Business Apps on Microsoft Surface?

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I just had a quick google for “microsoft surface business application” and surprisingly enough the SAP Blogsphere has not jumped onto this one yet (well, Craig has – sort of).

So let me join him…

  1. surface desks with (any) SAP UI on it – not a good idea from an ergonomical perspective. Might work if the desk is slightly tilted upwards, like those used by architects (probably way back!). Privacy could be an issue here, as your desk could be easily overlooked.
  2. surface apps that work with RFID products – place the product on it or near it and all relevant SAP transactional and master data can be displayed for you – areas of application for this are endless (POS, warehouse GI/GR, manufacturing, etc)
  3. graphics-based development modeling tools (valid for SAP or non-SAP)
  4. SD/ CRM / SRM doc flow (any doc flow app really): integration of document flow and archived docs – due to the increase of screen real estate, it would be possible for a customer service clerks to immediately have all order-relevant documents on display as the customer is getting in touch.

In general (and if you leave financial issues aside for a moment), I’d say that MS’s surface UI technology brings advantages due to a) more screen real estate and/or b) through a new and sophisticated way of connecting devices and products by simply placing them on the table. Privacy and ergonomics could be a concern in any area (business or consumer). And what about portability? Most people work on laptops these days. It would mean you still have your laptop (or similar) device in order to work whilst on the move.

I personally want to see Pong on it first.

One thought on “Business Apps on Microsoft Surface?”

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    Craig Cmehil

    June 11, 2007 at 12:25pm

    I’d go for Space Invaders first myself 🙂

    Some cool ideas there, my first thoughts were around scheduling in either MM or even in higher education but basically all around screen real estate. Imagine have your whole manufacturing floor, all production lines, everything laid out in a cool UI where you have cameras monitoring the lines, etc.

    You are altered to a problem with part of the line, you work your way into that part via the gui and can instantly grab all the info you need from the cameras, reporting, etc all on to your screen at once and have the whole overview. Including a pass off of data to “enabled” laptop or other device for the engineer to take back to their desk to work on the problem.

    I don’t see these as individual works areas but more like “central” control centers for large groups, etc. maybe even something as simple as a print shop where each person comes in and grabs their “work” for the day from the table and then brings it back at the end of the day where they also have a “wrap up meeting” – we are getting so isolated and virtual that I think sometimes that end of the day wrap up would be a most valuable item for teams to work back into their schedules.

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