Samsung and SAP Team for Enterprise Wearable Apps

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Salesforce isn’t the only software provider that’s eyeing the burgeoning market for workplace wearables.

German software giant SAP today announced that it is joining forces with Samsung to promote interoperability between the former’s sprawling business software ecosystem and the latter’s wearables and mobile device portfolio. SAP and Samsung expect that extending SAP’s Mobile Platform and HANA Cloud Platform will not only open new doors to developers, but also help their joint business customers exploit the productivity-boosting benefits of wearables and smartphones.

For example, the initiative will aid the retail industry by “integrating payments to be made on-to-go, along with helping to shed light on innovative shopping experiences for consumers and retailers alike,” the companies asserted in a statement. SAP and Samsung also have their sights set on apps for the healthcare, finance and oil and gas industries.

While weaving wearables into the SAP ecosystem may yield more efficient business operations, the companies are hailing the program’s safety benefits. For oil and gas customers, the companies said they plan to “extend SAP software integration to Samsung wearables to create a hands-free user experience that allows field workers in heavy industries to receive information and respond more quickly and safely to urgent issues with minimal disruption to their work.”

Business applications have evolved well beyond the desktop according to Steve Lucas, president of SAP’s Platform Solutions Group. He argued in press remarks that mobile-enabled applications “must work to create a seamless experience as the work modality embraces mobile devices, wearables, Internet of Things and other alternative forms of mobile computing.” By partnering with Samsung, SAP is “working on plans to offer a premium mobile enterprise experience for customers,” he continued.

Striking a similar tone, Samsung Electronics’ head of the Global B2B Center, Seokpil Kim, said in a statement that his company is “committed to building a world-class, open and comprehensive enterprise mobility ecosystem and delivering the best-in-class enterprise solutions that combine the strengths of Samsung’s mobile innovations and the SAP Mobile Platform.”

Plans call for a Joint Innovation Center as well as developer resources that enable organizations to deliver SAP Fiori and Field Service experiences that leverage Samsung’s mobile technologies, including its S Pen, S Voice and Air Gesture. Similarly, the companies are planning customer relationship management (CRM), human capital management (HCM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions that push actionable information to Samsung wearables, tablets and smartphones.

As the wearables market heats up, enterprise software companies are testing the waters.

ABI Research issued a forecast earlier this year predicting that the enterprise wearable device market will reach $18 billion by 2019. Salesforce got an early start in June with the launch of a developer-led wearable apps initiative called Salesforce Wear. Microsoft released a OneNote companion app for Android Wear smartwatches in September.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.