Will business travellers adopt wearables?

Wearable technology is becoming increasingly popular with consumer travellers, but devices such as Bluetooth earpieces, FitBits, Apple Watches and Google Glass are yet to take off with business travellers.

Business travel experts point to conflicting perspectives on the future of wearables. Some say they are a passing fad while others say the depth of potential is huge, and it is only a matter of time before they become commonplace.

Marten Jagers, managing director for enterprise, Concur, says “wearables are becoming part of the multi-screen, multi-device way of life, and will contribute to a hands-free future for business travellers. However, wearables have to serve as more than a novelty to make this happen”.

Jagers says in order achieve widespread adoption and ubiquity, wearables have to meet a real need or solve a real problem that business travellers face. “True disruption can only occur when a technology solves a problem in such a way that users can’t imagine doing the same task the old way ever again”.

“Of course, the always-on, completely-connected nature of the wearable ecosystem comes with a price. There are concerns about security when it comes to sensitive business information bouncing around an ever-growing network of personal devices as well as adding another distraction to our lives already filled with phones, tablets and laptops.”

Concur is a spend management solutions and services provider. Through Concur’s open platform, the entire travel and expense ecosystem of customers, suppliers, and developers can access and extend Concur’s T&E cloud. Concur’s systems adapt to individual employee preferences and scale to meet the needs of companies from small to large.