Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential -...
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Wearables in Enterprise: The PotentialThis white paper investigates the opportunity for wearables in enterprise, with examples showing how forward thinking companies are utilising the technology.
2015
Wearables in Enterprise 3
Introduction 3
Healthcare Use Cases 5
HealthKit 5
Google Fit 6
Samsung SAMI 6
Emergency services 8
First responders 8
Fire service 9
Police 10
Military 11
Warehouse workers 13
Manufacturing 15
Conclusion 17
Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential
Contents
Wearables in Enterprise Introduction Although wearables may have become a buzz trend in the last
few years, the concept isn’t new. The first consumer-facing
wearable devices launched in the late 1980s and mostly
comprised of computers strapped to your head or wrist, and
PDAs that weren’t quite as useful in real life as they were on
paper. However, there has been a sizeable shift across the
industry, which has seen mobile manufacturers embrace the
wearables challenge, making much more exciting devices than we
saw even three years ago.
With the launch of wearables including Samsung Gear, Google
Glass, Oculus Rift, Microsoft HoloLens and Apple Watch, all
promising enterprise enablement, it looks as though organisations
finally have wearable technology to help improve efficiencies in
the workplace.
Despite the current consumer focus on the opportunities and
benefits of wearables, the devices and apps which run on them
hold much promise for the enterprise market. This is largely
because there are vast numbers of work related activities and
specific job roles which require employees to have their hands
free to complete tasks. Examples include work carried out by first
emergency responders, warehouses workers and for use in the
military.
ABI Research is predicting that wearable technologies will
become an even more important feature of enterprise mobile
enablement strategies over the next five years, with the enterprise
wearables market predicted to hit $18 billion (£11 billion) by 2019.
To find compelling use cases for wearables in the enterprise,
existing apps will need to be extended and new apps or services
created, that make use of the unique facets of a wearable device -
sensors, glanceable information, quick decision making and
contextual awareness. This will require companies, and ultimately
developers and designers to understand the differences between
the available wearables, screen sizes, interaction types, battery
life, built in sensors and development toolkits.
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Enterprise
wearables market
will be worth
$18 billion by 2019
Wearables appear to be most effective as a way of providing
glanceable information. The apps and services that get created
for wearables will reflect this, as extensions of existing apps,
which provide users with what they need at a given time.
An example of this in action, an app like PowerPoint or Keynote
would see the wearable be used as a remote control, providing
the presenter with glanceable information or notes to help them.
Similarly, financial apps would present users with balance updates
or alerts about changes to stocks they are watching.
It’s highly unlikely that apps for wearables would be built around
long form input. They are devices which are designed around
Android Wear devices sold in short, fast interactions. They are
devices that are meant to help move technology out of the way,
reducing the amount of time we have to spend looking at a
screen.
Despite the current hype around the wearables category, there
are many who question whether wearables really will take off in
the way technology companies hope they will. Research firm
Canalys estimates that only 720,000 Android Wear devices were
sold in 2014, in the first six months of launch. Pebble, another
smartwatch manufacturer that found fame through Kickstarter,
recently announced that it had sold its millionth unit, two years
after it first became available. In total, during 2014, 6.8 million
smartwatches were sold, according to Smartwatch Group.
Yet, the category is expected to grow in popularity, with many
commentators and analysts suggesting that as with smartphones
and tablets, it will be Apple that ignites the overall market and
drive sales. Much of the demand for wearables will come from the
perceived value they provide to end users. For this to take place,
it requires developers and companies to create compelling apps
and services.
In this white paper, we shall look into how some of the most
forward-thinking companies, across different industries, are
seeking to understand and utilise wearables to innovate, change
the way people work, increase efficiencies and the safety of
employees in the field. As a market that is expected to reach mass
adoption over the next few years, it’s important to understand the
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720,000 Android Wear
devices sold in
2014
Apple Watch
Stock App
potential and opportunities, especially in order to capitalise on a
first mover advantage.
Healthcare Use Cases According to ABI Research, medical applications are one of the
main drivers of wearables in enterprise. The company predicted
that by 2016, 100 million wearable medical devices will be sold
annually and another 80 million will be sold to consumers for
sports and fitness-related uses.
Theo Ahadome, senior analyst at IMS Research said: “There is
increasing clinical evidence of the value of continuous
physiological data in managing chronic diseases and monitoring
patients' post-hospitalisation. As a result, a growing number of
medical devices are becoming wearable, including glucose
monitors, ECG monitors, pulse oximeters, and blood pressure
monitors." He added from a commercial point of view, the market
for wearable technologies in healthcare will exceed $2.9bn
(£1.75bn) in 2016, accounting for at least half of all wearable
technology sales.
These devices can, however, only be successful if the right
infrastructure is built around them. This will allow developers to
create apps to interpret, analyse and provide value to the end
user or to trusted parties.
As part of their wearables drive, Apple, Google and Samsung
have all announced health and fitness-based platforms that will
revolutionise the way we monitor our health and seek medical
attention.
HealthKit
Apple’s HealthKit SDK, announced at WWDC in June 2014,
allows developers to create apps that can share data with
Apple's Health app. The information is stored in a central
warehouse and if the user allows, the data can be sent to
other apps too. As part of Apple’s HealthKit, the company has
introduced new terms and conditions that prevent developers
from selling on data collected from health apps to third
parties. Apple is keenly aware of the data privacy issues that
arise when collecting health information, and is putting the
right steps in place to protect its user base.
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100 million
wearable medical
devices sold by
2016
HealthKit
JawBone
Activity Tracker
Combined with HealthKit, Apple has also unveiled WatchKit, a
new SDK designed specifically to help developers create apps
for the Apple Watch. It appears that with the Watch, the
phone will take on much of the processing responsibility,
utilising the watch to collect information and allow users to
carry out contextual actions.
Google Fit
Like HealthKit, Google Fit is a set of APIs that enable
developers to create health and fitness apps, but for the
Android platform. It collects data from third party sensors
(many of which will run on devices running Google's Android
Wear operating system) and stores this data, allowing Android
users to track their health history in apps.
Samsung SAMI
Samsung Architecture Multimedia Interactions (SAMI) is
Samsung’s own health platform. It all started when the
company first introduced the S Health suite on the Samsung
Galaxy S4, which has now developed into a whole platform of
its own. The APIs can be used with Samsung’s own Simband,
which monitors a range of parameters including heart rate,
blood flow, respiration, galvanic skin response, hydration and
gas and glucose concentrations in the blood.
All three of these development platforms will allow patients to
monitor their health with a range of third-party peripherals.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Professor Sir Bruce
Keogh, NHS England’s National Medical Director, spoke about his
views towards wearables, “People with conditions such as
diabetes, heart failure, liver disease or asthma will wear devices,
skin sensors or clothing capable of detecting deterioration and
bringing this to the attention of the patient or anyone else they
choose, through mobile phones. This monitoring will help keep
people safe in their own homes rather than just waiting for serious
deterioration necessitating an ambulance or GP call, followed by
admission to hospital for several days.”
Core to the potential for wearables within healthcare is around
pre-care, where patients and doctors can treat potential problems
before they become more serious.
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Google Fit
Samsung SAMI
Galaxy Gear
One of the first proof-of-concepts for health-related wearables is
the Mayo Clinic Patient iOS app launched in the US. In addition to
allowing patients to access their appointments, message doctors
and obtain lab and imaging results without calling the surgery, the
app will also soon integrate with Apple’s HealthKit API, according
to Forbes. This will allow patients to send data about their
wellbeing to the surgery.
For example, diabetes patients will be able to take their blood
sugar level and then send the data back to the surgery and this
information will be added to their file. Heart patients can record
their pulse rate and blood pressure and if anything is out of the
ordinary, it will alert their GP.
Orthopedic surgeons have expressed an interest in using
wearables to track their patients’ recovery progress too.
Depending on which body part has been operated on, the patient
could attach a sensor which would monitor activity, ensuring the
joint is getting the right amount of movement for a speedy
recovery.
Mimo has created an app for parents that logs an infant’s
respiration, skin temperature, body position and activity level
during the night. This could also be used for the remote
monitoring of elderly patients to ensure they are eating, sleeping
and washing; potentially cutting the cost of home care.
Medical research provides another huge opportunity for
wearables. The Michael J Fox Foundation and Intel are currently
trialling a wrist-mounted wearable for Parkinson’s Disease
sufferers. Sixteen patients have been issued with bracelets to
monitor symptom patterns, with the data being sent to analysts
who can assess the development of the disease.
Stage two of the experiment will merge the wearable with an app.
This will allow participants to input information about their
medication and their own experiences, helping researchers to
better understand how medicines and emotions can affect a
Parkinson’s sufferer.
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Mayo Clinic app with
HealthKit integration
Image credit: Edesix
Emergency services When an emergency happens, it's important that those first on
the scene have the equipment they need to do the job properly
and efficiently. This commonly means they'll need their hands free
to deal with multiple issues at once - whether that's a paramedic
tending to a patient and recording information about their
condition, or a fireman searching for people in a fire while
assessing the best route to get to them.
Wearables, adapted for rugged use in the field or emergency
situations, present a perfect solution: providing the insight and
tools that emergency services need, while giving them two hands
to carry out essential care at the same time.
Samsung and researchers at Ovum collaborated recently at
Samung’s Futurescape event in London and expressed the need
for wearables in emergency services. Adrian Drury from Ovum
said: “Fire, police, rescue, these are the people who are really
interested in wearable tech to make their jobs better.”
First responders
Drury spoke about how A&E doctors were able to use Google
Glass to see vital information about the patients and treat them at
the same time.
Another innovation showcased was BAE Systems’ Google Glass
implementation. BAE’s app allows first responders to collect data
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and images from an area, while they are treating those affected
by the disaster, or partaking in a search and recovery mission.
They are able to clear rubble with their hands, for example, while
sending the data about their location back to servers that store
information and share it with other first responders. This could be
the same for the search and recovery team, paramedics or fire
service.
DeEtte Gray, president of BAE Systems’ intelligence and security
sector said: “Disasters affecting a large number of people spread
across a wide geographical area present a significant challenge
for emergency responders.”
While Peder Jungck, also from the company, explained:
“Crowdsourcing enables emergency responders to quickly
provide real-time images, video and intelligence back to the
command post, so decision makers can effectively determine
when and where to deploy resources”.
Fire service
Fire services are already being equipped with robust cameras on
their helmets, that record the view as they move through an
incident. In the future, this equipment will also include
temperature sensors that can alert the fire fighter as to whether
the area they are about to enter is safe. It could also be feasible
that these cameras could be linked to a smartphone app, to
stream it back to a central control room.
ProFiTex is a solution developed by the Vienna University of
Technology and does exactly this, colour coding areas that are
safe and areas that are not. The equipment can also be used to
detect if there are people in the building through the smoke. It
measures the distances between where the responder is standing
and where there are obstacles (including walls) to work out the
depth of the room.
ProFiTex co-developer Christian Schoenauer said: “We use the
depth information to create a model of the environment, of the
house or of a room – and then we map the thermal information
onto that model. So what we get in the end is a textured 3-D
model which, for example, could be sent to an operational
commander in the firefighting scenario.”
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Google Glass
Police
With new police stop and search laws being introduced in the UK,
which specify that police officers must record more information
about their actions, the case for wearables is clear. Officers in
London are already trialling portable cameras that record the
searches, ensuring they are sticking to the rules.
A year-long trial of wearable cameras in Rialto, near Los Angeles,
saw complaints from the public drop by 88% and use of force by
officers fall by 60%. The critical information this technology is
helping to collect is helping to drastically reduce the amount of
time and money trials cause. This is in addition to providing the
public with reassurance that any police brutality can be captured
- meaning police are less likely to use unnecessary force.
If a smart solution, such as an app on Google Glass, was used
integrating facial recognition, or a biometric reader that can read
a fingerprint, the person being stopped could be cross-referenced
with the police database. This would empower the officer with
relevant information to understand better if they are dealing with
a wanted criminal or someone who already has a record.
Other solutions for police forces are also being tested around the
world. These include sensors that monitor an officer's pulse and
other biometric indicators, with a holster sensor that sends out a
warning signal when a gun is drawn.
Much of this technology would be linked to a host device, such as
a specialised smartphone, that is able to securely transmit data,
via an app, back to a central command to be analysed and
processed. By utilising modern mobile technology, police forces
have the ability to utilise the data gathered, which could reduce
the amount of paper work currently involved.
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Image Credit: Norwegian Army
Military
Wearables were first developed for military and aviation use
cases, but the armed forces are also now looking at using new
consumer technologies, such as Google Glass and Oculus Rift, to
cut their own development costs.
While in combat and also in training, wearables provide the
military with the tools needed to monitor enemy actions and also
track their surroundings.
US company TrackingPoint has unveiled a smart rifle that works
with Google Glass to allow soldiers to fire their weapon around
corners. The glasses send a live video feed from the gun’s sight,
meaning the individual doesn’t need to look through the rifle’s
rangefinder to see their target. The app, created for Google Glass
can also provide information about the target and weapon to
operatives including range to target, shot angle, compass
direction, battery life, as well as zoom setting on the rifle.
In another Google Glass-based app, the US Air Force is testing
out the use of the headset as part of its Battlefield Air Targeting
Man-Aided Knowledge (BATMAN) Human Performance Wing. It is
thought that parachuters equipped with the device could enter an
area to perform search and rescue missions and also direct vector
fighter and bomber aircraft to their targets.
The Norwegian military is experimenting with software created
for Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset, to operate its tanks.
Operatives wear the headset and use sensors situated around the
vehicle to enable them to navigate around terrain.
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Using widely-available tech such as the Oculus Rift provides
significant cost savings to the military, where budgets are usually
very stretched. An Oculus headset costs just $350 (£206), versus
specific military-developed headsets that cost around $35,000
(£20,360) to produce.
The cameras installed on the tank would cost $100,000 (£58,950)
if developed by the government’s military research unit, while
those used in the experiment cost around $2,000 (£1,180).
Following the unveiling of Microsoft’s HoloLens, NASA has also
announced that it will begin using the technology from the
summer for its scientists to explore the surface of Mars, using
images and data collected from the Mars Rover. HoloLens will
provide a holographic overlay, using software developed by
Microsoft and NASA scientists at the organisation's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in California.
Wearables also extend outside of the headset space, too. In such
a physically demanding role, it’s important that certain
parameters, such as heart rate, blood pressure and temperature
are monitored.
The Bioharness monitors the same factors as many medical
wearables, but sensors are embedded into a shirt, meaning there
isn’t any extra equipment for the soldier to carry. Similarly, the
MC10 helmet replaces a soldier’s regular headwear and can
monitor any wounds to the head.
In all of these cases, it’s hardware and software, or apps, that
make the opportunities possible. Each example showcases how
different companies are approaching problem solving to provide
better tools to people who need them. This requires looking at
what the hardware is capable of and developing apps and
services around it. In other cases, it is both hardware and software
that needs to be developed, or modified to achieve the use case.
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Warehouse workers Whether an operative is responsible for picking loads from the
warehouse shelves, drives a forklift truck, or simply needs to stock
take, most need their hands free at all times.
Wearables are not a new concept in the warehouse and logistics
industry - warehouse workers have been wearing wrist scanners
for years - but now the next advancement is using glasses such as
Google Glass to find the load and pack it safely.
Although the wrist scanners do leave operatives’ hands free for
picking and packing items, they don’t provide in depth
information, which may help them navigate to the item, or show
how to lift the item safely, for example. With modern wearables,
they can have the information in front of their eyes, so warehouse
workers no longer need to take their eyes off the job to look at
their wrist.
Active Ants is one company that has developed a Google Glass
app for warehouse pickers and packers. The operative wears the
glasses and is presented with a list of the items needed for an
order. The custom-built stock app has reduced the error rate by 12
per cent and has increased efficiency of picking stock by 15 per
cent.
Jeroen Dekker, a managing partner at Active Ants said: “The first
benefit here is that both the picker’s hands are now free to access
products on the shelves.
“The second benefit is the step towards a paperless world: lists no
longer need to be printed, signed and bound. The third and
probably the biggest advantage is the time saved by sending
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orders directly to the Google Glass, without first printing, signing
and binding them.
“The fourth benefit is error reduction. Since the orders appear one
by one on the Glass, orders cannot be mixed or forgotten.”
Using a bespoke app with Google Glass also allows the logistics
firm to offer health and safety information to the warehouse
operative. For example, it can specify the best way to pick up a
package, or use a forklift truck, to ensure the worker doesn’t hurt
themselves or put others in danger while moving around the
space.
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Manufacturing With machinery posing risks to employees’ wellbeing, producing a
light, unobstructive wearable is important.
More often than not, employees working on the front line must
have their hands free and wear safety goggles and clothing to
prevent any toxic substances or materials injuring them.
A number of solutions have been developed that allow employees
to use machinery while also adhering to health and safety policies.
This can replace traditional methods of extensive pre-work
training and paper-based logging workflows.
The XOne safety glasses include a barcode scanning function with
a heads up display that doesn’t get in the way of the operative’s
line of sight. It also includes video and audio telepresence and
biometrics tracking, which can help discover and resolve workflow
issues.
Similarly, other head-based products in development, such as
Sony’s SmartEyeglass, focus on training workers by overlaying
augmented reality instructions over the top of the real-life video.
General Motors chose to test Google Glass in its car assembly
process. Cathy Clegg, North American manufacturing Vice
President, said “for a production operator to have their hands free
while they’re working is critical, so we used it with paint [and]
sealing.”
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Clegg explained: “Some other ideas, although not in practice yet,
have been [using Google Glass for] quality checks [and] long-
Takt-time operations.” 1
Virgin Atlantic has already successfully trialled Google Glass for
its premium customer experience, helping with check-in and
providing employees with glanceable information. Since seeing
the potential of the technology, Virgin is also planning to use
Glass as a tool to guide technicians and engineers when carrying
out maintenance work, and use it to communicate with
manufacturers for technical guidance. In the future, when the
device is further developed, it may be that it could be used to
identify stress fractures on thousands of aircraft components.
In order to do so, it’s likely that Virgin would use a custom
designed app, that brings in data from multiple different sources
to achieve what it needs to.
Wearables can also improve employee monitoring, beaming back
information about potential delays along the production line to
managers, while also presenting data about individual worker
productivity. Companies who utilise the unique attributes of
wearables, and use apps that are readily available or created
specifically to solve certain business requirements, stand to
enhance what can be achieved with mobilisation.
More than anything, wearables will help in situations where a
hands free approach is required, or where being able to discreetly
access information is important.
Takt time is the average unit production time needed to meet customer demand1
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Conclusion As this white paper has shown, wearables present a number of
opportunities for companies to improve the way in which
employees or other stakeholders access information. Where
mobile has been seen as an immediate channel, wearables take
that one step further by being physically attached to owners.
Wearables should be thought of as an extension of our mobile
devices, offering companies the ability to provide important
contextual information, based on the user’s actions. As has been
discussed, a lot of this is enabled because of data fed either from
the wearable to an app on a paired smartphone, or through data
fed from the app, to the wearable. This means that the
intelligence is driven by what developers can create for wearables,
or how they alter existing apps to provide true value.
Outside of the wide benefits that wearables will bring to health
monitoring, they will also be hugely beneficial to job roles or
situations that require a hands free interaction.
All of this requires companies to consider how to utilise wearables
in the best way possible. Whilst some, such as HoloLens are
intended to provide immersive computing and imaging, others,
such as Android Wear or Apple Watch are intended to help with
health tracking and providing actionable alerts and interactions.
Ultimately, it will be the apps which define what can be achieved
with wearables. This requires assessing what the desired use case
is, the benefits that will be delivered to both the end user and the
company creating the app. Some wearables will merely feed data
into an app on a smartphone or tablet, such as FitBit, whilst
others will require apps to be extended or created to run on both
a smartphone and smartwatch or smart wearable.
When companies are reviewing or creating their mobile strategy,
it will be important for them to consider how wearables fit in with
this. A number of companies mentioned in this white paper have
already started experimenting with what is possible and how best
to utilise these new tools.
As this is still a relatively new space, companies who forge ahead
will be able to create new opportunities and find ways to innovate.
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If anything, wearables will only further reinforce the importance of
investing in mobile technologies to help employees be more
efficient and deliver valuable business intelligence.
To view other white papers that discuss topics including strategy,
the drivers for wearables or how to approach mobile security
please visit www.mubaloo.com/whitepapers.
To find out how wearables could help your organisation visit
www.mubaloo.com or email [email protected] for more
information.
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