Wearables at work

With wearable technology becoming a part of our daily lives, we explore its potential for businesses in closing the gap between information and action

From smart watches and fitness trackers to virtual reality headsets, wearable technology has hit the mainstream with millions of us connected to digital devices. In fact, research shows that one in six now wears a piece of technology every day with this number set to grow rapidly.

It’s clear that wearable technology has caught consumers’ imagination but what about the business world? Can companies use wearable digital devices to enhance the way they work or improve the customer experience? And, more importantly, can IoT-enabled wearables help increase productivity and the bottom line?

Research from Salesforce shows that more and more forward-thinking organisations are starting to use wearables in their day-to-day business. They found that wearable adopters are largely using or planning to use wearable tech for real-time access to customer data (49%), hands-free instruction or guidance for field service (48%), and also access to business analytics and alerts (47%). And when it comes to device types that are expected to drastically change the business landscape, smart watches and smart glasses are amongst the front-runners.

Seeing smart

While smart glasses remain gimmicky for consumers, their potential for businesses is palpable. They provide a solution for people to access applications and information while keeping their hands free to work. They enable remote video collaboration, establishing a see-what-I-see system that’s ideal for engineering support. And they support access to real-time guidance and visualised operations, enabling users to take decisive actions to improve productivity and prevent downtime.

To utilise this potential in food and beverage production, SIG has developed a new digital solution called Remote Services. By using video-enabled smart glasses, SIG can connect an onsite customer or service engineer to an SIG service expert from anywhere in the world. These smart glasses provide a secure live-feed to an SIG expert who can guide users through solving any technical fault or issue. This means customers receive fast response times, an improved first-time fix rate, more data insights and analysis, and ultimately more filling line uptime.

Watch the SIG Remote Services film to see how this smart glasses solution works and the benefits it delivers to customer operations.

Want to know more about SIG’s Remote Services? Contact us now or learn more about our Smart Factory solutions.