Wearable technology

It has happened. The future has finally arrived and I am seriously excited. No, not the advent of the flying car (although that would be awesome), I’m talking about the ability to talk to someone through my watch, just like James T Kirk, or the unfortunate Yeoman Johnson who dies in every episode. The Apple Watch is here, but more on that later. There is a huge amount of interest in wearable technologies in the media and no general consensus on whether or not this emerging technology is going to resonate with the general public. After all, didn’t Google Glass get canned? Samsung Galaxy Gear has been on the market for a while now, and despite being surrounded by geeks, I know just one person who bought one, so you would be justified in asking what all the fuss is about, and will it have an impact on your business? Wearables have actually been around in Sport for a few years, in the form of Adidas MiCoach, a chip you put in your trainers that records how much walking, sprinting or general ambling you have done during a period of time. Saracens rugby team trialled a chip that recorded the impact of collisions to help understand the issues around concussion, and Nike had the fuel band which also helped you record your training. The issues with Google Glass are that you look a bit silly, you are walking about with £1,000 on your face and no one will trust you because they think that you are recording everything that they say. So why will Apple Watch be any different? Whether you like Apple or not, what they have created is a platform for businesses to communicate to their customer base, and in my opinion it’s the best platform – the iPhone. It is widely reported that we look at our phones over 200 times a day, and over 30% of people sleep with their phone in reach. It is totally woven into our daily lives, and yet very few aesthetic businesses use the notification technology inbuilt in these devices to communicate with their client base and rely on SMS appointment reminders and email for communication. The iPhone screen is valuable marketing real estate, but you need an app on the iPhone to be able to push the notifications to, so to really drive your marketing messages home, you need to concentrate your firepower on one place – the Smartphone screen – and combine email, SMS, push and in app notifications. This is where the Apple Watch really comes into its own, as your marketing messages will now hit the wrist of your target customers and allow you to interact with them. But it’s not all just about the Apple Watch, as chipsets become ever cheaper and the consumer becomes more accustomed to having yet another device beeping at them, the market for wearables will grow and develop. With the aesthetic market in mind, what could wearable technology offer our customers apart from delivering information? Watch this space! Boom Boom! Richard Crawford-Small is the creator of the iConsult system and director of RCS Business Consulting Services. He is also the co-founder of the Aesthetic Business Netowrk. Richard has become an industry thought leader and a sought-after voice on the use of technology to improve your processes and profit.