CEO of Tekserve Kevin Hart details how your Mac customers can benefit by upgrading their Apple operating systems. The improvements made to iCloud, he says, are nothing short of "amazing."—Jennifer Bosavage, editor
With the recent upgrade to Apple's Mountain Lion and iOS6, the technology stars have aligned perfectly. In fact, if those stars were a constellation, we’d have a smiley face up in the heavens when your customers see all the cool things in the recent upgrades to Mountain Lion and iOS6. The new features, outside of streamlining workflow, are also a call to action for you, as the solution provider, to show your customers how they can use the additions to be more productive by upgrading.
[Related: How To Manage Apple Devices]
Some recent changes will likely cause positive improvements to your customers’ life both at work and at home. To start with the most obvious—the complete and common set of features, apps and experiences available across devices is an immediate plus for business users.
A Mac, iPad and iPhone can now use iCloud in a seamless fashion. The hassle of losing focus on time-sensitive documents as you switch locations and devices is gone. You’ll even be able to remember what websites you were reading thanks to iCloud tabs for Safari. It’s been a common problem for mobile device users that they would start reading an article on one device, say a laptop, leave the article to perform other tasks, and then have to go searching for it on another device, like their tablet. Thankfully, this is no longer an issue.
iCloud also now includes documents, and upon hearing this your customers will likely release a collective sigh of “Finally!” To work on a document on a MacBook and then run out to a meeting with an iPad, knowing the latest version of the document is intact and available for additional updates, is amazing. Add AirPlay Mirroring to the mix and think of the productivity gains and positive impressions you can make on your clients by showing them how such features can streamline their days.
Reminders and notifications will also be helpful. As a commuter, the idea of having a single To Do list that appears on every device is going to be an incredible productivity tool, especially as it moves to the Mac. Since ideas and tasks pop up in every meeting or free-thinking moment of the day, it will no longer be a problem to recall them because as they are dictated to Siri, the notes will be collected and easily found on any of users’ devices. iCloud will handle these Siri notes and populate the reminders to all devices, including location-based reminders.
In addition to reminders, users now have access to customizable notifications to keep reminders, messages and app updates in one spot for attention and action. Items will pop up in the upper right corner of your screen for a few seconds or until dismissed, and are then corralled to a single location. These consolidated notifications are the perfect way to get on track to start or end each day, and to make important tasks impossible to forget.
Mail has been upgraded too, and allows the identification of VIPs such as bosses, important contacts and customers, then views their messages in a special inbox. Users can also set up special notifications. We have already seen that this is a great feature for end-of-month sales negotiations.
The e-mail dictation feature is a true time saver. For those who have never excelled at typing quickly or just need to send emails on the go, this capability is great for finding names and drafting short emails. Double check the results because you never want the wrong message or wrong person to get an email, but the feature does make these fast notes easier to draft and send.
Yes, there are still a few quirks, but no deal breakers. Bravo to Apple for finally getting all their products together as one set of tools for use at home, work or play; truly a smart move by the folks in Cupertino. Apple’s history has proven it just keeps getting better, and your customers are bound to appreciate the efficiency that the new updates add to each day.
