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Mobile & Wearable Information Systems

A few years ago, we did not even think about the omnipresence of mobile technologies. For companies and also for private households, the convergence of internet and business applications, as well as the improved access to broadband technologies will relocate future mobile applications to the centre of work and life. In the context of this development, especially for companies, it is important to avoid, by the use of mobile systems, an overemphasis of the technical application connecting the IT-systems of a company, meant as a support of business processes, with mobile devices.

Therefore, the researchers of the working group “Mobile & Wearable Information Systems” intentionally combine the use of innovative application systems with the improvement of work organisation in companies. The use of tablets, smartphones, and wearable devices plays a major role, such as Smart Glasses and Virtual Reality Glasses, increasing the efficiency for service processes in external sales teams and in the technical after sales service. The efficient technological support of service teams is becoming the critical key of success, especially for companies of the industrial sector, offering their machines and plants nowadays as a service bundle (with maintenance and service such as modern operation and leasing models). Mobile and wearable systems provide the right mix of information to the technical customer service staff; independent of the local position, the necessary information for service and maintenance works are available, no matter where you are.

For all concepts and implementation works of the research group, we check whether the application of mobile and wearable devices is beneficial, enabling employees to fulfil their tasks within the organisation. Nevertheless, the use of Smart Devices for businesses may represent a safety risk leading to legal problems, regarding the maintenance of the confidentiality of personal data or trade secrets. Thus, we need to critically compare the potential benefits and the risks of the integration of mobile and wearable devices in corporate networks.

The general argument of an augmented supply of information by modern devices is valid as well for the industrial sector as for all fields of application, expecting time flexibility from their employees and being connected mostly to the sales force. The knowledge regarding the design of mobile and wearable devices is therefore also being transferred to the medical sector, for example, to improve the supply of information when providing medical health care.