Prague, July 21, 2015 – What can wearable gadgets find out about you that you do not know yourself? Would you want such data shared with your employer? Answering these questions could help to understand the growth potential for commercial wearable devices and offer a glimpse into ways they could change our work environment in the future. (TZ)
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker , commercial (used by businesses) wearables account for less than 0.5% of about 11 million units shipped worldwide in 2015 Q1. But this situation can change radically in the near future, once company decision makers and employees alike learn about the benefits of wearable technology. Vanson Bourne conducted a survey of 300 UK and US IT decision makers that indicates more than 50% of organizations have not considered of wearable technologies, and more than 30% cited that there are no devices that would useful for their business. In a wider perspective of Internet of Things (IoT) — i.e., machine-to-machine communication — companies are far from being involved in the discussion of new technology perspectives for their business. According to IDG Enterprise, 41% of companies with more than 1,000 employees and 65% of smaller companies currently have no enterprise plans for IoT.
Needless to say, statistics like this do not bode well for wearables. In addition, other market inhibitors include limited availability of wearable technology solutions, limited application to business needs, and an overall lack of awareness on the part of the general public. Nevertheless, wearables offer some straightforward benefits that could serve as inducements to enterprise adoption, such as improving workers‘ health by motivating them to stay active or by providing information that employers will find useful, such as workers’ locations. What follows are a few examples of how companies can utilize wearable technology and derive business value from these devices.
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