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- Samsung Tablet Photo - Get Ready for Wearables at Work Survey of IT pros reveals drivers, benefits, and challenges of supporting wearables in the workforce

Get Ready for Wearables at Work

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Page 1: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

- Samsung Tablet Photo -

Get Ready for Wearables at WorkSurvey of IT pros reveals drivers, benefits, and challenges of supporting wearables in the workforce

Page 2: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 1

Introduction 2

The move to wearables is on 3

Being prepared for the challenges 5

Wearables at work: Real-world use cases 7

Leading the way in wearables with Samsung Gear 9

About Samsung 9

About the survey 10

Table of contents

Page 3: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 2

Wearable technology has decidedly left the

realm of science fiction and landed squarely

in the real world, where people are wearing

wristbands that track their fitness activities,

watches that do everything smartphones

do, and eyewear that displays videos, maps,

and more. And now the focus is shifting from

consumer applications to business ones,

where industry observers are predicting

profound improvements in productivity and

efficiency, as well as other benefits, for the

organizations that support them.1

Wearables are already starting to make

inroads among some enterprise-size

companies.2 But is the work world at large

ready for wearables? What are the factors

that will drive – or discourage – their

widespread adoption? What about the

challenges associated with introducing

wearables at work? In a recent Spiceworks

survey of 187 IT pros in the U.S., they talk

about business use of wearables, their views

on the barriers and benefits to adoption, and

use cases – both actual and anticipated – for

their organizations.

This white paper shares key findings

from the survey as well as other relevant

information to help organizations make

the most of wearables in their work

environments. The benefits are undeniably

powerful, and the key to reaping them is

being informed and prepared.

Introduction

Wearables are already starting to make inroads among some enterprise-size companies

- Tech.pinions

!

Page 4: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 3

According to the survey, while the

overwhelming majority of organizations

(94%) are not currently supporting wearables,

more than one third are planning to do so in

the next 12 months. This tracks with other

reports of growing adoption rates for tablets.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), for example,

projects an adoption rate in the U.S. that will

match that of tablets in 2012.4 And Fortune

magazine recently predicted that adoption of

wearables at work would outpace consumer

adoption, based on research by Harris

Interactive.5

The move to wearables is on

38%

Likelihood of supporting wearablesWithin the next 12 months

Are likely to support wearables in the next 12 months

1%Extremely likely

1%Very likely

3%Somewhat likely

33%Likely

52%Not at all likely

10%Don’t know

Page 5: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 4

T H E M O V E T O W E A R A B L E S I S O N

What’s driving adoption? The overwhelming

factor is employee demand, cited by the

majority of respondents that already support

wearables.

And what benefits have organizations

experienced (or, if they don’t support

wearables yet, what benefits do they

expect to experience) from supporting

wearables? The top three responses –

hands-free functionality (37%), enhanced

communication/collaboration (33%), and

enhanced mobility (32%) can be seen as

interrelated. As Brent Lang points out in

a Wired blogpost: “From hotels to nuclear

energy plants to hospitals, highly mobile

workers in these fast-paced environments

are using wearable communication devices

to intelligently connect and collaborate with

each other.” He also notes that these are

“…the devices that don’t get in the way of

doing work, which often leads to a desire for

hands-free wearable devices.”6

The benefits of supporting wearables

Hands-free functionality 37%Enhanced communications/collaboration 33%

100%

Enhanced mobility 32%Increased productivity 25%

Increased efficiency 23%Increased accuracy 19%

Improved end-user experience 18%

Improved customer experience/customer care 12%Increased availability 12%

Simplified management 7%Reduced costs 2%

Innovation 2%Reduced hardware requirements 2%

Other 3%None 18%

Don’t know 17%

50%

Page 6: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 5

While surveyed organizations recognized a

variety of benefits from supporting wearables,

they also associated a number of challenges

with wearables. Forty-nine percent identified

loss or theft of devices as the greatest

challenge they experienced or would

expect to experience with wearables. Other

top challenges included end-user policy

enforcement and security compliance/

requirements (both 35%).

Being prepared for the challenges

Challenges of wearable support

Lost or stolen devices 49%Enforcement of end-user policies 35%

100%

Security compliance/requirements 35%Increased costs 32%

Increased help desk calls/support time 32%Security breaches/threats 30%Ownership of personal data 25%

Software/app compatibility 24%Increased mgmt. complexity 25%

Device control 21%Device quality/reliability 21%

Bandwidth 9%API security 8%

Increased device volume 7%Other 5%None 3%

Don’t know 7%

50%

Page 7: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 6

B E I N G P R E P A R E D F O R T H E C H A L L E N G E S

For organizations that don’t support

wearables but are considering support, the

question is whether the benefits outweigh

the challenges. There’s a strong argument

to be made that they do – if organizations

are prepared to take steps to address the

challenges successfully. As Steven Bjarnason,

a certified information systems security

professional stated in BusinessNewsDaily,

“It’s a question of asking if your company

wants to embrace [wearable technology] as

a natural order of things without a plan, or

understand in advance what the implications

and costs are so that it can adequately deal

with the security, safety, and privacy issues

this technology potentially imparts.”7

Evaluating the security of devices is an

important first step. Choosing wearables that

can be locked, for example, will ensure that

unauthorized users can’t access their data

in the event of loss or theft. And engaging

employees in preparation of supporting

wearables is critical; it’s a good idea to train

employees to both maximize the usefulness

and mitigate the dangers of wearables.8

Employee education is also key to addressing

one of the other major challenges

surveyed IT pros identified: end-user policy

enforcement. Security expert Stephen Brown

says that “…organizations need to educate

their employees and create a culture of

accountability so that they respect corporate

policy.”9

Evaluating the security of devices is an important first step in supporting wearables in the workplace.

!

Page 8: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 7

When asked about use cases in their own

environments, 45% of survey respondents

said they would use (or were already using)

wearables to enable mobile communication/

collaboration. Thirty-seven percent use them

to collect real-time data/information, and

35% use them to run mobile/hands-free

applications.

Wearables at work: Real-world use cases

Wearable use cases

To enable mobile

comm

unication/colla

boratio

n0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

45%

To collect r

eal-tim

e data/

info

rmatio

n

37%

To run m

obile/hands-fr

ee apps

35%

To track ti

me/billa

ble hours

25%

To manage or t

rack w

orkfo

rce

25%

Other

None

Don’t know

6%19%

10%

Page 9: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 8

W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K : R E A L - W O R L D U S E C A S E S

A smartwatch is a great example of how

these use cases can play out. Organizations

of all kinds can use smartwatches for

mobile communication among employees

– especially with employees on the road,

who can get timely information from a

smartwatch when it’s not advisable to use

a smartphone (for example, while driving).

More specifically, healthcare organizations

can expect to see smartwatches impacting

medicine, from patients wearing them

for hands-free monitoring of vital signs

to healthcare workers using them to get

valuable data while their hands are busy

working on patients.

The survey also touched on using wearables

as part of employee wellness programs.

Twenty-six percent of respondents in the

survey indicated their organizations offered

wellness programs that reimburse employees

for wellness items such as wearable devices.

This is an area where smartwatches offer a

clear advantage over other types of mobile

devices. As one technology writer puts it,

“With a smartwatch you could glance at your

wrist [to get statistics], and it can save battery

power because you’ll get the data on your

watch instead of having to use a lot of energy

to light up your phone’s screen.”10

Organizations of all kinds can use smartwatches for mobile communication among employees– especially employees on the road...

!

Page 10: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 9

Samsung is a leader in wearables for the

workplace. Its Samsung Gear watches, from

the Gear Fit for tracking fitness data to the

network-connected Gear S™, made up more

than 70% of the smartwatch market in the

first quarter of 2014.11 Gear S™ benefits

for business users include 3G network

connectivity with the ability to call, text, email,

or use GPS even while away from a phone,

as well as an always-on two-inch display with

plenty of room for reading notifications,

viewing pictures, and responding to emails.

Samsung: Leading the way in wearableswith Samsung Gear

As a global leader in enterprise mobility and information technology, Samsung Business provides

a diverse portfolio of enterprise technologies including smartphones, wearables, tablets, digital

displays, hospitality TVs, printers and medical diagnostic equipment. We are committed to putting

the business customer at the core of everything we do by delivering comprehensive products,

solutions and services across diverse industries including retail, healthcare, hospitality, education

and government. For more information, please visit samsung.com/business or follow Samsung

Business via Twitter @SamsungBizUSA.

About Samsung Business

Page 11: Get Ready for Wearables at Work

G E T R E A D Y F O R W E A R A B L E S A T W O R K // 10

Samsung commissioned Spiceworks to conduct an online survey in October 2014 to profile current

wearable business practices and use cases, as well as to identify benefits of and barriers to wearable

use in the workplace. A total of 187 interviews were collected from IT pros in the U.S. Half of the

respondents came from companies with fewer than 100 employees. Another 35% came from

companies with 100 to 499 employees, and 15% came from companies with 500 or more employees.

About the survey

Sources1 “The Next Evolution for Wearables: Business,” Tech.pinions, October 2014. https://techpin-ions.com/the-next-evolution-for-wearables-business/36223

2 “Wearables in business: Five companies getting real work done,” ZDNet, June 2014. http://www.zdnet.com/wearables-in-business-five-companies-getting-real-work-done-7000030082

3 “Small businesses, not huge companies, will lead the way for tablet growth,” VentureBeat, March 2013. http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/05/small-businesses-not-huge-companies-will-lead-the-way-for-tablet-growth/

4 “The Wearable Future,” PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014. http://www.pwc.com/us/en/indus-try/entertainment-media/publications/consumer-intelligence-series/assets/PWC-CIS-Wear-able-future.pdf

5 “Experts say adoption of wearables at work will outpace it at home thanks to im-proved safety, productivity, and collaboration,” Fortune, October 2014. http://fortune.com/2014/10/29/will-the-workplace-lead-wearable-technology-adoption

6 “Wearable Technology in the Workplace: Driving Real Business Value,” Wired, April 2014. http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/wearable-technology-in-the-workplace?xg_source=activity?#axzz3JvfUsOON

7 “Wearable Tech at Work Poses Challenges for Businesses,” BusinessNewsDaily, June 2013. http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4677-wearable-tech-at-work.html

8 “Big worries about wearables in the workplace: Could education be the best security meas-ure?,” AT&T Networking Exchange Blog, July 2014. http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/big-worries-wearables-workplace/#fbid=vV-AQVpWg35

9 “Securing the New Device on the Block,” Mobile Enterprise, November 2014. http://mobi-leenterprise.edgl.com/tech-spotlight/Securing-the-New-Device-on-the-Block96629

10 “Killer Apps That Could Make Me Love the Samsung Galaxy,” Forbes, September 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymagid/2013/09/05/killer-apps-that-could-make-me-love-the-samsung-galaxy-gear-smartwatch/

11 “Samsung dominates as smartwatch market doubles in size,” CNET, May 2014. http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-dominates-as-smartwatch-market-doubles-in-size/