CLIENT CASE STUDY
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Overview
A global natural resources organization sought to implement a wearable technology pilot for enhanced digital connectivity.
Onsite employees often traveled around the workplace to obtain information such as checklists, operating procedure guidelines and essential communications, resulting in:
Inadequate
audit trails
Too much
“pen and paper”
activity
A lack of vital
information
not immediately
available during
critical situations
The companywanted a
Solution
that could
deliver key
connected
technology
benefits.
Immediate linking
of field employees
with experts
On-demand
information
about hazardous
materials
Transmission
of inventory
and location
data
Step-by-step
workflow
information
Why Accenture
A history of strong innovation-centered collaboration with the organization
An experienced wearable technology practice that has worked extensively with energy, aerospace and defense, and healthcare companies to demonstrate the benefits of wearable technologies such as smart glasses
In-depth expertise, security point of views and research regarding wearables, the Internet of Things (IOT) and mobility
How We Helped
The company and Accenture began by defining high-value use cases and creating an architecture to determine how wearables could be integrated into existing facilities, as well as how these technologies could integrate with their systems. A subsequent initiative focused on three important elements:
An in-depth examination of the management platforms for wearable devices, which helped to facilitate the conversation on how to scale an enterprise deployment of wearables
A deployment of Upskill’s Skylight platform, the rollout of wireless infrastructure at a key facility and the provision of “over the shoulder” coaching to familiarize and train personnel on the new technologies
An extensive look at mobility policies, and a cross-reference between what current policies covered versus the areas that would need to be addressed before successfully integrating wearables into the business
A key challenge was deploying wearables onto a network with incompatible security protocols. As wearables initially did not operate at the same security level as the company’s existing networks, it was necessary to deploy a wireless network for wearables only—keeping the system interoperable with the existing organizational network while maintaining a high level of security.
Results
This comprehensive wearable technology pilot has resulted in the company having a more complete understanding of:
- how wearables fit into their workforce,
- how their policies will be modified to align with this new technology and
- the technical specifications associated with a full-scale deployment consisting of training prerequisites, legal considerations and organizational adjustments.
Ultimately, by clearly demonstrating that it was possible to implement wearable technologies, build compatibility with existing IT systems and facilitate buy-in from workers, the smart glasses solution was seen as a viable way to help the company facilitate instant, hands-free data access and inventory level lookup on its journey to become a fully digital and connected business.
