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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

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 8

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.

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 11

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

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 13

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.

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 14

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.”

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 15

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

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 16

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.

Wearables in Enterprise: The Potential 17

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 info@mubaloo.com for more

information.

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