When Tim Cook was recently asked, during a trip to the Kurfürstendamm Apple Store in Berlin, Germany, whether he would agree to give everyone who worked for Apple’s retail stores a free Apple Watch, he basically rejected the idea in the kindest and lightest-hearted way possible.
But while Apple Watches are currently thought of as more recreational devices than serious enterprise tools, there are those who see Apple’s debut wearable device as the kind of device that would fit perfectly within a business or office environment.
One of those is BetterWorks, a company backed by Google board member John Doerr, which is pitching itself as Fitbit for the workplace. “Having visibility and immediate access to your most critical business data literally at your fingertips, rather than on the phone in your pocket or on the web application from your computer, is super powerful,” creator Kris Duggan tells Cult of Mac.
The app essentially allows companies to set goals, and then for users — be they employees or bosses — to check in on them with just a glance at their wrist.
“We think this immediate access to the most important work data is beneficial to both employees and executives,” Duggan continues. “People are happiest at work when they’re working towards achieving meaningful goals, and we think being able to see your current progress towards them from wherever you’re working — even from your Apple Watch — is important. It also serves as an executive dashboard, letting people see their team and company’s progress at a glance.”
On top of this, it’s additionally possible to see when your colleagues have hit particular goals and send them a message to cheer them on — or nudge them if they could be working a bit more efficiently.
BetterWorks certainly has some good people involved to help bring about this mission to life — including Apple veteran Jonathan Cheyer, who was one of the key brains behind Siri.
“I don’t think the old way of building enterprise products will work in today’s fast-paced world,” Duggan says. “People want a simple, clean, and intuitive interface, and they need information to be available from any device, and at any time. Jonathan brings a unique blend of experience from his work at Siri, which designed a game-changing technology that made an emotional connection with many users — and Apple, which brought the technology to people around the world at massive scale. Both experiences showed how a simple interface can still be very powerful.”
Whether the quantified workplace, in which your boss can constantly keep a tab on how you’re performing, becomes the norm is yet to be seen. It’s certainly a novel use for the Apple Watch, though.
And, who knows, if you pitch it right to your employer, maybe they’ll stump up the cash you’ll need for Apple’s next must-have device when it finally goes on sale!
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
4 responses to “This neat Apple Watch app wants to be Fitbit for the workplace”
Rejected the idea? How so?
This is the future of wearables? Your boss can track your every movement and compare it with your coworkers? To the point they can see how many bathroom breaks you had and how long you were in there or if you tend to loiter in certain areas like a coworkers desk or for more hands on jobs, how active you are.
I’m all for efficiency but this seems Orwellian.
I don’t really see the issue if you’re a good worker, and let’s not forget, you don’t have to install it.
That’s actually kind of a cool idea. But wouldn’t that be a bit more useful on a bigger screen? I mean, the watch is kinda small to serve as a dashboard of any kind for that data… But it IS an interesting app at least.