CEO experiments by using smartphone as only computing tool for one year

Bring-your-own-device and mobility trends have been taking the business landscape by storm over the last few years. With smartphones and tablets constantly increasing their functionality, it would seem as though these devices are becoming the go-to tool in the corporate landscape. But can they replace the computer entirely? One executive decided to see what would happen if he did.

In a recent interview with CITEWorld, Benjamin Robbins – the co-founder of software consulting firm Palador – spoke about spending a year using only a smartphone to handle all of his work responsibilities. He documented the experience on a blog he set up and, with the experiment over, said he has no plans to get back to a PC, only to upgrade to tablet.

"Humans are very much creatures of habit," Robbins told the news source. "I formed habits around mobility that I can't really imagine going away from. The first few weeks [of going mobile-only] were definitely tough, but everything's changing and moving at such a fast pace, the capabilities are expanding so fast, I can't imagine going back to a PC as my primary device."

He added that relying on remote technology made him start expecting results and customer reaction much faster. The idea of getting back to someone when he got back to the office has been abolished.

However, there were challenges. Robbins said that file storage and sharing were the largest obstacles. Because of this, services like Dropbox became invaluable. 

While this level of mobile adoption is not likely to occur for some time, it is possible right now. With the help of an IT consulting firm that is familiar with integrating mobile devices like an iPad deployment, companies can ensure smartphones and tablets are a successful part of business.