Tech firm: Augment your customers
First we had the Internet of People and then the Internet of Things. Now we are on the verge of the Internet of Things in People. Wearables are becoming augmented prosthetics. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
The wearables industry is taking shape with Google and Samsung setting the pace. But Nike, Apple, Garmin and Pebble are in the mix. I wouldn’t suggest taking these guys on unless you possess one or more of the following:
- Market reach.
- A track record in human analytics.
- Cool factor (“We’re a crowd financed start up”).
But I do see an opening in the enterprise wearables space, particular in respect of the emerging field of talent analytics. Keeping track of your derivative traders’ trading signals is a regulatory matter, keeping track of their vital signals is a HR matter.
An uncharacteristic increase in heart rate might suggest that the trader is about to have a heart attack, perform an illegal trade, rapidly evolve a workplace relationship or that a new mutation of whizz has reached the trading desks.
In any case integrating these devices into the enterprise architecture and serving up the data in a ‘talent management friendly’ manner presents a great opportunity. Today it might give your clients a competitive advantage. Tomorrow it might be mandatory from a health and safety or even a financial regulator perspective.