The Financial Express: Venture Leader of Cognizant’s Emerging Business Accelerator Says Wearables are Poised to Play a Crucial Role in the Workplace

Venkataraman Krishnan, Vice President and Venture Leader, Emerging Business Accelerator, Cognizant & Rajesh Rajagopalan, Associate Director, Emerging Business Accelerator, Cognizant

“Today wearables are not just limited to wrist-worn devices. Various form factors have also emerged that include smart fabric, smart helmets, smart gloves, smart implants, etc.,” writes Venkataraman Krishnan, Vice President and Venture Leader, Emerging Business Accelerator (EBA) at Cognizant, in an article coauthored with Rajesh Rajagopalan, Associate Director, EBA. “The decrease in size and cost of components of these wearables holds great promise for their market growth. It is now time for businesses to look at adopting workplace wearables.” Excerpts:

“Most workplaces, especially industrial environments, will be impacted by the use of wearables. They have been shown to enhance employee productivity. For example, workers standing at a machine are arguably more in need of real-time data than a person exercising in a gym or working in a traditional office setting. Wearables provide this real-time data, which is fed to an operator precisely when the workers need it, thus leading to improved productivity.

What makes workplace wearables useful is the fact that they possess the functionality that workers need, without distracting them from their main job.

Positives of workplace wearables aside, an important factor for an organization to consider while contemplating the introduction of these devices, would be privacy issues. The key to mitigating privacy concerns while implementing wearable solutions is to bring employees onboard early in the process, and instill a sense of trust by being fully transparent.

Organizations may find it difficult to adopt workplace wearables; but a well-crafted strategy would help streamline the process.

Businesses must reconsider their processes and how their businesses’ effectiveness will improve if workers have the information they need at the very moment that they need it.

Organizations should pilot and evaluate various wearable devices and platforms, by partnering with wearables manufacturers as well as software solution and service providers, and in this way, identify early adopters within the organization.

It is imperative for companies to choose the right wearable for their employees, by designing wearable apps from the ground up that provide contextual and timely information.

Businesses should interact with the workforce, and identify and alleviate employee concerns by instilling trust in the process change. It is necessary to focus on employee education and use cases with clear benefits for business and the workforce.

By adopting these steps, enterprises can increase employee productivity, while also increasing workplace security. Wearables are poised to play a crucial role in the workplace, including in eliminating unnecessary tedium.”

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