies that you compete against are buying tablets for their employees, it can be easy to want to jump on the technology bandwagon and do the same. However, before you go and buy your employees a bunch of mobile devices, you should make sure you are doing so for the right reasons. Ask yourself the following questions:
What problem am I trying to solve?
Perhaps you own a retail clothing store that suffers from long lines, causing customers to become frustrated and leave the store. Next you should ask yourself:
Will tablets help solve this problem?
You may then realize that equipping your sales reps with tablets and portable credit card readers can be beneficial in decreasing customer wait time. In other cases, however, you may actually find that tablets may not be the right answer to your business’s problems. Just be sure that the technology in which you’re investing in necessary to improve company performance, and not just a “nice to have”.
2. Make sure you pick the right technology.
If you’re considering purchasing iPads or Android-based tablets for your workforce, you may feel the need to get the most recent version of these devices for your employees. The problem with this approach is that these newer devices are often the most expensive as well. When implementing tablets in your workplace, you might be tempted to purchase a number of iPad Pros for $600-700 a piece, but this may not always be the smartest idea.
What are you trying to accomplish? Do you need those robust features? Can your task be accomplished by any device?
These are the questions you should ask yourself before you go and purchase the newest, most expensive tablet on the market. For all you know, your needs can be met be a simple Google Chromebook.
3. Make sure you devise an adequate training program.
The final key to success when implementing any new technology across your organization is proper training. What do you think is going to happen if you just hand over a box of tablets to your employees and expect them to immediately become technology experts? You’ll probably end up with a bunch of confused employees, and an unnecessarily large hardware bill.
In order for your company’s tablet implementation to be successful, you need to employ proper training methods. Sit down with your employees and hold training sessions, in which you help them install the necessary applications on their devices, and train them to use them effectively and to their advantage. Larger companies can even benefit from receiving pre-configured iPads through Apple’s DEP program. If you efficiently deploy your corporate tablets, and train your employees thoroughly, you can rest assured that your investment in mobile technology will be well worth it.
Should you decide that tablets are the way to go for your company, you will undoubtedly require a mobile data plan for your employees. DataXoom is an MVNO that provides mobile data solutions designed exclusively for businesses. Interested in how DataXoom can add value to your company? Send us a note at sales@dataxoom.com.
The post What Businesses Can Learn From the L.A. School District’s iPad Debacle appeared first on DataXoom.