Young Professionals Corner
iPad - a Tool or a Toy?
John M. Adams III, SIOR, CCIM, founding principal and broker for Cornerstone Commercial |
Cushman Wakefield Alliance in Knoxville, Tennessee, is involved in the sales and leasing of
office properties. John previously was with Wood Properties and was involved in real estate
sales and leasing.
I was one of the lucky winners of the first generation iPad at the
Fall 2010 SIOR conference in San Antonio. Thank you again
KDC Real Estate Development & Investments.
Before winning the iPad, I was hesitant to purchase one,
because I could not figure out how useful it would be for my
business. Having an iPhone, I could see some of the positives, but
I could also see what seemed like more negatives in going away
from my laptop.
During the first month I was often asked how I liked the iPad
and how I was using it. At that time I was very glad that I had not
spent $700 on the toy that my two children (ages two and four)
used more than I did.
However, over the last several months, I have begun to change
my tone. I have slowly determined that there are many useful
applications as well as many fun games. I now use the iPad daily
in just about everything I do.
Below are several of the many applications that I have found
to be very useful on a daily basis:
Cloud Storage
I have all of my documents on my PC
saved in DropBox® and SugarSync®.
These two applications are very similar; think of these apps as a virtual
hard drive. I am able to access all my
documents through these applications on my iPad, iPhone, and
through any computer with internet access. Below are several
example of how this works:
• When you open an e-mail with an attachment on your
iPad, these apps allow you to save it for future use.
• When someone calls about a property when I am out of
the office, I can quickly bring up the flyer in DropBox and
e-mail to the prospect.
• When I am showing a property, I open the floor plan and
flyer in DropBox. We can view either document while we
are viewing the space. I can e-mail the document to them if
they want it for future use.
Document Editing
My first problem I encountered when I opened one
of my documents through DropBox on my iPad was
that I could not edit them. DocsToGo® is an app
that allows you to edit word, excel, and powerpoint
files. It also allows you to view PDF’s and e-mail attachments.
Once you edit with Docs ToGo, you can save the document back
to DropBox. I use this app to make quick edits to word or excel
documents if I am out of the office. This app can also be used to
make presentations to clients. You can view either a powerpoint
document or a pdf through DocsToGo. I have found that it is
easier to make the presentation of a PDF document.
Notetaking
Noteshelf® has taken the place of my yellow pad
and scratch paper that I used to take notes. I have a
stylus that I use to write just like I was writing on
my yellow pad. The final straw for me was when
I could not find my notebook one day when I was
looking for a note that I had made. I use Noteshelf more than any
other app that I have. I take all my notes when I am on the phone
or in a meeting in this program. After I take the notes this app
allows me to e-mail my notes, print them and save them to, yes
you guessed it, DropBox. So even if I lost my iPad it is backed
up in Dropbox.
Task Tracker
Toodledo® is my to-do list. This application is a
web based product. I have the Toodledo website
opened on my computer to make my to-do lists.
This syncs with outlook, my iPad and iPhone, so it
is with me at all times. When I have a phone call to
make, a listing presentation to start, or an errand to run, I make
a note with a reminder in Toodledo. These reminders can be for
something I have to do today or down the road.
Remote Desktop
I have used GoToMyPC® for years on my laptops or any computer when I am out of the office.
It allows me to literally “go to my pc” from any
computer with an internet connection. This application was just released several months ago. I actually
don’t have to use this as much as I did in the past because of
DropBox, but it is still a very useful app. I use this app when I am
out of the office and need to make more substantial changes to a
word document or if I am sorting and making substantial changes
to an excel document. I often use GoToMyPC when I am looking
for an e-mail that is older than the e-mails that show up in my
phone.
