Enterprise wearables market will grow to $55 billion by 2022

While some wearables makers might have been hoping for higher rates of adoption among consumers, enterprises appear more than happy to make up for any lack of enthusiasm. The latest forecast from ABI Research shows that enterprise wearable revenue will jump to $55 billion by 2022, up from $10.5 billion this year. That would give the industry a CAGR of 39 percent for the period.

Increased interest in wearables is now coming from companies as they realize how they can improve workplace conditions with this technology. The benefits for an employer might be more obvious than those for the employee. Employers can use wearables to improve security by establishing better controls for employee access to both physical and digital spaces. This is already being tried in places like hospitals with RFID wristbands.

New software service platforms are cropping up to help manage security for wearables. The result is a security ecosystem cropping up around enterprise wearables that's boosting revenue in the market.

Better tracking of employee behavior might seem alarming to some, but there can be benefits to employees as well. Some wearables are already making jobs easier. Some companies are experimenting with augmented reality glasses that feed instructions or other data directly to users and send data back to the workplace quickly. Health-monitoring wearables that track vital signs can tell when a user is getting fatigued, which is useful for people who might be operating heavy machinery or driving. This means enterprise wearables might make the workplace safer in addition to improving security and efficiency for the employers.