the future of wearables for business travel - concur
TRANSCRIPT
ESTIMATED
NUMBER OF
WEARABLE
DEVICES
SHIPPED INMILLION
Source: CCS Insight, August 2014. http://bit.ly/15LKUVC
In 2014, Virgin Atlantic equipped flight
attendants with Google Glass. They offered
guests flight info, destination weather and in-
flight nutrition facts. Virgin is looking to roll
out widespread use of Google Glass.
PROPORTION
OF TRAVELERS
WHO WOULD
BE
COMFORTABLE
WITH AIRPORT
STAFF USING
WEARABLE
TECHNOLOGY
PERCENT
Source: SITA, Passenger IT Trends Survey 2014. http://bit.ly/1yRgX23
It’s no secret that the most popular
wearable devices are fitness
trackers. The newest devices go
beyond just tracking steps. Track
sleep. Nutrition. Heart rate. Blood
pressure. Wear your wellness on
your sleeve.
How much do you love to skip lines?
Starwood recently released the Aloft Smart
Check-in app, allowing guests to unlock hotel
rooms with a message sent to their smart
watch or phone. Guests walk pass check-in,
tap their mobile device on their room door
and enter. Bonus: no hotel key to lose.
Business travel can be tough with a language
barrier. Makers of the Sigmo App have built a
wearable device that translates for you in
real-time.
While visiting a sunny locale, you
could be exposed to too much sun.
Wearable devices, like SunFriend,
monitors your sun exposure and
warns you if you’re approaching a
high level of UVA+B rays, placing
yourself at risk of sunburn.
If you have to submit mileage reports, you
know what a pain it can be. The CarAssistant,
a prototype app and winner of the 2014
TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in the Concur
category, proposes the use of the Pebble
Smartwatch, Mojio AP and the Concur app to
simplify documenting mileage. Instead of
logging it manually, your watch would auto-
matically upload mileage and details about
your trip, including destination addresses and
travel times, to your expense report.
Fabrics are being developed that warm you
up when it’s cold and cool you down when it’s
warm. Packing becomes simpler when you
don’t have to prepare for all weather. Smart
textiles are defined as material that can
sense and react to environmental conditions.
Rich Adams, Manager of Concur’s Traveler
Services, is optimistic about how wearables
will enable the Perfect Trip. “Imagine being
able to simultaneously enjoy a cup of coffee,
carry your luggage through the airport and
stay informed of changes,” he said about the
TripIt app for Google Glass. This is the hands-
free future Adams thinks wearables will help
to realize.
What do you think about wearables? Please
share your comments below or on Facebook,
Twitter or Google Plus.