Markley isn’t the only small business owner to embrace the iPad. Others have begun experimenting with the lightweight tablet computer, using it to outfit delivery staff and salespeople, as well as to dramatically reduce the amount of paper used. At the Rydges Hotel in Sydney, Australia, diners are handed iPads instead of more traditional menus. In New York City, De Berardinis Salon gives clients iPads rather than magazines to keep them entertained during beauty treatments.

As a device to cut down on paper costs, there’s certainly a large market for the iPad. In the U.S., companies spent about $8 billion on paper in 2007, not counting costs for ink or toner, according to John Maine, an analyst with RISI, which tracks the global forest products industry. Copier giant Xerox (XRX) estimated that for every dollar spent on printing documents, companies pay an additional $6 in handling and distribution costs.

Delivery Device

No wonder going paperless can save a small company a small fortune—if they use a lot of paper. Arhaus Furniture estimates it will save $100,000 in paper costs annually when it gives its 50 drivers iPads to use when delivering furniture from its stores. Arhaus uses software from TOA Technologies to track drivers on their routes and to predict within a one-hour window when they will arrive at a customer’s home. TOA is now creating an iPad app for Arhaus.

“The unique features of the iPad are the ability to use the built-in GPS function and the ability to collect electronic signatures,” says Irad Carmi, co-founder of TOA Technologies, adding that the size of the device is just right for drivers to carry. TOA may add a piece to the app that lets Arhaus drivers show customers photos from the catalog so they can sell accessories during the delivery process. Arhaus wants to have its drivers equipped with iPads in time for the holiday season.

Some small business owners say that the combination of the device’s ease of use, always-on capabilities, and large screen size could help them improve business processes. That is, if there’s an app—or someone willing to write one—that will let them streamline current operations.

“In the long term, it [the success of the iPad as a small business tool] is going to be very dependent on the availability of apps,” says Dan Shey, an analyst with ABI Research, which forecasts trends in communications and emerging technology. “Some of these devices are going to be designed so they are specific to a worker’s task, almost like an appliance,” he adds.

To make the iPad work, Markley needed an application that would properly display data from an online order-management service on the iPad’s large screen. He didn’t want to create his own app, so after a thorough search of Apple’s App Store he finally found one for $1.99 written by a Japanese developer. “For years, we’ve used Apple products and that’s put us at a disadvantage because most [business software] is written for PCs,” says Markley. The iPad may be changing that.

source:[businessweek] Rachel King

Everyone is talking about cloud computing these days, but what is it really, and why should chief executives care? When you boil it down, cloud computing is merely the ability to use computing resources–applications, business services and others–on a pay-as-you-go basis in real time over the Internet. With cloud computing, you get instant access to data and applications from any device with Internet access. It can enable businesses to instantaneously and temporarily tap into additional resources when they need it most, without having to invest in new machines or build new data centers. [More]

Gartner says the SaaS market will show consistent growth through 2013, when worldwide revenues are expected to top $14 billion for the enterprise application markets.

“The composition of the worldwide SaaS landscape is evolving as vendors continue to extend regionally, increase penetration within existing accounts and ‘greenfield’ opportunities, and offer more-vertical-specific solutions as part of their service portfolio or through partners,” Gartner research director Sharon Mertz said in a statement.

Mertz added that adoption of the on-demand deployment model has experienced strong growth as vendors like Salesforce.com extend their services through alliances, partner offerings, and by promoting user application development through a platform.

The content, communications and collaboration (CCC) market and the customer relationship management (CRM) market continue to capture the largest share of SaaS dollars. The CCC market is estimated to generate $2.6 billion in 2009, up from $2.14 billion in 2008. The CRM segment is estimated to garner $2.3 billion in 2009, up from $1.9 billion in 2008.

The CRM market has been a primary driver of the SaaS industry over the last four years, with revenues climbing from less than $500 million in 2005 to the $2.3 billion forecast for 2009. Gartner expects the strong growth to continue with SaaS representing almost 24% of the CRM market’s total revenue in 2009.

“The rapid adoption of SaaS and the marketplace success of Salesforce.com have compelled vendors without an on-demand solution to either acquire smaller niche SaaS providers or develop the solution internally in response to increasing buyer demand,” said Mertz.

The following are the top SaaS market segments for 2009:

1. Content, Communications and Collaboration (CCC) – $2.6 billion
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – $2.3 billion
3. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – $1.2 billion
4. Supply Chain Management (SCM) – $826 million
5. Office Suites – $68 million
6. Digital Content Creation (DCC) – $62 million
7. Other SaaS offerings – $472 million

via [CIOZone]