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大公司正在把可穿戴设备投入到实际工作中-第1页

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公司正在把可穿戴设备投入到实际工作中。
 


 

我们都见过能够测量心率、热量消耗或行走步数的电子设备。还有些设备走得更远，比如谷歌眼镜，它可以在我们眼球的前方显示短信和新闻推送。

现在企业界正在思考怎样利用这些设备来改进工作。它们把可穿戴设备发给员工和顾客，收集有关他们如何移动、如何行为的细微数据，然后用这些信息帮助改进工作或提升购物体验。

比如橄榄球队把监控设备放到球员的贴身衣服里面，这样教练就可以清楚地知道他们究竟跑得有多快、使的劲有多大。办公室员工配备智能工牌，显示开会期间他们有多投入或有多紧张。仓库员工配备会说话的眼镜，在即将发生执行订单错误或叉车事故的情况下向他们发出警告。

对企业来讲，这些设备带来了巨大的机遇，但也涉及很大的风险。人们会自然而然地反对自己的隐私遭到现实的入侵，所以企业在要求员工、顾客把设备穿戴到头部、胸部或手腕上的时候一定要非常小心。

这些设备的早期试验给出了几条宝贵的经验。如果企业推行可穿戴设备是为了达成苛严的目标（如提高效率或生产力），此举会适得其反并削弱士气。企业应当把组织目标同个人目标挂钩，比如利用可穿戴设备让员工的工作变得更加安全或更加有趣，或给予顾客更好的优惠之类。

下文介绍一部分已经问世的这类新技术，以及企业是怎样利用这些技术的。

促进办公室沟通
 

Hitachi
日立职场显微镜。

想对这种方法获得一种感性认识，不妨了解一下"日立职场显微镜"(Hitachi Business Microscope，简称HBM)。它跟公司工牌一样大小，员工用系绳将它戴在脖子上。

这 种设备安装了一些传感器，可以监测到员工如何走动、如何讲话，也可以监测到光线和温度等环境因素。所以它可以监测员工走到了办公室内的哪个位置，并通过与 其他人的工牌的互通，识别员工是在跟谁讲话。它还可以测量员工跟人讲话时的状态怎么样，方法是记录员工打手势、点头的频率和他们说话声音的活力水平。

员工可以看到他们的交流习惯和活力水平怎样随着谈话对象或谈话场所的变化而变化——比如在跟五个同事展开一个小时的头脑风暴交流时劲头十足地提出自己的想法，而在有的会上仅仅是呆坐在那里。
 


 

这 款设备的LCD屏幕可以显示实时数据用于个人反馈和标准对照，并用于实施旨在促进合作的更大战略。据日立公司说，一家公司在合并两个产品设计团队之后引进 了HBM。合并数周之后，HBM显示两个团队之间很少互动。来自老团队之一的新任经理发现他自己就是原因之一，因为数据显示他跟很多新下属少有互动甚至是 没有互动。

于是新经理有意识地跟原先不在他团队的直接下属往来。另一些人发现他们本来可以跟另一团队某些人相配合，而实际上没有。认识到这一点之后，他们建立了新的工作关系。

但 要让这些设备见效，企业就得把隐私计入考量范围。Sociometric Solutions Inc.开发了一款与HBM相似的产品，它提出了三条建议。首先是让使用者事先知道跟踪、分析的究竟是哪些方面。其次，向他们保证说，经理看到的只有汇总 数据而没有个体数据。最后，是否参与要靠自愿。

随时了解仓库动态
 

Vizux
Vuzix的智能眼镜提供语音和视频信息，帮助提高仓库员工的效率和安全。

很多大公司都跟踪人们在其网站上的动态。利用可穿戴设备，现在它们也可以对其工作区内人员活动情况展开同样的分析。

以 Vuzix公司开发的"智能眼镜"为例。它采用SAP AG的软件，可以用到各种各样的环境当中。比如在配送中心里面，眼镜上的高清摄像头可以扫描条形码，然后用一个平视显示器为仓库工作人员提供语音和视觉数 据。这种眼镜可以提醒员工注意一些事情，比如某个物品属于易碎品，装载的时候要小心，又比如为某个订单拿取的货物拿错了。

在接入管理仓库的SAP软件时，眼镜可以监测到仓库各处的车流。它可以提示员工接下来应该装载名单上的哪种货物，并给出最佳取件路线，如果即将与另一车辆发生碰撞还会发出警告。

员工还可以让这种眼镜发挥更大的现场作用。比如要解决设备失灵之类的技术问题，叉车操作员可以跟某位专家进行远程视频对话。对话过程中，专家的影像被投射到眼镜的屏幕上。

但 是，尝试这些系统的企业同样需要小心。一次又一次的研究表明，只将新技术用于效率的提高会取得适得其反的效果——员工会慢慢地对这种侵扰产生憎恨。引进可 穿戴设备的公司应以员工的安全和自我管理为目标。它们应当强调，这些设备将会减少事故的发生，减少需要他们处理的退货，并增加他们独自解决问题的机会。

把"神奇王国"放到显微镜下
 


企 业还可以用可穿戴设备增进客户体验。比如华特-迪士尼(Walt Disney Co.)旗下的华特-迪士尼世界度假区(Walt Disney World Resort)正在其佛罗里达奥兰多(Orlando)乐园测试安装RFID发射器的腕带，目的是让游乐过程尽量顺畅。游客可以将这些腕带与RFID读取 器接触，从而把腕带当作酒店房间的钥匙、游乐园的门票和签账卡使用。（但购物时需要用一个PIN码。）腕带还可以接入迪士尼即将推出的度假规划系统。在这 个系统里面，游客可以订餐、订景点、分享度假照片等等。

所以当游客通过迪士尼网站或应用预订多个景点的门票时，腕带就会充当门票的作用。而当顾客进入酒店大堂时，远程RFID读取器可以帮助工作人员在招呼他们的时候叫出名字。（迪士尼也在测试具备RFID功能、原理跟腕带差不多但无法远程读取的卡片。）

将 来迪士尼可能会利用RFID读取器的汇总数据来更加清晰地掌握等候时间、顾客如何在园内流动等方面的情况。然后该公司就可以调整其产品和服务，让游客体验 更加顺畅。它可以允许顾客随时选择"FastPass+"项目的另一个景点，从而鼓励他们参观园内某个相对不那么繁忙的区域。（利用FastPass+项 目，游客只等片刻就能享受游玩项目。）而一般情况下游客必须事先做出这些选择。

迪士尼采取了多项安全措施来保护隐私。简而言之就是游客不想参与就不必参与，参与的游客可以控制他们想要的隐私程度。除此以外，腕带不会储存游客的私人信息，而是用一个随机分配的代码在加密数据库与用户信息之间实现安全的连接。

为了团队利益
 

Buffalo Bills Media Relations
球员贴身衣服内Catapult Sports运动传感器提供的数据帮助布法罗比尔队避免球员出现可能导致伤病的过劳。

可 穿戴设备的一次详尽实验不是发生在常规企业里面，而是发生在橄榄球队布法罗比尔队(Buffalo Bills)的练习场上。球员穿的贴身衣服上置入了Catapult Sports公司出品的监控设备"OptimEye"。每一个火柴盒大小的设备都安装了陀螺仪、加速计和磁力计，它们与GPS系统配合，测量球员的加速 度、最高速度、方向变化和总跑动里程。

教练过去通常是利用目测法来估计球员的疲劳程度。现在他们可以用笔记本电脑计算来自传感器的数据， 得出一个"球员负荷"(PlayerLoad)数字，从而更加客观地了解有没有人过劳（一个常见的伤病原因）。如果教练发现截锋在周二练习中的总跑动里程 过高，那么他就知道周三要降低其跑动量。
 

Catapult
Catapult Sports运动传感器。

这些设备也可以统一不同教练的进度。比如新来的中后卫要跟不同教练训练的专门团队和防守线一起练习。通过分析来自中后卫可穿戴设备的数据，教练们可以一起规划他与每一个练习团队的训练时间和强度，以免训练过度。

这当中还有一个长远战略。通过收集、分析本赛季的数据，布法罗比尔队将可以利用越来越多大的数据样本来深入了解到一些新的问题，并细化每一个站位的安全标准。

橄 榄球跟日常办公之间似无多少相同之处，但它们的例子是一个非常重要的经验。从球员到教练再到管理层，组织中每一个层级之所以对可穿戴设备感兴趣，都是因为 它强调的是大家的共同目标：保护球员的健康，同时提高他们的竞技水平。企业如果能通过各种办法达成它们与员工、与客户之间的共同目标，是可以给自己创造出 一个很大优势的。

（本文作者是巴布森高层经理教育学院(Babson Executive Education)的高级研究员。）

 

Big companies are putting wearables to work.

We've all seen gadgets that can measure our heart rates, how many calories we're burning or how many steps we take. Then there are devices that go even further, like Google Glass, which displays text messages and news feeds right up near our eyeballs.

Now companies are figuring out how to use those kinds of gadgets to improve their business. They're giving wearables to employees and customers to gather subtle data about how they move and act -- and then use that information to help them do their jobs better or improve their buying experience.

Football teams, for instance, are putting monitoring devices in players' undershirts so coaches can tell exactly how fast they're moving and how hard they're exerting themselves. In offices, workers are getting smart badges that tell them how engaged or stressed they are during meetings, while warehouse crews are being supplied with talking glasses that warn them if they're about to fill an order incorrectly or crash their forklift.

For businesses, these gadgets represent a tremendous opportunity, but there is also a big risk involved. People will naturally resist real-world intrusions into their privacy, so businesses need to be very careful about asking employees and customers to strap gadgets on their heads, chests and wrists.

Early experiments with these gadgets have yielded a couple of valuable lessons. If companies push for wearable gadgets to pursue heavy-handed objectives, like ratcheting up efficiency or productivity, the move will invariably backfire and hurt morale. Instead, companies need to link up their goals with individual goals -- such as using wearables to make an employee's job safer or more interesting, or giving customers a better deal.

Here are some of the new technologies out there and how companies are using them.

Office Networking, by the Numbers

To get a sense of what this approach looks like, consider the Hitachi Business Microscope -- a gadget about the size of a company ID badge that workers wear on a lanyard around their neck.

The device is packed with sensors that monitor things like how workers move and speak, as well as environmental factors like light and temperature. So, it can track where workers travel in an office, and recognize whom they're talking to by communicating with other people's badges. It can also measure how well they're talking to them -- by recording things like how often they make hand gestures and nod, and the energy level in their voice.

Workers can see how their communication habits and energy levels change depending on whom they're meeting or where -- a one-hour brainstorming session with five colleagues where they energetically contributed, compared with the session where they just sat there.

The gadget's LCD screen displays real-time stats for personal feedback and benchmarking, and for implementing larger strategies to improve collaboration. According to Hitachi, one firm introduced the HBM after combining two product-design groups. Several weeks after the merger, the HBM showed little interaction between the two groups. The new manager, who came from one of the old groups, discovered that he was part of the problem, since data showed he was having little or no interaction with many new reports.

So, the new head intentionally made connections with direct reports who weren't previously part of his group. Others struck up new working relationships after they discovered there were people in the other group they could be collaborating with but weren't.

For these setups to work, though, companies need to take privacy into account. Sociometric Solutions Inc., which developed a product similar to the HBM, suggests three approaches. First, let users know in advance exactly what's being tracked and analyzed. Second, assure them that managers see only aggregate data -- not stats on individuals. Finally, make participation optional.

Keep the Warehouse Humming

Many big companies track how people move around their websites. Now they can use wearable devices to apply the same kind of analysis to how people move around their facilities.

Consider 'smart glasses' developed by Vuzix that use software from SAP AG. The glasses can be used in a variety of settings. In distribution centers, for instance, a high-definition camera in the glasses scans bar codes and then offers warehouse workers voice and visual data on a head-up display. The glasses can warn workers about a number of things -- for instance, that an item is fragile and they need to be careful when picking it up, or that they grabbed the wrong item for an order.

When connected to SAP software that manages warehouses, the glasses can monitortraffic flow around the building. They can suggest to workers what item on their list they should pick up next and give them the best route to get there -- and warn them if they're about to collide with another vehicle.

Workers can also use the glasses to take more of a hands-on role. For instance, to solve a technical problem, such as a malfunctioning piece of equipment, a forklift operator can have a video chat with a remote expert, who is projected onto the lens's screen.

But, once again, companies that try these kinds of systems need to be careful. Research consistently shows that using new technologies to boost efficiency alone will backfire -- workers will start to resent the intrusion. Instead, companies that introduce wearables should aim for goals like worker safety and autonomy. They should stress that the gadgets will mean fewer accidents, fewer returns to deal with and more chances to solve problems themselves.

Putting the Magic Kingdom Under the Microscope

Organizations can also use wearables to improve customer experience. Walt Disney Co.'s Walt Disney World Resort, for example, is testing wristbands equipped with RFID transmitters at its Orlando, Fla., park that are designed to make visits as seamless as possible. Guests can use the bands as a hotel-room key, park ticket and charge card by touching an RFID reader. (A PIN number is needed to make purchases, though.) The bands also connect to Disney's forthcoming vacation-planning system, where guests will be able to make reservations for meals, reserve attractions in advance and share vacation photos, among other things.

So, for instance, when visitors reserve passes for various attractions through Disney's website or app, the band will serve as a ticket. Long-range RFID readers, meanwhile, can do things like help staffers greet guests by name when they enter a hotel lobby. (Disney is also testing RFID-enabled cards that work the same way as the bands but aren't read at long range.)

Down the road, Disney may use the aggregate data from the RFID readers to get a much clearer picture of things like wait times and how guests flow through the parks. The company will then be able to adjust its offerings to smooth out the visitor experience. It could encourage guests to visit a less busy area of the park by allowing them to choose, in real time, another attraction for its FastPass+ program, which lets people enter rides with only a short wait. Usually, visitors must make those choices in advance.

Disney has put a number of safeguards in place to protect privacy. Most simply, guests won't have to participate in the program if they don't want to. Those who do can control the level of privacy they want. Beyond that, the bands don't store a visitor's personal information. Instead, the bands have a randomly assigned code that securely links to an encrypted database with user information.

For the Good of the Team

One of the most extensive experiments with wearables isn't in a conventional business -- it's on the Buffalo Bills' practice field, where players wear OptimEye monitoring devices from Catapult Sports embedded in their undershirts. Each matchbox-size device is packed with gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers that work with GPS systems to measure the players' acceleration, top speed, changes of direction and total distance run.

Coaches used to apply the eyeball test to gauge the fatigue of players. Now their laptops can crunch the data from the sensors to come up with a 'PlayerLoad' stat, letting them see in more objective terms if anyone is overworked -- a common cause of injury. If a coach sees that the tackle's total distance run is too high during a Tuesday practice, he knows to reduce the amount of running on Wednesday.

The devices can also get different coaches on the same page. A rookie linebacker, for instance, practices with special teams and defense, units run by different coaches. By analyzing data from the linebacker's wearable device, the coaches can work together to plan his time and intensity level with each practice squad and avoid overtraining.

There is also a long-term strategy at work. By collecting and analyzing data throughout this season, the Bills will be able use the ever-larger data samples to mine new insights while refining each position's safety standards.

A football team doesn't seem to have much in common with an everyday office, but their example holds a vital lesson. Every level of the organization -- from players to coaches to the front office -- buys into the wearables initiative because it emphasizes goals they all share: protecting players' health while improving their game. Companies that find ways to get their goals aligned with employees and customers can give themselves a big advantage.

Mr. Wilson is a senior researcher at Babson Executive Education. 


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