We’re beginning to see the enterprise wearables market as something far more complex and interesting than the BYOD sector it’s often compared to. Overall, IDC shows that the wearable market had a strong first quarter, with leading companies like Apple and Xiaomi enjoying a percentage growth in the double digits. Overall, we saw about 24.7 million devices shipped, which is a 17.8% increase from last year.
When it comes to Wearable’s connection to the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) sector, it’s important to look at the intimate relationship between the devices and their owners. The similarities between BYOD and wearables stop there. BYOD emerged gradually from a consumer market, driven by the need that consumers had to use their own devices for work tasks. What’s more, smartphones are general, all-purpose devices, whereas wearables are specific, offering a unique range of benefits.
Wearables and the Enterprise Market
Wearables offer a host of exciting advantages to the enterprise market. Today, someone on the road can make a phone call or use maps on their smartphone on their way to a client’s office. However, the industry has much more to offer than simple applications. In the future, it’s predicted that most wearables will focus on healthcare. For instance, a health band on your wrist could monitor vital signs or flag employees that are falling ill.
Both the consumer and enterprise subsectors are growing for wearables, with the two most successful devices excelling in disparate spaces. The consumer is far ahead of the enterprise market when it comes to smartwatches, while the opposite is true for smart glasses, according to Principle analyst Eric Abbruzzese, of ABI Research. Both markets for consumers and those for smart glasses are poised for powerful growth in the enterprise.
Smart watches are just one good example of the vast potential that wearables have to offer the enterprise. According to the vice president for Samsung‘s Mobile product marketing team, Eric McCarty, smart watches are ideally suited for the enterprise. For instance, police departments can be signaled if an officer’s weapon is fired, or hotel services can receive alerts if someone requests room service.
Smart Glasses and Smart Watches
There may be increasing issues, particularly on the security front, as wearables continue to grow within the enterprise space. Although they might not explode into popularity, there’s a broad base emerging. The future looks bright on both the watch and glasses front.
There’s a good chance that smart watches will start to thrive more prominently now, after their success in the consumer market. Enterprises are now beginning to turn to smartwatches to achieve similar outcomes to smart glasses, such as hands-free communication and better work efficiency and safety. This will continue as early adopters and pilot phases scale.
Smart glasses and smart watches will continue to be the most common wearables on the market, but niches in materials used to make clothing, or detect dangerous conditions are likely to emerge too. The wearables category is likely to grow in innovation and size, though the growth might not be as uniform as the BYOD category. According to some experts, the forecast is that less than 1% of businesses around the world will invest in wearables for 2017.
