Published on the 12/06/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
Software-as-a-service giant Salesforce has released a developers’ kit to support the creation of apps for wearables that can be integrated with Salesforce enterprise applications…
Right now Gartner has wearable technology sitting atop its “peak of inflated expectations” on the Gartner hype cycle, which attempts to inject some sobriety into the hyperbole that can surround technological product development. The analyst also says it will take five to ten years before wearable technology starts to deliver real productivity improvements.
Forrester agrees that wearable technology won’t be mainstream in the enterprise by 2020.
Salesforce isn’t waiting.
The company this week released the Salesforce Wear Developer Pack which supports developers writing code for Android Wear, ARM, Fitbit, Google Glass, Pebble, Philips, Samsung and other wearable devices and has the hooks to allow data from those apps to be fed into enterprise applications.
Announcing the developers’ kit this week Salesforce also conjured up a series of use-cases for wearables such as turning them into payment devices (Westpac is already working on this with Samsung, while Barclays in the UK is reportedly introducing wristbands that can be used for contactless payments) or hotel room keys.
It suggested that salespeople could also in the future access information from a wristband which might be less distracting to the sales process than opening a laptop or using a smartphone.
Meanwhile; “Remote service technicians, such as oil rig workers or medical device reps, will be able to access live data, review plans for the equipment they are fixing and get real-time coaching, right from their glasses as they work. And they’ll be able to share exactly what they’re seeing – completely hands free.”
It’s not Salesforce’s first foray into the world of wearables; the Salesforce1 Mobile App can already provide updates to a Samsung wearable.
Salesforce’s decision to offer support for developers working on wearable technology apps is a continuation of its broader strategy to create as diverse a Salesforce ecosystem as possible, effectively creating multiple entry points to its platform. It may be among the first to go down the wearables road – it won’t be the last. Other companies which are heavily invested in building ecosystems around their core product, companies such as NetSuite and Xero, are likely to follow suit in short order or risk wearable developers focusing their efforts elsewhere.
