INSIGHT Nick Offi n - dynabook Northern Europe
“The channel is in a prime position to capitalise on this burgeoning trend.”
Nick Offin, Head of Sales, Marketing & Operations - Northern Europe - dynabook
Wearables in the workplace
In this piece, Nick Offi n, Head of Sales, Marketing & Operations - Northern Europe at dynabook explains why
now is the time for the Channel to seize the wearable opportunity
In 2019, the productivity
of UK workers fell at its
fastest pace in ve years. It’s
therefore no surprise that
global workplace productivity
has also weakened, with the
annual growth in output per
worker falling from 2.9 per
cent to 2 per cent in the past
decade. Not only has this gap
resulted in a decline in employee
engagement, but it has also
equally e ected global economic
growth. To demonstrate
technology’s in uence on
the workforce, 49 per cent
of millennials believe new
technologies will augment their
jobs – presenting an interesting
opportunity for enterprises
to help resolve any employee
engagement challenges.
Business leaders nd
themselves at a crucial moment
in that they need to re ect
on current operations and
revolutionise their workplace to
keep their employees productive.
One emerging tech trend which
is seeing an increase in adoption
is wearable technology, an
industry expected to hit $54
billion in value by the year 2023.
Nowadays, wearable technology
such as assisted reality (AR)
smart glasses are not only
associated with the consumer
space, it is creating a signi cant
opportunity for enterprises.
As more wearables enter the
enterprise world, it’s not just
businesses who will bene t from
the growth in this technology.
e channel is in a prime
position to capitalise on this
burgeoning trend. So, what are
the opportunities for resellers
when it comes to wearables? And
why should they act now?
Assisted reality – a unique
opportunity for resellers
Wearables provide resellers
with a unique opportunity
to build their own ecosystem
with custom products targeted
at particular industries. For
example, AR – which refers
to projecting additional
information such as diagrams,
text or videos into the user’s eld
of vision – is being increasingly
adopted by industries which
rely on frontline and eld-based
workers such as warehousing,
manufacturing, healthcare,
aerospace and automotive to
empower workers and streamline
work ows. e technology
is particularly appealing to
these industries as it enables
hands-free working and even
training. Research by Gallup
demonstrates that after a
training session, employee
productivity spikes but returns
to its previous level after 90 days.
is growing adoption o ers
a good opportunity to carve
out a niche and become the
go-to provider for these market
segments.
It’s not just in the devices
themselves where the channel
can really bene t. As more
businesses look to adopt
wearable technology, they’ll be
looking for consultancy and
support on deployment, training
and lifecycle management. is
provides an opportunity for
resellers to develop a whole endto
end package for customers
looking to integrate and use this
technology.
e implementation of
technology, especially if it’s
going to completely overhaul
traditional processes even for
the better, can be di cult
for any business. Let’s take
manufacturing for example. A
manufacturing organisation may
choose to replace traditional
scanners with AR smart glasses
to improve worker productivity
during the picking stage of
production. Sta working in the
warehouse can use the built-in
camera or a hand-scanner of
the glasses to quickly identify
and scan products, with updates
to the manufacturing process
including any issues, available
in real time. O ering training
and support during this change
management process represents
another revenue opportunity for
Nick O n, Head of Sales, Marketing &
Operations- dynabook Northern Europe
the channel.
Once deployed, there’s the
question of data management
which opens up another
potential opportunity for the
channel to sell complimentary
services. Wearables create vast
amounts of data over a network
which can create bottlenecks for
organisations as they struggle
to e ciently scale their IT
capabilities to cope with increase
in demand and comply with an
increasingly tricky regulatory
arena. Edge computing solutions
provide a market opportunity for
resellers to enable organisations
to resolve these challenges
by gathering, analysing and
redistributing data securely and
e ciently. It also makes it easier
for cyber-attacks to be identi ed
at an early stage and restricted
to a device at the edge. Data can
then be scanned and encrypted
before it is sent to the core.
Such examples demonstrate
a prime opportunity for
resellers to maximise the
value that wearables have to
o er. Businesses adopting the
next generation of wearable
technologies will be looking
directly to the channel to
provide new consultancy,
planning, deployment, training
and management services. For
those distributors willing to
jump on the wearables wagon,
the rewards are plentiful.
34 | Comms Business Magazine | May 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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