Imagine a world where one can rate the popularity of any individual from 1 to 5 using a mobile device. And in this imaginary world, these ratings are important for determining one’s employability, social status, and where one can live. Furthermore, each person’s name and rating is visible to everyone else through the use of a wearable contact lens. This world already exists in the Black Mirror episode, Nosedive, but is slowly becoming a reality in our world. It is not uncommon to run across people who are staring at their Apple Watch or Fitbit as you walk through the city. In fact, wearable technology is becoming an increasingly popular trend with 50 million wearable devices shipped in 2015 and an expected shipment of 125 million devices in 2019. These statistics suggest that many people are already incorporating wearable technology into their daily lives. So, in this article, we will investigate the implications of wearable technology on businesses and entrepreneurs.
Every business is looking for ways to continually improve the productivity of its employees. One research study found that the productivity of workers using wearable technology increased by 8.5%. This is a striking statistic. How are wearables doing this? Well, for example, companies like Boeing and Tesco use wearables to gather data about the time it takes to complete certain tasks. They can then perform analytics on these data in order to train their workers to be more efficient and productive in the workplace. Ultimately, wearables allow businesses to gather information on employee activities that have not been easily accessible in the past.
Productivity of employees is also connected to their health. This is particularly relevant in America, where improved employee health can allow businesses to cut costs associated with healthcare premiums. Many consumers of wearables use their devices with the intent of improving their health. In fact, 56% of consumers believe [pdf] that their wearable device will improve their fitness. However, even though wearable devices claim that they can improve health, there is no empirical evidence that demonstrates that they can. Studies show that almost a third of users will stop using their device after 6 months [pdf]. Until more studies come out proving that wearables improve consumer health or further improvements are made in wearable technologies, businesses should be wary of using these devices as a way to improve the overall health of their organizations. In essence, an investment into current wearables to improve employee overall health may not pay off.
Another challenge for wearable technologies is privacy. Even though wearables will allow organizations to gather data that was not easily obtained before, employees may object to having their data used for analytics by their organization. It will be important for organizations to prepare themselves to navigate these privacy hurdles before implementing wearable applications to gather data analytics. For example, organizations should be open and honest with their employees about which datasets they are gathering from their wearable devices. This will prevent employee dissatisfaction and potentially costly lawsuits.
Entrepreneurs should not only think about using analytics collected by wearables to improve their startups, but also be on the lookout for opportunities in the wearable technology market. Because of the potential for businesses to use wearables as a way to improve employee productivity and health, wearable technology is an emerging market that is rapidly growing to meet the needs of organizations. As of now, the wearables market is predicted to grow by 35% by 2019. These statistics suggest that there is a lot of potential in the wearables market for startups to develop new devices and applications. Ultimately, entrepreneurs that are looking for a growing market should consider investing in wearable technology and applications.
Thomas Beck is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University and co-founder of a digital mental health startup, and runner-up in the 2016 TechVenture Challenge for a novel therapeutic. Dr. beck serves as the president of the Vanderbilt University Advanced Degree Consulting Club.