The Tech Revolutionist, Singapore: Cognizant’s Venture Leader of Emerging Business Accelerator Says Wearables at the Workplace Bring Greater Employee Satisfaction and Productivity

“Falling sensor and chip prices, longer battery lives, lower connectivity costs and miniaturization of components have paved the way to greater mainstream adoption of wearables,” writes Venkataraman Krishnan, Vice President and Venture Leader, Emerging Business Accelerator (EBA) at Cognizant, in an article coauthored with Rajesh Rajagopalan, Associate Director, EBA. Excerpts:

“Driven by the need to provide real-time data and insights to workers in the field, and the promise of superior return on investment for wearable workplace applications, wearables look set to enter the workplace.

For instance, the likes of Google Glass, Vuzix and Epson augmented reality (AR) glasses, and Daqri’s smart helmet can enable engineers and technicians to access information from mobile devices and the cloud, perform hands-free operations in the field as well as establish real-time bi-directional communication between the technician and supervisor or SME back-office. When such products are complemented by industrial data-exchange protocols, machine monitoring and management information can be available in real time and on demand.

Wearable technologies can deliver real value in the workplace when they are introduced in business processes to improve worker safety, enhance operational efficiency, enable access to information in hazardous environments, gain deeper, better informed insights, and spot defects and associated decay early on.

Introducing wearables into the workplace brings multiple advantages, including greater employee satisfaction and productivity.

The rule of thumb companies need to go with is to ensure wearables are non-intrusive, performance-boosting accessories that simplify workers’ tasks and do not take away focus from their primary job. Forcing workers to accommodate new, unfamiliar or awkward equipment must be avoided. On the contrary, existing devices or technologies must be repurposed, enhanced, and made simpler, more intuitive. Additionally, wearables introduced by organizations should address increasing personal conveniences of the employees.

Wearables offer hope in situations where more traditional technologies, such as smartphones and laptop computers, cannot be used or are not a good fit. It is only a matter of time before businesses fully embrace wearable technologies.”

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