Tablet PCs: Is It Too Little, Too Early?

Tablet PCs: Is It Too Little, Too Early?

By Gregory A. Maciag

It was precisely 10 years ago that I wrote my first monthly “Technology Today” column for National Underwriter. The subject was called pen computing in those days, and I still have the NCR device I used for that column sitting on my bookshelf. Although the new devices look similar, the latest Tablet PCs are more powerful (as you would expect) and the software that manages the pen environment makes the platform more appealing than its 1993 cousin.

As I said 10 years ago, “A pen computer is a flat, clipboard-type device. Its screen resembles a piece of paper. The pen or stylus is used for pointing, gesturing and sometimes for writing.” And unlike the graffiti alphabet that we have become accustomed to on Palm devices, todays tablets can actually decipher cursive scribbles into coherent text. So, of course, the first thing I did was to test the (cursive) handwriting recognition.

Trying not to scribble (I am not accustomed to cursive writing anymore), I did my best to ink a sentence in the box provided. After placing a period at the end of the sentence, there was a brief pause (the Tablet was thinking, I suppose) as the text was converted from ink to typewritten text. And it was 100 percent accurate. Amazing!

After a few more sentences, I found that the recognition software was not always accurate. However, I did not need to train the device, and there was no comparison to the earlier versions that failed miserably to recognize even block letters, no less cursive writing.

When I show people my Tablet PC today, I tell them to write a simple sentence and watch the smile on their faces as the correct text pops onto the screen more often than not. No, its not perfect, but its very, very good.

And as I said 10 years ago: “Imagine yourself visiting a client to prepare for a renewal. Using your pen computer, you refer to all the account information you downloaded from the agency computer, use a checklist to review exposures and begin to process policy changes.

“While you're talking to your client, the fax icon flashes on the pen screen: the fax you were waiting for has arrived. You tap the fax icon to view the information and append it to the client's file. After the meeting, you tap the transmit icon and send the updated files back to your agency, along with instructions to the staff about the account. You check your daily schedule on the pen computer in preparation for your next appointment and fax your thanks back to the client you just left.”

The only words I would change in the previous (10-year-old) paragraph would be to use the word “e-mail” rather than “fax.” But my vision of how people could use this platform has not changed. Bill Gates once said that the Tablet PC will revolutionize computing. I have no doubt that it will, but not yet.

Since the Tablet is still a PC, it has all the software I normally use everyday. I can attach a keyboard and other peripheral devices when needed, and since it features wireless networking, I am online both at home and at work as I roam from office to meeting rooms. Mobile wireless is available through cellular telephone carriers as well.

Aside from the (early) Apple Newton and several other tablet and pen devices developed for special applications in vertical markets, the Tablet PC has not been a mass-produced and consumed device. But the platform has tremendous promise as computing gets to be bigger than the mechanical keyboarding we do today.

When you think about a PC in the past, you think about entering information by using a keyboard and seeing information on a screen. Today, a PC is viewed more as a source of information and keyboarding data is consuming less time.

As we eliminate duplicate data entry by using industry standards, our PCs will be used mostly to view and manipulate client and policy information. In fact, the keyboard itself will become a software accessory that pops onto your touch-screen should you ever need to enter fresh information that could not otherwise be accessed in a more convenient way. (I hesitate to use the words import, export or even download because they imply the linking of different data stores rather than a grid or mesh-like global network that is clearly unfolding before our very eyes today.)

So, whats the big deal about this new Tablet PC format anyway? Think about it. We have been adapting to the computer ever since it was invented. We learned to sit in front of screens connected to boxes with wires going into outlets and tap letters on a keyboard. We then scaled all of this down to laptops and notebooks, and while a five-pound laptop is certainly a significant advance, the form has not been able to fit the function very well.

Flipping open a laptop at meetings or in front of clients can still be objectionable. Thats probably due to the fact that we perceive the laptop as an active rather than a passive device. There is a sense that you are not engaged in the meeting when a PC is fired-up in front of your face. (Yet everyone in the room has a pen and paper in front of them.)

My sheet of paper happens to be on a glass surface. It is quiet and unobtrusive like a piece of paper, but much more powerful. It is viewed as being passive (like a paper pad) but provides options during and after a meeting that my “paper”-toting comrades do not have available. I not only can pull information onto my pad (via a wireless network), I can mark up documents sent to me by others, e-mail pages, maintain a permanent archive and more.

And no matter how much we talk about reading magazines and newspapers online, most people prefer paper because its more portable and friendly. Reading or viewing a magazine on a stationary screen inclined at a 45-degree angle on a desk or table is not natural, as you can tell if you watch how people read newspapers and magazines.

The Tablet PC imitates paper in many ways. Every week, publishers distribute digital versions of popular business and technology magazines onto my Tablet PC automatically. On a recent airline flight, I found myself reading a magazine with the Tablet resting on my crossed knee. The fellow sitting next to me was reading the same magazine on paper while reclining in the same position.

Yes, he could flip through the pages faster than I could, but I like to annotate when I read. So my digital pen allowed me to highlight, underline and make marginal notes. And all these notations are automatically compiled and indexed so I could find them later.

I would not annotate when reading a novel (also loaded on my Tablet), but I always find information in magazines that I want to save for future reference. Anyhow, we both seemed to be reading in a very natural, relaxing and enjoyable way with one exception. I was using a smart device with digital tools and he was holding a dead tree with dog-eared pages and folds used to highlight specific stories of interest.

We often collaborate using word processing software with all of its redlining and highlighting capabilities, but sometimes its more convenient to look at a 10-page document, insert minor changes with marginal notes and instructions for someone, and give it to back to them. They can look at your comments and update the document as they see fit. Your edits are very obvious as they flip through the pages, and they do not need to scan for your insertions and edit your edited text.

Theres good reason to use software, and there are times when its better to just mark up a document. After I mark up a document, I just e-mail it (from my Tablet) as an image or Web page. My associates can then decide what changes fit best as they obtain comments from others. It avoids the frustration of editing edits of edits, especially when you want to save some but not all of the levels of edits imbedded in a collaborative (redlined) document.

Think about how you spend your day working with information. Viewing, reading and writing are natural human activities along with talking and listening. (Yes, the Tablet PC has voice recorders and I do listen to voice-mail since it arrives with my e-mail.)

Whether you are a broker visiting a prospect, an underwriter working with an agent, or a claims adjuster working with a policyholder, you probably carry a pen and a pad. You may also have a notebook PC in your briefcase, but you only use it when its appropriate. (Its always appropriate to use a pen and paper.) Think about how your work will change as you migrate to a digital pen and paper platform.

While my initial experience with the Tablet PC was impressive, I began to identify shortcomings that have yet to be addressed. So I am eagerly waiting the next generation of devices in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

For one, most of the Tablet PC software is the same software that we use on all PCs. In other words, engineers have yet to address the human interface from a Tablet perspective. Of course, the need to reduce or eliminate data entry by accessing information is a factor as well.

Microsoft added a notepad feature that is used like a conventional sheet of paper with a digital pen. Franklin Covey also offers planning software identical to other platforms (with heavy emphasis on printing paper to be inserted in Covey binders, of course). The Franklin Covey software allows you to mark up documents, but not save notes in separate files or e-mail them to someone else. The Microsoft software has those features and it works well.

Battery life is fine (three hours) when not doing heavy input/output or viewing intense graphic images. It can be two hours or less with active use. Surfing the Web is perfect for the Tablet PC since all you tend to do is point and click. But there does not seem to be much software specifically designed for the new platform.

It may be that the vertical (industry) markets ultimately will drive the future of the Tablet PC, its new features and pen-specific software. After all, Fedex and UPS delivery people have been using handheld scanners and tablets for a number of years now. Insurance forms, questionnaires and applications can easily fit this form factor.

Software developers will be sure to provide tools and features to reduce the need for a keyboard and to simplify the use of the pen. Paper forms are not necessarily disappearing, but they are becoming digital and often represent nothing more than an organized window looking into a huge database.

The Tablet PC is impressive. But we are still learning how to deal with legacy systems in an unfolding networked world. We have some heavy lifting to do before CIOs can give sufficient attention to this promising platform. Even after 10 years, it may still be too little, too early. But I will be looking for those early adopters to come knocking on our doors at ACORD to see how we can help from an industry standards perspective

Its a bit uncanny that my first and (this) my last “Technology Today” op-ed column addresses pen computing. National Underwriter kindly offered me this opportunity when it seemed like I was one of the few tech voices in the insurance wilderness, but that has changed.

ACORD has changed as well. ACORDs genesis as a domestic property-casualty independent agency standards organization has grown to include all distribution channels and lines of business. In addition, ACORD now spans the globe with multinational members. As a result, my advocacy (including my columns) will now be targeted at a wider audience than property-casualty or the United States market alone, although I will appear here again in NU from time to time.

(For your reference, my complete column archive can be found at www.acord.org in “News Center.”)

So, this is not goodbye, but rather “au revoir.” And thanks for the ride, NU.

Gregory A. Maciag is president and chief executive officer of ACORD, the non-profit, standards-setting association based in Pearl River, N.Y., with offices in London.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 28, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.