We’ve gone from convincing people that the iPad has a place on the job site to competing in a marketplace where there’s an app for every task. The App Store is chock full of tech solutions and workarounds for measuring, leveling, photo documenting, storing documents and annotating blueprints. Tablets are now full-time employees in workplaces that resisted them for a long time. Not just industrial painters, either. Clothing manufacturers, builders, even race organizers are all reaping the benefits of powerful personal computing devices loaded with helpful software.

The sudden acceptance of tech in industry hasn’t come without its hiccups, though. The levee breaking on workplace apps has actually (and unexpectedly) led to some productivity pitfalls. Too many apps that do only one thing well can lead to a lot of time spent on coordinating them all. Getting all those programs to speak the same language can be a tough challenge when managing projects on the iPad.

Here are some of the most common issues arising from working off too many one-trick-pony apps:

Continuity

The first item on our list is also probably the most important. If the apps being used in the field don’t match up with the apps in use by administrators, the strains on communication can be severe. Cloud-based apps allow changes made in the field to be reflected in real-time, from wherever they’re monitored. If the app isn’t connected to the cloud, the lag between these two operations can cause some serious disconnect. It’s essential that apps in the field talk to the apps in the home office, which unfortunately isn’t always the case with popular apps.

Username and password confusion

It’s more or less a given that any app you download from the App Store will be password protected. Some of your job-related apps will probably contain more sensitive data than others, but almost all of them will have taken this ubiquitous security measure. While they may not be around forever, passwords are for the moment very much a part of our lives.

Some alleviate the issue of keeping track of a bunch of passwords by committing the cyber security sin of using a single set of login information for all their apps. But this can come back to bite users in the event of a security breach. Cutting the number of apps you use to manage projects on the iPad will reduce the time spent trying to remember them all. It’s that simple.

Data transfers

If you’re storing documents in a different app than the one your annotating them in, repeatedly relocating the documents manually can be a little time consuming. If you’re doing this a handful of times per day, the time can really start to add up. When file formats are foreign languages between apps, data transfer can become additionally difficult, or even impossible.

Photo documentation

If photo documentation is a part of managing projects on the iPad for a business, it’s absolutely crucial that the process is streamlined. In order to remember which report you wanted a photo included in, or even what you found notable enough to take a photograph of in the first place, photos must be quickly and easily transferred from the device used to capture the image to the app used to format the report.

Email

Unless your app of choice has a function that allows different members of the team to communicate, email also may have to enter the fray. Once the pinnacle of convenience, email now means downloading attachments, difficulty in sending lots of photos and the inability for multiple parties to simultaneously work off the same document. There are ways to address all these problems, but unless the solution is integrated, it could take up to three more apps.

The list goes on…

We’ve gone convincing many of our prospective customers that there were efficiencies to be gained from managing projects on the iPad, to convincing them that too many apps can actually walk-back these efficiencies.

We believe an integrated app is the key to landing in the Goldilocks zone of efficiency. Furthermore, when it’s cloud-based and accessible from any browser, like TruQC’s web admin feature, the right app can also serve as an open line of communication between the field and the home office, with all of a businesses’ key data available to the right employees whenever and wherever they need it. For more on the necessity of a cohesive workplace tech solution, download our white paper on the importance of an integrated app.