Touched by the magic

Even as manufacturers rush to cash in on the growing market for tablet computers, companies in the UAE have already put them to use in a variety of ways, particularly in hospitality and health care.

The Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach Dubai has pioneered the use of Apple iPads with the Middle East trial of the iRiS Personal Valet. The application provides instant and easy access to information such as the hotel facilities as well as local destination information. Using a specially programmed in-room iPad, guests can order room service, request a wake-up call, book a spa treatment or city tour, check flights or shop online.

The trial was launched in May, and has been successful. "It gives added value to our guests, giving them all the information they require, in a way that is easy and fun to use," says AnaMarija Raickovic, Marketing Communications Manager at the hotel. "Currently we offer English and Arabic, but we are working on translations and will soon offer all information in the guest's preferred language — a change that can be made in seconds before they reach the room, unlike replacing all the paper directories."

Along with benefits to the guest, the company has also benefited, with room service sales rising in the rooms currently equipped. "We are able to see what has interested the guest when he flipped through the content, what promotions and offers they looked at," says Raickovic. "It has also improved our service level efficiency and ability to monitor performance. We have no language barriers or misunderstandings when guests place orders and we can monitor how the guest's request was fulfilled."

Training for front office and back of house staff took place over a month, with employees finding the system very user friendly. When the trial completes after Ramadan, Raickovic is confident that the hotel group will extend the use of the system. "It has enormous benefits for both the guest and the hotel."

The Cavalli Club, restaurant and lounge in Dubai, also uses iPads. The designer hotspot introduced a remote desktop with access to the Quadranet Res V5 application to manage reservations in February.

"The tablets are used by our reservation team to manage bookings. The ease of interface makes managing bookings easy for our staff. Being a portable device is also an added practical element," says David Lescarret, Operations Manager, Cavalli Club. "Tables are automatically allocated and all details are easily retrievable. The software also enables us to generate forecasts and related reports." Introducing the new system was not difficult. "Training staff was straightforward. With the easy to use interface and touch-screen technology, staff took to the new technology without any difficulty," Lescarret says.

Good health in a tablet
One of the first industries to use tablet PCs was the health care sector. The Tawam Hospital in Al Ain has been equipping doctors and nurses with the PCs for some time, and won an Arab Health IT award in 2009 in recognition of the project, which involves tablets being used by hospital staff on call all around Al Ain. "Our doctors and nurses visiting home patients are able to access their records using a tablet PC. This is very hi-tech stuff. They can access the records from anywhere in the world," says Brian de Francesca, CEO, Tawam Hospital.

At the Emirates Group, use of tablet PCs, particularly iPads, is spreading, but through personal preference rather than corporate decision. Members of the corporate communications team are delighted with the instant access to traditional and social media, as well as business and personal emails, and constantly evolving applications, but the corporate pros and cons are still being weighed.

"Emirates Group IT did a trial of tablets among the executive team a few months ago. The result showed that adoption of tablets depends on personal taste. While some executives loved the iPad, some wanted to stay with their notebooks and some felt a smaller tablet would be more useful. We concluded that the tablet was a great content consumption device. However we need to do more work on it to make relevant for content creation and for running corporate applications," says Neetan Chopra, VP of IT Strategy and Architecture, Emirates Group.

The group is now strategically planning ways to incorporate devices such as tablets into the corporate structure, allowing employees to bring in their own preferred equipment. "There is work needed to find a way to make running applications agnostic to the end-user device, but also finding and enabling an IT security paradigm to support the strategy. Currently we are working on all these aspects of the strategy," adds Chopra.

Dewa rolls out apps
UAE's government agencies have also updated its online services. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has rolled out apps for BlackBerry's PlayBook and for the iPad, as part of what it calls a framework to promote and streamline its e-services.

The apps give details about Dewa services, access to bill-inquiry and help make payments online. Speaking about the PlayBook app, Eng. Marwan Bin Haider, Vice President/Chief Information Officer, IT Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, says, "Dewa's strategy is based on delivering its service to a wide range of customers, and its objective is to make their life easier by helping save time, efforts and money. This application is part of a variety of e-services available on Dewa's website or via smart phones applications, and will be available soon in Application World."