Salesforce brings analytics and developer tools to Apple Watch

Firm pushes wearable technology in the enterprise

Salesforce has jumped on the launch of the Apple Watch this week, announcing three apps for the smartwatch.

Salesforce Analytics Cloud for Apple Watch will push key data to the smartwatch, including dashboards, sales forecasts and performance metrics. Users will also be able to do a voice search to pull up a report.

The iOS Handoff feature will also let users integrate this analytics data between their Apple Watch and iPhone.

Salesforce Analytics Cloud, which was originally launched last October, lets users view data from Salesforce and third-party sources such as Microsoft, SAP and Informatica.

The app is due to launch in April. It will be available to download from the Apple App Store and will be free for all users with a paid licence for Analytics Cloud.

Salesforce also plans to launch Salesforce1 for Apple Watch in the third quarter, which will deliver instant personal notifications about business priorities to salespeople, service agents and marketers.

Salesforce Wear Developer Pack for Apple Watch will also let Salesforce1 developers build enterprise apps for Apple Watch that connect directly to the Salesforce1 Platform.

This pack will let developers make use of shared services like identity and security from the Salesforce1 Platform for Apple Watch apps they are producing, and will offer sample code, documentation and reference apps.

Salesforce expects that wearables, and smartwatches in particular, will prove popular with businesses to help them support a mobile workforce, enhance customer experience, and boost in-house effectiveness and productivity.

"Today all employees can effectively and productively run their business from their phones. The wearable revolution is going to take this to the next level, and Salesforce for Apple Watch will be a game-changer," said Raj Mistry, SVP for solutions engineering at Salesforce.

"Salesforce users will be able to run their business from their wrists, able to view and interact with analytics apps from their watch, create notifications about the Salesforce apps they run, and receive instant notification on their iWatch."

Citing the more than two million Salesforce1 developers who will be able to build enterprise apps for Apple Watch - many of whom Mistry expects will take the opportunity to do so - the wearable device will be a "game-changer in the enterprise", he added.

However, Mistry noted that the uptake of wearable technology in business depends on the availability of useful apps.

"The key to successful wearable adoption in the enterprise will be all about whether the apps, when used on wearable devices like the Apple Watch, are genuinely useful for customers and employees and have a positive impact on the business - be it through productivity, revenue or customer satisfaction," he explained.

"The drive will come from both sides, even more so than it did with the rise of smartphones. We fully expect to see our customers and partners come up with entirely new business models and new ways of engaging with employees and customers through apps deployed on wearables.

"These could vary from a brand taking a customer on a journey customised by location, weather and events, to improving distribution in a logistics company by arming staff with real-time information on their wrists."