In this section, we share guidelines that have been distilled from our collective experience building applications for Glass Enterprise. In order to deliver an experience that's unique and useful, we recommend that you observe these guidelines.
Bring users direct ROI
Glass can have a profound effect on the effectiveness of your workforce. However, that effect is directly proportional to how well you implement its adoption. To increase your gains, and those of your workforce, take time to interact with users as they use the applications you develop. Spend time on the floor to observe how they perform their tasks. Encourage users to maximize the value that Glass can bring to their workflow.
While you spend time on the floor, observe and record the steps that your workforce has taken to integrate Glass into their daily routine. Identify places where you can streamline the process. Build upon your results so that new users have an easier experience. Define best practices for your workforce, and build on them as new ones are discovered. In these ways, you and your team can all enjoy a return on your investment of time and effort. An effective integration of Glass Enterprise Edition benefits your entire team, from management to the worker, and everyone in between.
Take advantage of tools
Wearables have limited input bandwidth. Supplement Glass through the advantageous use of tools as peripheral devices. When you connect to phones, scanners, calipers, and the like, you increase the potential for input. This in turn increases the effectiveness of Glass, and the range of tasks it can assist in.
Make a list of all the tools used in your workspace that have any of the following traits:
- Phone capabilities (keyboard, camera, GPS)
- Voice input
- A barcode scanner
- Bluetooth capabilities
- IoT gateways, devices, or sensors
These tools all have the potential to interact with applications. Many of these functions are present in a wide variety of tools that you probably already have. Identify which tools you have that can be used with Glass. Take advantage of them with your applications to create ergonomic solutions for your workforce’s toughest challenges.
Integrate with existing systems
Glass is intended to reduce stress overall for your workers, and streamline their work. When the user's experience with Glass is universally connected, it feels clever and easy to save steps and time in their workflow.
One of the best examples of this is the delivery of timely, contextual data, hands-free. The user can interact with this data to respond in a convenient, seamless way. Integrate Glass with your existing systems early, so your workforce doesn't have to enter their data twice, once with Glass, and once with your existing systems. We recommend that you increase the availability of the data used in your workplace so you can connect Glass to your existing systems as early as possible. To do so, ensure that data for the following systems is available to interact with Glass:
- ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning)
- MES (Manufacturing Enterprise System)
- WMS (Warehouse Management System)
- PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)
Optimize, optimize, optimize
Optimization is key to a successful integration of Glass into your workflow. Make sure that you've designed with hardware limits in mind so you can manage your resources appropriately from the start. Here are some pro tips:
- Keep videos short.
- Optimize screen brightness.
- Use voice and sound to orient users.
- Be conscious of frame rates and bandwidth.
- Test, iterate, and adjust.