WASHINGTON — Wearable technology is getting smarter and smarter. But will items such as smartwatches and Google Glass become office staples? Chief Information Officers think so, but they disagree on when it’ll happen.
CBS News reports that a recent survey of CIOs finds that 81 percent think wearables’ capabilities for recording meetings, scanning documents and taking pictures will make them common in the workplace. Only 16 percent think that such devices will never catch on.
But 24 percent think such popularity is more than five years away, while five percent think it’ll happen in the next year. A plurality of the CIOs surveyed — 37 percent — say it’s three to five years off.
The survey was conducted by Robert Half Technology and more than 2,400 CIOs at U.S. companies with 100 or more employees in 24 metropolitan areas.
“Mobility and connectivity expectations have certainly grown beyond the consumer and made their way to the workplace. CIOs will be more amenable to adopting emerging technologies as enterprise mobility options continue to help businesses grow, and it will be exciting to watch how and when wearables make their way into the fold,” Robert Half CEO John Reed tells CBS News.
He says there are three main questions CIOs look at when deciding whether, when and how to incorporate wearables:
- Will the move will enhance productivity?
- Is the company is ready for the security risk?
- Are the needed policies and training in place?
