More business in Africa are turning to mobile solutions to push their sales and business, underlining the importance of the gadget in Africa.

According to Lindsay Britz, regional marketing manager, Magic Software South Africa, a global provider of software platforms for enterprise mobility, more sales people are using gadgets such as iPads to conduct business in the field.

She said that customers who have deployed mobile field service apps have confirmed that they are saving about 10 hours a week, time that had been used for manual data entry.

"We're seeing growing demand for mobile business apps from both new and existing customers in all regions. One of the most powerful ways iPads are being used by the enterprise is for sales force automation," Britz said.

"With an iPad in hand, salespeople can guide a client through sales presentation, demonstrate their product and then access back-end systems to generate a price quote, check product availability and confirm delivery dates," she added.

Britz gave an example of a leading South African online portal who integrated SugarCRM, a customer relations software, on their mobile application which enables them to convert leads, retrieve, generate and update contracts, and accept customer signatures directly from their device.

Sage, an ERP company also is seeing the adoption of mobile gadgets as Africa expands its mobile user base which according to Ericsson Mobility Report, stands at over 900 million subscriptions.

"Workers and managers are increasingly able to access ERP data on the road to serve customers, speed up decision-making, and save time," Keith Fenner, Senior Vice-President Sales - Sage ERP Africa and Sage ERP X3 AAMEA, Director and Head of Sage Middle East said.

Fenner added that this affects business positively as they can now use their time between meetings productively.

Business people can also access data on the spot so that they can react to business issues more quickly.

The quick adoption of smartphones and other mobile gadgets such as iPads and other Android devices are changing the landscape of how business is conducted away from the traditional brick and mortar model.