How to Tap Value of Smart Glasses

Smart glasses can improve collaboration and cut costs, but moving past the “science experiment” stage is a challenge for many carriers.

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Many P&C carriers are realizing the value of smart glasses for claims management, underwriting and training but are struggling to successfully implement the technology. Smart glasses enable features like hands-free video and streamlined documentation that improve an adjuster’s efficiency when responding to a complex claim. But, even though 81% of CIOs believe wearables will eventually enter the workplace, integrating the technology past the “science experiment” stage is a challenge for many carriers. An organizational commitment to robust connectivity and security fundamentals are sometimes daunting prerequisites to a successful wearables program, but the biggest obstacle isn’t technology-related; it’s change management. This guide provides implementation best practices built from successful deployments. These strategies illustrate a “validation-to- production” road map to scale smart glasses technology within your systems. See also: Wearable Technology: Benefits for Insurers   You will also learn which technology features provide immediate out-of-the-box value and which to defer until you’re fully scaled. Whether you are already running a validation program or doing research for future implementations, this guide covers how to overcome pitfalls, identify essential members of a project implementation team and generate return on investment (ROI) faster. Common Obstacles Surveys of carriers exploring smart glasses revealed that nearly every unsuccessful implementation came down to three factors:
  • Scope Creep: People are often blinded by the “cool” factor of emerging technologies. They stop thinking in practical terms and instead specify outside-the-box features that are unrealistic or cost-prohibitive for a pilot.
  • Slow Decisions: Carriers that succeed with smart glasses are the ones that test, measure, interate and move fast. You should evaluate challenges and test solutions as soon as possible rather than agonizing over options.
  • Team Alignment: Successful implementation requires continuing collaboration among project management, the executive team, IT and end users, as well as any external stakeholders, such as customers, who may be affected.
Screen Shot 2016-11-29 at 7.47.36 PM The Vuzix M100, pictured above, is one of the many smart glasses capable of delivering value from day one. Visit our smart glasses comparison for more details on wearable devices from Google, Epson, Vuzix and ODG. Features Your Pilot Should Include for Rapid Value Risk-control skills are in high demand, and senior risk auditors dislike heavy travel requirements. The features listed below help major carriers use remote collaboration to reduce travel for senior risk controllers while simultaneously training new adjusters and risk control auditors.
      • Video Collaboration: Simultaneous two-way video and audio allows experts to remotely assist front-line workers any time, anywhere, on-demand. Workers can broadcast live video feeds to allow the expert to “see what I see” for troubleshooting, training, supervising, inspections and more. Enterprises have paid for their wearables validation program in a single day from travel savings alone.
      • Annotation: Field teams can capture images and send them to back-office experts for review. The back-office experts can then mark directly on the images, make notes and upload those annotations directly to the field teams’ smart glasses in real time.
      • Documentation: Insurers in the field can save valuable time per job by using smart glasses to upload captured audio, video and images to the cloud.
Who Should Be Involved? We often joke that every major carrier has a pair of Google Glass sitting on a shelf somewhere. Someone from IT typically procured those smart glasses with the best of intentions, but simply ordering hardware without an implementation plan or assigned project roles will not generate value. Implementing a disruptive, innovative technology requires overcoming people’s inherent resistance to change. A project management team, which includes consistent and visible involvement from senior leaders and a communications plan, are the first steps to successful change management. See also: The Case for Connected Wearables   Decisions should not be made in a bubble or based on a bare minimum of heavily filtered information delivered to senior leaders via status reports. The executive team should have a keen understanding of project deadlines to provide guidance and remove roadblocks for the project management team. In our experience, a successful implementation team includes: a project manager, a technical expert, an executive leader, an end-user manager to champion the project and a customer success manager provided by the technology vendor. Rarely is technology the roadblock between idea and value. Instead, the difference between success and failure is a keen attention to a rigorous experimentation process. Having the right team in place and making sure the team understands the desired outcomes of the experiment will improve your ability to generate faster value and adoption. Wearables are not right for every company. Better to experiment with a validation program today to explore the viability of wearables before you are playing catch-up with competitors that have been using this technology for years. You can download the full white paper for free here.

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