options for using Ipads in a corporate environment : SBS2011

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#141169 3-Mar-2014 15:07

Hi guys
I have clients wanting to use Ipads in a corporate environment, SBS2011, exchange, hardware firewall

Exchange Email : thats no problem, It just works :-)

What have you used on the Ipad, to access shared drives & files, from outside the network.
What other apps are quite usefull for this sort thing ?

I doubt there will be a firewall Client for the Ipad, but there are PC's setup in the network just for remote
access. They could Remote onto those PC's .
What Ipad apps have you found usefull ??
What does & doesnt really work ?
Any usefull dictation software, so dictation on the Ipad could be emailed to the secretaries PC ?

Personally, I would have thought a 10" Win7 laptop would be a better choice, but thats not my decision to make.
I'm Not an Ipad fan myself (I have a Android Tab) , I see Tablets used primarily as a toy with email, not a PC substitute. But I guess thats all changing.
I look forward to some suggestions .
Cheers

lxsw20

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#998226 3-Mar-2014 15:22

We use Winscribe for dictation and Citrix XenApp for desktop apps etc, both have quite a bit of infrastructure required to work. I believe there are cloud offerings of Winscribe, try sound business systems for that one.

wasabi2k

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#998237 3-Mar-2014 15:41

Look into Sharefile from Citrix for file sharing.

There are a number of Document Management Solutions out there but they all cost.

nathan

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#998252 3-Mar-2014 16:29

Windows 8 Tablet, for when you want a tablet but need a PC isn't an option?

Buzz Bumble

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#998256 3-Mar-2014 16:32

Microsoft Office for the iPad is rumouredly coming "soon", although current rumours say it may be based largely on the 365 web-version rather than a proper app.

CYaBro

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#998263 3-Mar-2014 16:37

You can just use the Remote Web Access website included in SBS2011 for basic shared file access.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

nathan

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#998266 3-Mar-2014 16:43

Buzz Bumble: Microsoft Office for the iPad is rumouredly coming "soon", although current rumours say it may be based largely on the 365 web-version rather than a proper app.

a lot of "apps" these days are just using web technologies FWIW

Buzz Bumble

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#998315 3-Mar-2014 18:27

nathan: a lot of "apps" these days are just using web technologies FWIW

I've noticed that. It's a rather silly idea since it makes it difficult to do anything if you don't have an internet connection. :-(

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sdavisnz

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#998322 3-Mar-2014 18:33

For Remote access - Logmein or splashtop or teamviewer are great.

for office work(word,excel and powerpt) office2 is a great app with cloud intergrtion.

also Office web apps are available via the broser for office 365 subscribers.

for accessing data on the move i suggest google drive program on the desktop and app for the ipad.

- Steve

Voice gives context

engedib

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#1000595 7-Mar-2014 10:44

I usually just set up a terminal server (Win 2012 R2 works brilliantly with iPads, Android tablets, or Windows tablets) where the users can just logon remotely and they can access all the required applications.

MCSE+M/S, MCITP

jnimmo

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#1000626 7-Mar-2014 11:10

With the new official Remote Desktop client too for iPad, you can access 'published' applications too, allowing people straight into business apps without having to load up the full desktop

If they are company owned iPads, you might like to use Meraki Systems Manager or something to give some administrative control over settings (i.e. push out new wireless network credentials, install apps from app store automatically, etc)

lchiu7

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#1003044 11-Mar-2014 22:04

Probbaly more than what you want but I did play around with providing file access to Ipads and it worked. But this required that the iPad fired off a VPN client accessing a Fortigate firewall and from there some app (can't remember what it was called) that allowed it to map drives on the file servers.

There was a distinct lack of interest though since most of the staff using the iPads are happy with e-mail and Boardbooks.

As for dictation, if you install Dragon Naturally Speaking or whatever the latest version is called, then there's an IOS app called Dragon Recorder that allows a user to record dictation, send it to somebody (like a secretary) and the file is loaded into Dragon where voice recognition can minimise much of the work required to transcribe the document.

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