Published on the 04/02/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
While Google Glass and other wearable technologies might still have something of a gimmicky feel about them, they will inevitably percolate the enterprise and CIOs need to be ready…
Consulting giant Deloitte has forecast that 10 million “wearable” computers will be sold this year – representing a market of $US3 billion. While most smart glasses, fitness bands and smart watches are currently consumer focused, Deloitte predicts that this is the year when wearable technology starts to percolate the enterprise.
Google Glass has yet to be released in Australia or New Zealand, but Deloitte predicts that a fifth of the Australian adult population under the age of 75 will have a wearable by August – for enterprises it’s less a case of BYO device than wear your own device. Deloitte casts the wearable as a smartphone peripheral, tethered to the phone, but capable of capturing and relaying information.
“Industries most likely to benefit from smart glasses in the medium term include manufacturing, oil and gas. Analysts have estimated that smart glasses could save companies up to $US1 billion a year by 2017 through displaying instruction guides, relaying photos and videos and interacting with remotely located experts,” according to the firm’s newly released report Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions 2014. Mining and health could also be among early adopters in Australia according to Stuart Johnston, national head of Deloitte’s TMT practice in Australia.
Deloitte argues that the glasses could be used to provide a flow of real time data to users, with the potential to improve productivity and safety in a workplace. However the organisation acknowledges that there could be health and safety issues to be considered prior to a widespread rollout of the technology, also privacy implications to be considered.
Johnston nevertheless believes that; “The untold story for 2014 is about the application of wearables in the enterprise.” He noted that a trial of Google Glass in a US police force had resulted in a drop both in the number of false accusations made against police, and a drop in the incidence of unnecessary force being used by police.
For enterprise CIOs the challenge will be to identify how wearables could be deployed, the business case for a trial, and how key information from enterprise information systems can be sourced and relayed to users.
