The Apple Watch launch is expected to generate 3 million sales and at least $2 billion worth of revenue, according to digital marketing agency Greenlight. With today’s release, the world has gone into a frenzy of speculation. Will the Apple Watch be the device that finally invigorates the somewhat lacklustre wearables market? Will it be a gigantic flop? But aside from the consumer market, one of the biggest unanswered questions is what the device will bring to business and the flourishing enterprise mobility market. Here are some reasons why businesses should be looking very carefully at the flashy new wearable.
1. Remote working
Remote working, flexible working – all of the signs point towards a workforce that is looking for new ways to work and new places to do so. Many companies, such as Salesforce, have designed versions of their software specifically for the Apple Watch. The Evernote app, meanwhile, allows users to dictate their notes and view recent content on their watch. No longer will an employee need to check their phone every few minutes to stay up to date.
2. Invoicing and admin
The Apple Watch is all about convenience, and filling out expense forms is one of the most notoriously tedious tasks out there, especially when people aren’t fully aware of procedure. Users of the Apple Watch will have a choice of admin-focused apps, including Zoho Business Apps for Apple Watch and Invoice2Go. These apps should bring a new efficiency and timeliness to those core administrative functions that nobody is too passionate about, but that need to get done.
3. Travel
With the increasingly global nature of modern business, your employees need convenience and efficiency in their travel arrangements. The modern business traveller wants the key information available yesterday, without needing to mess around with paper tickets. Travel providers have listened: British Airways has designed an app with a ‘glance’ screen, accessed by swiping the watch face, providing a short summary of the travellers’ key flight information.
4. Data
The amount of data being generated daily has grown exponentially in the years since the ‘digital revolution’ began. Since the advent of the smartphone, the volume has grown even more. This has obviously created huge opportunities for marketers. Should the Apple Watch take off, business should expect another deluge of data, due to the amount that will be passively collected. If used correctly, this could have huge applications for driving business, particular in the world of insurance.
5. A new platform for innovation
The smartwatch is only just emerging from its ‘in utero’ phase and it’s fair to say that applications for it largely focus on taking something that exists and making it either more compact or more portable. But this is a new platform, with infinite possibilities. Nobody knew what innovations the smartphone would enable until they happened, and if the Apple Watch lives up to its potential, it could usher in all sorts of innovations.
