Dive Brief:
- Wearable technology in the enterprise is starting to catch up to its popularity in the consumer market. The enterprise wearable market is expected to see a CAGR of 30.9% over the next five years, a much higher rate than the consumer market's 13.7%, although the consumer market is still larger, according to a report by ABIresearch.
- The retail market is currently the fastest growing enterprise vertical using the technology. Enterprise retail shipments are expected to increase from 2017's two million shipments to 10 million shipments in 2022 — a 38% CAGR in shipments, according to an announcement from ABIresearch.
- Devices such as smartwatches, wearable cameras and scanners, hearables and smartglasses offer employees facilitated customer interaction, threat mitigation, remote data access and hands free capabilities, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
The growth of wearables is a key factor in the expansion of the Internet of Things. From Google Glass' revamping to wearable tech for driver safety, wearables are already establishing themselves in critical job functions in the enterprise.
Besides offering employees information and assistance in the moment, the devices will collect heaps of data companies can analyze to streamline operations. Personal devices will also help track individual employee productivity and efficiency — and in a far subtler way than taking photos of them every 10 minutes.
As companies add more endpoints to their networks, IoT security will remain an immediate concern. The security risks of smart devices holds many companies back from implementation, and even companies with devices in use have not taken steps to boost security.
