Ridgefield Park, N.J. -May 16, 2017 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and alliance partner Hipaax, a developer of TaskWatch, a wearable task management platform, are accelerating use of wearables in the workplace with an integrated smartwatch solution for businesses featuring new capabilities that improve efficiency, increase productivity and enhance customer satisfaction. Designed to improve workforce management for hospitality, retail and transportation markets, the solution takes capabilities typically associated with smartphones, and brings them to the wearable world –enabling businesses to more easily deploy and manage wearables for enterprise use.

The Samsung and Hipaax solution delivers hands-free technology that lets businesses customize a wearable interface based on company needs and provide a gamified experience for employees. Integration of the Samsung Gear S3 or Gear S2 smartwatch and the Hipaax task management platform ensures workers get important notifications via wearable, accelerating employee responses to workplace tasks and communications among teammates.

Samsung will be demonstrating the Hipaax TaskWatch solution at this year’s IoT World event in Santa Clara, California,  May 16 – 18th, at the Samsung booth (#210).

Enterprise-Ready Capabilities

The solution enables the deployment of wearables in businesses through capabilities that simplify IT management, customize and lockdown devices, and employ Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled capabilities. Integrated Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) from Samsung SDS lets IT managers create a device policy and remotely maintain control over the deployment and management of wearable features from a web portal , deployable via cloud or on premise. This includes the ability to remotely install or remove applications, and remotely wipe a device.

Samsung KNOX, the company’s defense-grade security solution, lets businesses lock down employee wearables for specific enterprise purposes, restricting use to a single app for conducting business. Workers have just the functions required to perform tasks, providing a more secure  wearable solution.

Additionally, the Hipaax TaskWatch solution for Gear S3 is available on the SAP® App Center and the Samsung Artik platform, enabling back-end data analytics, dashboard views, and other IoT-enabled capabilities that help companies use data to drive actions and notifications.

Customer Case Studies

Today, 62% of decision-makers identify wearables as a critical, high, or moderate priority for their organizations, demonstrating wearables’ importance to the enterprise[1]. Two customers that have used the solution to boost productivity and customer satisfaction are Buffalo Wings & Rings, a sports-club restaurant franchise with 59 locations, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), which handles nearly 200 flights per day.

  • Restaurant Serves More Customers, More Efficiently
    The restaurant industry is seeking a better way to let staff know if guests are not getting served in a timely fashion. Buffalo Wings & Rings tackled this challenge with the Samsung/Hipaax TaskWatch, and experienced faster server response times. Task notifications sent to wearables on the employees’ wrists reminded servers to handle important customer interactions such as greeting guests, checking tables, serving drinks and cleaning tables – steps that once completed, could be acknowledged by the server with a finger swipe.As a result of providing steady reminders to managers, waiters and staff, a restaurant was able to enhance their already stellar customer service – and increase business. “Table turnover times were reduced by 4 minutes, improving customer flow and increasing revenue by up to 7 percent per day,” according to John Gerbus, Multi-Franchise Owner, Buffalo Wings & Rings, “and we were impressed by the results delivered through this game-changing wearable technology.” For further details, visit the case study here.
  • Airport Optimizes Facilities Management
    Heavy commercial passenger and cargo traffic has intensified use of facilities at airports, including Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)–which serves 6.7 million passengers annually. Samsung’s wearable solution enables CVG to match staff resources to peak restroom usage times, and understand appropriate staff levels to keep restrooms clean.  It also uses IoT capabilities to improve restroom maintenance by equipping janitorial staff with Samsung Gear S3s and installing counting sensors in restrooms. When a restroom reaches 150 guests, cleaning staff are notified via wearable that a facility needs cleaning. To manage all these capabilities, Samsung SDS EMM lets the IT administrators use a Web-based cloud server to manage wearable features, monitor device locations and remotely lockdown devices.“Through data pulled from the staff’s smartwatches, we were able to improve the cleanliness and cleaning response capabilities of airport restroom facilities,” according to Brian Cobb, vice president of customer services at CVG. “As a result, we are seeking ways to expand this solution to improve other airport needs, such as concierge services and emergency communications.”  For further details, visit the case study here.

“Samsung’s partnership with Hipaax is an exciting opportunity to address the unique requirements of wearables for the enterprise,” said Kevin Gilroy, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Samsung Electronics America “We are just beginning to see the transformative impact that hands-free technology brings to businesses, and Samsung and its partners are committed to helping companies leverage wearables to reach new levels of productivity, collaboration and efficiencies.”

“We are constantly thinking about innovative new ways to provide value to our customers by bringing new, exciting solutions to businesses,” said Bharat Saini, founder and chief technologist at Hipaax. “We are pleased to be working with Samsung to help companies experience the latest wearable innovations that use automation and notification technologies to leverage data, create efficiencies and improve business practices”

For more information on the Gear S3 solution with Hipaax, contact 1-800-SAMSUNG.

[1] Based on Forrester’s Deliver Digital Operational Excellence and Digital Customer Experience Innovation With Wearables report, February 2017, J.P. Gownder.