Buyer's Guide: Connected Worker Solutions - Guardhat
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VERDANTIX.COM
Buyer’s Guide: Connected Worker
Solutions
MARCH 2022
BY HUGO FULLER
WITH MALAVIKA TOHANI
This version of the report contains Verdantix’s summary of Guardhat’s capabilities to help
prospective customers evaluate whether the vendor is a good fit for their connected worker
requirements. It does not contain other vendor profiles.
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCEBuyer’s Guide: Connected Worker Solutions
This report provides executives at industrial sites responsible for the selection, implementation and
management of software, hardware or services for connected worker (CW) solutions with an up-to-date analysis
of 28 prominent CW solutions on the market. The analysis of the report leverages data drawn from seven
questionnaires from prominent CW solution providers, as well as from briefings and demos delivered to
Verdantix. The report also includes insights drawn from our annual surveys of decision-makers in operations,
maintenance, engineering and process safety roles. Buyers should use this report to support them in their
search for CW software and any associated hardware, alongside service offerings that fit their requirements.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Connected Worker Solutions Buyer’s Guide 2022 .............................................................................................. 4
Demand For Connected Worker Solutions Is Surging
Connected Worker Solutions Solve Seven Major Use Cases
Vendors Pursue Multiple Strategies To Enhance Their Product Offerings And Gain Market Share
Customers Shortlisting A Connected Worker Solution Should Apply Five Criteria During The Selection Process
Inclusion Criteria For The 2022 Connected Worker Solutions Buyer’s Guide ............................................... 15
Guardhat’s IIoT Platform And Wearables Solve A Variety Of Operational And EHS Usage Scenarios
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1. Use Case Coverage Of CW Solution Providers ............................................................................................. 6
Figure 1-2. Use Case Coverage Of CW Solution Providers ............................................................................................. 7
Figure 2-1. CW Solution Deal Flow: Acquisitions And Investments (January 2018–December 2020) ..................... 11
Figure 2-2. CW Solution Deal Flow: Acquisitions And Investments (January–December 2021) .............................. 12
Figure 3-1. Product, Industry Focus And Publicly Named Customers Of CW Solution Providers ........................... 13
Figure 3-2. Product, Industry Focus And Publicly Named Customers Of CW Solution Providers ........................... 14
Figure 4. Five Criteria Customers Should Apply When Selecting A Connected Worker Solution Provider ............ 16
Figure 5. Guardhat’s Connected Worker Solution Overview ....................................................................................... 18
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
2
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED
3M, A4BEE, Accenture, Adapt IT, ADT Security, AGCO, Air Liquide, Airbus, AMA, Amazon, Apple, Appligos,
Apprentice.io, AT&T, Atheer, Audi, Augmentir, Avanade, AVEVA, Avnet, Aware360, AWS, BAE, Barton Malow, Bid
Group, Blackline Safety, Boehringer Ingelheim, British Telecoms, Bühler, CANCOM, Capgemini, CareAR,
Caterpillar, CEMEX, Certified Safety, Cisco Systems, Clorox, Coca-Cola HBC, Colgate-Palmolive, Confederation of
British Industry, Crescentech, Damstra Technology, Daqri, Deloitte, DHL, Dino-Lite, Dräger, Dust Mobile,
Dynabook, ecom, EIC, Enablon, Encina Wastewater Authority, EnerCorp, Epson, Equivital, European Union,
Facebook, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany), Ferrovial, Fike, Fitbit, Flanders Make, FLIR,
Flype, FrieslandCampina, Fujitsu, GE Healthcare, Gemba Systems, GEOS, German Research Center for Artificial
Intelligence, Getac, GOARC, Google, Grupo Bimbo, Grupo Datco, GSK, Guardhat, Halliburton, Heineken, Henkel,
Hexoskin, Honeywell, Howden, IATA, iBASEt, Iberia, IBM, Industrial Scientific, Inmarsat, Innovapptive, Intelex,
International Organization for Standardization, InUse, ION, Iridium, Iristick, iSafe, KENZEN, Keppel Offshore &
Marine, KOAMTAC, Koenig & Bauer, Kognitiv Spark, KPMG, Kraft Heinz, Krones, Librestream, LLVision, Lone
Worker Solutions, Magic Leap, McCarthy Building Companies, McKinsey, Medtronic, Michelin, Microsoft,
Mitsubishi, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Northern Ireland Water, NOV, NTT, OBW, oculavis,
ODG, OEG, Olympus, OnSIM, ONtheGO Platforms, Optalert, Orange, Osborne, OverIT, Parsable, Peoplesafe,
Pepperl+Fuchs, Philips Lighting, Pipedrive, Poka, Porsche, Pratt & Whitney, Proceedix, ProGlove, Proplanner, PTC,
PwC, Qualcomm, Raytheon, RE’FLEKT, RealWear, Renault, Rockwell Automation, Rolls-Royce, Rombit, Safran
Helicopter Engines, Salesforce, Samsung, SANY America, SAP, SAP.iO, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Schaeffler
Group, Schuler, Scope AR, ServiceMax, ServiceNow, SGS, Shell, SICPA, SightCall, Signify, Sirris, SlateSafety,
SmartConnect, Snap-on, soft2tec, Sopra Steria, SOTI, SpaceView, Sparta Systems, StrongArm Technologies,
Suntory, Symphony IndustrialAI, Tableau, Taqtile, TeamViewer, TenForce, Tesco, TIKS, Totalmobile, Toyota,
TrackWise, Triax, Trimble, TWNKLS, U.S. Steel, Ubimax, UK Health and Safety Executive, Upskill, US Bureau of
Labor Statistics, US Department of Energy, Vault Intelligence, Verizon, Vlahi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Vuforia, Vuzix,
Walmart, Waypoint Labs, Wearable Technologies, West Fraser, Westinghouse Electric Company, Westunitis,
World Health Organization, XMReality, Yamato, Zebra.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
3
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDConnected Worker Solutions Buyer’s Guide 2022
This report provides decision-makers at industrial facilities responsible for the selection, implementation and
management of software, hardware or services for connected worker (CW) solutions with an up-to-date analysis
of 28 prominent CW solutions on the market. The providers analysed in the report are primarily software
suppliers, although several have also developed proprietary hardware as part of their offering.
This report leverages data collected between December 2022 to February 2022 from seven CW solution
providers via questionnaires, namely from AMA, Atheer, Damstra Technology, Guardhat, Librestream, Parsable
and Proceedix, as well as briefings from Guardhat, Librestream, Parsable, PTC and RE’FLEKT.
The report also includes findings from our annual global survey with 256 executives in operations, maintenance,
engineering and process safety roles (see Verdantix Global Corporate Survey 2021: Operational Excellence
Budgets, Priorities & Tech Preferences). Buyers should use this guide to inform their search for CW solutions and
services that fit their requirements.
Demand For Connected Worker Solutions Is Surging
The connected worker solutions market has proven robust in the face of challenges wrought by the COVID-19
pandemic, with CW solutions helping to bridge the gaps caused by staff shortages through access to remote
expertise and to manage COVID outbreaks through contact tracing capabilities. Spend in the connected worker
solution market will reach $2.2 billion in 2022 and is forecasted to grow by 14% year over year to $4.2 billion in
2026 (see Verdantix Market Size And Forecast: Connected Worker Solutions 2020-2026 (Global)). Verdantix
attributes this growth to:
• New corporate strategies to improve worker retention at industrial facilities.
Labour shortages have emerged as a serious risk to growth for firms across all industries. In the UK, the
pandemic coupled with Brexit has led to a record number of vacancies owing to an increased rate of
voluntary resignation, alongside a shortage of job seekers. In manufacturing, for example, the
Confederation of British Industry has forecasted up to two years of skilled worker shortages. An ageing
workforce is another contributor to the reduced talent pool within asset heavy industries. In 2017, the US
Department of Energy estimated that 25% of all electric and gas utility, and nuclear generation employees
would retire over the next five years. In the UK, the percentage of plant and machine operators over the
age of 55 increased by 5.5% between 2016 and 2021. To tackle labour shortages, firms are exploring new
ways to achieve operational efficiencies and attract younger talent through innovative technologies within
the connected worker space.
• Increasing worker engagement in safety best practices.
In the Verdantix 2020 global corporate survey, 54% of the 259 respondents highlighted positive
engagement of front-line workers in safety as very important when prioritizing spend on connected
worker solutions. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of fatal work injuries
plateaued between 2010 and 2020, with 4,690 in 2010 and 4,764 in 2020. Firms are increasingly
considering CW solutions such as wearables to solve worker safety issues such as alarm fatigue and
improper personal protective equipment (PPE) usage. Witness KENZEN, an industrial wearables provider
and McCarthy Building Companies, who partnered in 2021 to develop wearable heat-detection
technology, which notifies workers of heat risks through KENZEN wearables.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
4
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED• Anticipation of productivity and efficiency gains.
Digital transformation strategies bring with them the promise of operational efficiencies through the
streamlining and consolidation of processes within a digital framework. CW solutions help front-line
workers achieve these efficiencies. A global brewery firm rolled out Parsable’s connected worker solution
to digitize its clean, inspect and lubricate (CIL) processes, achieving a 5% gain in overall equipment
effectiveness. Internet of Things (IoT) gas monitors from suppliers such as Blackline Safety and Industrial
Scientific allow users to detect hazardous gases, provide the location of the hazard and discuss it with
relevant personnel, all from the same device.
• Greater investment in solutions after successful trial projects during the pandemic.
COVID-19 mandated new approaches to normal practices owing to travel bans and staff shortages.
Industrial firms recognized the role CW solutions could play in these new approaches: 30% of
respondents in the 2020 edition of our annual global corporate survey noted that COVID-19 and the
recession had driven investment in trials for connected worker solutions for health and safety. Regarding
mobile apps for inspections, maintenance planning and execution, and augmented reality (AR) solutions
for remote assistance, 21% of the respondents mentioned trialling mobile apps, while 36% planned
investment in augmented reality solutions for remote assistance. As of February 2022 the World Health
Organization has signalled a ‘new phase’ of the pandemic in Europe, alluding, albeit cautiously, to an end
of the current ‘emergency’ status across Europe. Armed with proof points gathered through trial projects
during the pandemic, firms will look to scale up implementations of CW solutions.
• Maturing of connected worker hardware.
A major barrier to the adoption of CW solutions has been the availability of useable, scalable and
affordable hardware, despite the efforts of numerous hardware suppliers. There have been several
casualties of high-profile hardware developers over the last five years. ODG, a smart glasses developer,
burnt close to $60 million of funding before folding in 2019. Daqri’s $275-million gamble on smart
helmets failed in the same year, and Magic Leap, a smart glasses manufacturer, has been plagued with
layoffs after a strategic shift towards the enterprise market in 2020, despite $3.5 billion in funding to date.
However, these reality checks have run in parallel with the success of RealWear and Vuzix, both
manufacturers of smart glasses and head-mounted displays (HMDs), both of which have recently
launched new iterations of their products. Similarly, Blackline Safety, a producer of connected safety gas
monitors, has found success in Europe and North America, particularly in the utilities space.
• Rising emphasis on real-time risk management in worker safety.
Given that smartphones allow for instant communication with anyone in the world who has an internet
connection, immediacy has become an expectation in the modern world. The industrial space has been
something of a laggard in this respect – in part because the first wave of smartphones and wearables
were unsuitable for industrial sites, and because internet connectivity is not seen as a high priority at
industrial sites by budget holders and decision-makers. The benefits of real-time risk management are
self-evident, however, and this reality has spurred interest in CW solutions as tools to improve worker
safety in real-time (see Verdantix Best Practices: Moving EHS To Dynamic Risk Management). Internet-
connected SOS buttons and man-down sensors on wearables or mobile apps offered by firms such as
Aware360, Blackline Safety or Peoplesafe provide a no-nonsense, unobtrusive view into worker health
status. Vital signs monitoring offers even greater insight into the health of the workforce, allowing for
preventative actions when a worker’s vital signs show precursor indications of a larger issue.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
5
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 1-1
Use Case Coverage Of CW Solution Providers
Digital Work
Monitoring: Monitoring: Monitoring:
Forms And Monitoring: Remote
Vendor Logistics Envir1 Lone Ergonomics
Operational Vital Signs Assistance
Hazards Workers And Motion
Insights
3M
AMA ( )2
Atheer
AVEVA
Avnet
Blackline
Safety
CareAR
Certified
Safety
Damstra
Technology
Fujitsu
GOARC
Guardhat
Honeywell
Industrial
Scientific
Innovapptive
Source: Verdantix research and analysis. Note (1): (✔) denotes use case offered through partnership. Note (2): Envir = Environmental
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
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COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 1-2
Use Case Coverage Of CW Solution Providers
Digital Work
Monitoring: Monitoring: Monitoring:
Forms And Monitoring: Remote
Vendor Logistics Envir Lone Ergonomics
Operational Vital Signs Assistance
Hazards Workers And Motion
Insights
Kognitiv
Spark
Librestream
oculavis
Parsable
Peoplesafe
Poka
Proceedix ( )
PTC
Scope AR
SightCall
StrongArm Tech
Taqtile
TeamViewer
Trimble
XMReality
Source: Verdantix research and analysis.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
7
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007 -2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDConnected Worker Solutions Solve Seven Major Use Cases
The adoption of CW solutions is on the upswing as corporates look to overhaul their approaches to improve
worker productivity, safety and satisfaction through innovative technologies. CW solutions have several
applications across operations, maintenance, logistics, and health and safety (see Figure 1-1 and 1-2). Key use
cases consist of:
• Delivering digital work instructions and operational insights.
Many firms in asset-intensive industries still use pen and paper for checklists, work instructions and
inspections, which can lead to challenges in document management and traceability down the line. Digital
work instructions functionality is spread across three areas: (1) authoring, where users can import
existing physical forms or create digital equivalents from scratch, usually in a no- or low-code
environment; (2) publishing, where digital forms are distributed to the relevant personnel; and (3)
viewing, where relevant personnel can access the instructions via an application on a smartphone, tablet
or wearable. Most solutions provide all three functional elements across a desktop application and a
mobile or wearable device. Suppliers of digital work forms include Atheer, Librestream, Parsable and
Proceedix.
• Providing remote assistance for maintenance and operations.
Remote assistance is not a revolutionary concept: AT&T engineers were using a predecessor to mobile
phones as early as the 1940s to get external help away from stationary telephones when necessary. The
development of video calling technology along with AR has, however, brought workers a more
streamlined collaboration experience. Applications on smartphones or tablets allow workers to
communicate with one or several external contacts – team members or experts – concurrently, and AR
annotations expedite the resolution of work tasks (see Verdantix Smart Innovators: Augmented Reality
Solutions For Remote Assistance). Smart glasses and HMDs, offered by firms such as RealWear, Microsoft,
Vuzix and Zebra, provide the same benefits, but enhanced via handsfree functionality.
• Undertaking warehouse picking and equipment tracking for logistics applications.
Logistics usage scenarios span an organization’s operations, covering a variety of scenarios. A major use
case is man-machine proximity warning wearables. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in
2020, 7,290 non-fatal injuries occurred because of forklift-related incidents, with 78 fatalities. To
counteract these collision events, Rombit, a Belgian industrial wearable producer, offers Rombit Collision
Avoidance, which uses a series of worker-worn sensors in combination with ultra-wideband (UWB)
receivers to provide proximity alerts to forklift drivers and on-foot workers. Other logistics use cases
include warehouse applications, such as TeamViewer’s xPick, which uses AR to identify and locate stock
via smart glasses or HMDs.
• Monitoring of environmental hazards, such as harmful gases.
Environmental hazard monitoring includes the detection of gases and abnormal temperatures via
wearables, which can be connected to a smartphone. Gas detection is a key process in several industries
such as oil and gas, mining, metals and minerals, and utilities, to ensure the health of personnel as well as
physical assets. Mobile IoT gas detection is offered by the likes of Blackline Safety, Dräger and Industrial
Scientific. Industrial Scientific’s Ventis Pro5 provides real-time gas alerts and panic alarms in tandem with
GPS location monitoring to facilitate a rapid response when gas detection alerts occur.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
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COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED• Monitoring for lone worker safety and productivity.
There are specific requirements to protect workers who frequently work alone, especially in regions with
limited or zero internet or cellular connectivity. Frequently these capabilities overlap with other use cases,
such as man-down alarms which help bring emergency services more rapidly to assist lone workers.
Totalmobile, a field service management software provider, offers Protect, through which alerts are
routed to a specialized alarm-raising-centre, which then sends the alert to relevant personnel. Damstra
Technology offers Solo Satellite, an in-vehicle router that provides internet connectivity to lone workers in
remote regions via satellite when cellular connectivity is lost. Workers can then access GPS data, such as
nearby beacons, and send check-in alerts to supervisors at timed intervals.
• Monitoring for worker vital signs such as heart and respiration rate.
Vital signs monitoring covers a wide variety of applications, including the tracking of the heart and
respiration rate, temperature, and fatigue levels of workers (see Verdantix Smart Innovators: Connected
Worker Solutions For Health And Safety). Despite their popularity in consumer markets through vendors
such as Fitbit, the adoption of vital signs and health-metrics tracking wearables in the industrial space has
been slow, hampered by high costs and reticence from workers concerned about privacy. However,
specific applications of IoT vital signs monitoring wearables have gained traction, such as Optalert’s
fatigue tracking glasses and Hexoskin’s electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiratory tracking smart garments,
which have been worn by astronauts on the international space station. Another example is
Pepperl+Fuchs’s Smart-Ex Watch, an intrinsically safe smartwatch, based on the Samsung Galaxy
smartwatch, for the oil and gas industries.
• Monitoring for worker motion and ergonomics.
The UK Health and Safety Executive reported that 33% of non-fatal injuries between 2020 and 2021 were
from slips, trips or falls on the same level, and a further 8% were caused by falls from height. The US
Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 805 fatalities from slips, trips and falls in 2020 – 17% of the total
workplace fatalities in that period. The frequency of these incidents has led to the development of
motion-monitoring wearables, which deliver timely help for man-down events through mobile
applications and wearables. SmartConnect’s Smart Badge is a wearable with an in-built accelerometer,
altimeter and motion detector which emits an alarm and notifies relevant personnel when a man-down
event occurs. Ergonomics wearables seek to improve the body position of a worker to avoid injuries.
Walmart reduced ergonomic-related injuries by nearly 65% in a year using the FUSE FLEX industrial
wearable offered by StrongArm Technologies.
Vendors Pursue Multiple Strategies To Enhance Their Product Offerings
And Gain Market Share
Verdantix categorizes the numerous CW solution usage scenarios under seven overarching categories across
health and safety, and operations. CW solution providers come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from
incumbents in the asset management, EHS and field service management (FSM) software spaces, to start-ups
and medium-sized firms providing solutions for specific usage scenarios. Vendor strategies vary depending on
the markets they serve, with approaches including:
• CW software suppliers seeking platform agnosticism through partnerships.
Providing applications for both Android and iOS devices is a given for CW software suppliers. However,
certain providers have developed more refined applications for specific operating systems, such as
Librestream’s Onsight platform, which has achieved Apple’s Made for iPhone/iPad certification. On the
hardware side, CW software suppliers partner with a variety of wearable manufacturers, who produce
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
9
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDsmart glasses, HMDs, smart garments and other wearables. Microsoft, RealWear and Vuzix have
partnerships with numerous CW software suppliers, such as reseller agreements which facilitate
packaged implementations.
• CW solution providers alleviating connectivity challenges through partnerships.
To overcome the challenges around connectivity that plague industrial sites, CW solution providers have
partnered with communications firms. AMA resells Dust Mobile sim cards, which use OnSIM, a mobile
network providing secure end-to-end connectivity between users. oculavis has partnered with CANCOM,
an IT infrastructure service provider for Germany and Austria, while Librestream has partnered with Cisco
Systems and Inmarsat, a British satellite telecommunications firm.
• Established businesses in adjacent markets entering the CW solution space through acquisition.
Several larger players in the CW solution market secured their position through the absorption of smaller
vendors (see Figure 2-1 and 2-2). PTC’s $65-million acquisition of Vuforia from Qualcomm in 2015
kickstarted its suite of augmented reality products, further strengthened in 2019 through the purchase of
AR services agency, TWNKLS. TeamViewer, the remote access software supplier, bolstered its remote
assistance product in 2020 through the $156-million acquisition of Ubimax, the German remote
assistance and digital work instruction solution provider. This was followed in 2021 with the acquisition of
Upskill, which offered an AR platform for remote assistance and digital work instructions.
• EAM and APM software providers investing in CW solutions for integrated risk management.
CW solutions help to bridge the gap between heavy assets and the front-line workers who operate,
maintain and repair them. Strategies vary across asset performance management (APM) and enterprise
asset management (EAM) software suppliers, ranging from the more acquisitive to partnership-based
approaches. AVEVA has partnered with OEG, an industrial training platform provider, for virtual reality
training and with Poka, a connected worker solution provider, to launch Teamwork, a work instructions
and training content management platform. IBM launched its Maximo Mobile EAM application in
February 2021 and Symphony IndustrialAI acquired Belgian digital work forms software provider
Proceedix in December 2021.
• EHS software firms forging closer ties with CW solution suppliers to provide real-time worker
insights.
With mobile apps now a standard offering within the EHS software market, established players are
looking to connected wearables to drive greater insight into the real-time safety status of workers.
HazardIQ for iNET is an integration between Intelex’s EHS software application and Industrial Scientific’s
gas detectors, increasing visibility for alarm data and allowing for streamlined corrective actions through
the elimination of data silos. TenForce partnered with Rombit, which provides a configurable wearable,
the Rombit ONE, for lone worker support and man-down detection. Honeywell collaborated with Enablon
to integrate data from the former’s AI-driven body temperature scanners within Enablon’s EHS and risk
management software.
• FSM software suppliers streamlining field work through connected worker hardware and
software.
FSM software suppliers are enhancing their solution by integrating with connected worker solutions to
overhaul customer field-work practices. OverIT, an Italian FSM software provider, offers SPACE1, an AR
collaboration tool for field workers, which is optimized for RealWear devices. Several remote assistance
solution providers have direct integrations with FSM platform providers – SightCall’s remote assistance
calls can be accessed within ServiceNow and Salesforce. The confluence of FSM software and CW
solutions is set to continue, especially as hands-free wearables mature.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
10
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 2-1
CW Solution Deal Flow: Acquisitions And Investments (January 2018–December 2020)
2018 Transaction Description
February Investment RealWear raises $17.1 million in Series A funding.
March Investment Upskill raises $17.2 million in corporate funding.
April Investment Kognitiv Spark raises $200,000 in seed funding.
April Investment Parsable raises $45 million in Series C funding.
April Acquisition PTC acquires AR work instruction authoring tool creator, Waypoint Labs.
May Investment Damstra raises $10 million in Series A funding.
June Investment RE'FLEKT raises $4.4 million in Series A funding.
September Investment Guardhat raises $20 million in Series A funding.
September Investment Apprentice.io raises $8 million in Series A funding.
October Investment Magic Leap raises $461 million in Series D funding.
2019 Transaction Description
February Investment RE'FLEKT raises $1.3 million in Series A funding.
February Investment RealWear raises $5 million in debt financing.
March Investment Scope AR raises $9.7 million in Series A funding.
April Investment Magic Leap raises $280 million in corporate funding.
April Investment Innovapptive raises $16.3 million in Series A funding.
June Acquisition Industrial Scientific acquires EHS software firm Intelex for $0.57 billion.
June Acquisition PTC acquires AR services firm, TWNKLS.
June Investment RealWear raises $16.5 million in debt financing.
July Investment RealWear raises $80 million in Series B funding.
July Investment oculavis receives $2.8 million in funding from the European Innovation Council.
August Acquisition Atheer acquires Flype.
October Investment Upskill raises $7.6 million in venture funding.
October Investment GOARC raises $8.5 million in Series A funding.
2020 Transaction Description
May Investment Magic Leap raises $350 million in venture funding.
June Investment Librestream raises $24 million in Series D funding.
July Investment Apprentice.io raises $7.5 million in venture funding.
July Acquisition TotalMobile acquires lone worker safety and productivity solution provider, Lone Worker Solutions.
July Acquisition TeamViewer acquires remote assistance and digital work instruction solution provider Ubimax for $156.2 million.
August Investment Parsable raises $60 million in Series D funding.
August Investment Blackline Safety raises $28 million in post-IPO equity.
September Investment Vuzix raises $15.5 million in post-IPO equity.
November Investment Apprentice.io raises $24 million in Series B funding.
December Acquisition Damstra Technology acquires cloud-based mobile app provider, Vault Intelligence.
Sources: Verdantix research and analysis, Crunchbase
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
11
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 2-2
CW Solution Deal Flow: Acquisitions And Investments (January–December 2021)
2021 Transaction Description
March Acquisition TeamViewer acquires AR platform provider, Upskill.
April Investment Vuzix raises $97.8 million in post-IPO equity.
May Investment Innovapptive raises $5.7 million in venture funding.
May Investment SightCall raises $42 million in Series B funding.
June Investment Triax raises $12.5 million in Series A funding.
July Acquisition Facebook acquires patents for Daqri's 'smart helmet'.
September Investment Blackline Safety raises $31 million in post-IPO equity.
September Acquisition Damstra Technology acquires document management solution provider TIKS for $18 million.
October Investment Magic Leap raises $500 million in venture funding.
November Investment Augmentir raises $8.5 million in Series A funding.
December Acquisition Symphony IndustrialAI acquires digital work instruction solution provider, Proceedix.
Sources: Verdantix research and analysis, Crunchbase
Customers Shortlisting A Connected Worker Solution Should Apply Five
Criteria During The Selection Process
Vendors in the CW space are pursuing several strategies forged off the back of acquisitions and partnerships to
extend the value of their solutions. Providers offer varying breadths and depths of capabilities for connected
worker applications and prospective customers should consider CW solution providers with:
• Proven track records in relevant industries.
While applications of connected worker solutions are relatively industry agnostic, each industry – and
each firm – has its own characteristics that can affect compatibility with external solution providers (see
Figure 3-1 and 3-2). Buyers should scrutinize the robustness of industry-relevant case studies provided by
potential candidates to minimize after-sales support for industry-specific implementation challenges (see
Figure 4).
• Service offerings for rapid time-to-value and post-sales support.
The time-to-value for a CW solution depends on the specific application. More lightweight
implementations, such as mobile apps for work instructions, can be turned around in a matter of weeks.
When wearables are added to the mix, establishing infrastructure suitability, and managing change can
extend the time-to-value significantly. In each case, buyers should consider vendors who provide services
in-house or through a partnership with a third-party service provider, to expedite implementation and
assist with queries once the solution is up and running.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
12
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 3-1
Product, Industry Focus And Publicly Named Customers Of CW Solution Providers
Number of
Publicly
Vendor Product(s)1 Industry Focus
Named
Customers
Connected Safety Platform, 3M Safety Heavy Equipment & Machinery, Power Generation,
3MFIGURE 3-2
Product, Industry Focus And Publicly Named Customers Of CW Solution Providers
Number of
Publicly
Vendor Product(s)1 Industry Focus
Named
Customers
Kognitiv Aerospace & Defence, F&B and FMCG, Mining,
RemoteSpark 10-19
Spark Metals & Minerals
Onsight Platform, Onsight Cube-Ex,
Librestream Aerospace, Power Generation, Oil & Gas 20-29
Onsight Hub
oculavis oculavis SHARE Automotive, Chemical, Heavy Equipment & Machinery• Strong security capabilities for customers in verticals where security is a top priority.
A secure internet connection is a baseline expectation for most implementations of internet-connected
technology in heavily industrialized verticals. For certain organizations, such as those in aerospace,
security is prioritized to an even greater degree. CW solutions ingest large volumes of highly sensitive
employee data, such as location and vital signs, as well as information shared via remote assistance calls.
Buyers must also be aware of employee’s privacy expectations, especially considering a key barrier to
worker adoption is rooted in worker discomfort with their personal data being captured and shared
without oversight. These concerns can be allayed when selecting CW solution providers who comply with
the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or are certified for cyber security
standards from organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), such as
ISO 27001 and 27018.
• Low-bandwidth or offline functionality for users in workplaces with low connectivity.
For most front-line workers, internet connectivity is intermittent as a rule and often non-existent. Wi-Fi
availability is not a high priority at most industrial sites and lone workers are frequently deployed to
remote areas without broadband cellular coverage. As such, buyers should look to CW solution providers
who can cater for low-bandwidth usage scenarios, such as remote assistance calls with less than 1.2
megabits per second upload and download speed. Offline functionality should include downloadable
work forms or automatic uploading of inspection data collected offline once connectivity has been
restored.
• High-value integration options across hardware and software.
Integrations are at the core of CW solutions, allowing for the frictionless introduction of new software or
hardware into existing processes. Software aimed at digital work forms and remote assistance tends to
be hardware agnostic, running on smartphones, tablets or wearables. But for buyers who are considering
a dual implementation of software and hardware, selecting providers with relevant partnerships or
reseller agreements can simplify the process, and unlock additional functionality where software is
optimized with specific hardware in mind. Integrating CW software with existing software is key to
reducing time spent on change management. Examples include integrating digital work forms within
maintenance workflows distributed from an EAM system or inspection tasks from FSM software.
Inclusion Criteria For The 2022 Connected Worker Solutions
Buyer’s Guide
Across all geographies, the CW solution market is fragmented, with huge white space potential. There is a wide
range of providers active in the market, providing solutions with differing levels of maturity and depth of
functionality. Verdantix has produced detailed profiles of 11 CW solution providers that have:
• CW solution revenues exceeding $2 million.
A minimum threshold of $2 million in revenues from CW solutions was set to ensure all CW solution
providers included have a significant customer base.
• At least five named customers using the provider’s CW solution.
A minimum threshold of five publicly named customers using the provider’s CW solution was set to
ensure good coverage of relevant industry and implementation scales.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
15
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 4
Five Criteria Customers Should Apply When Selecting
A Connected Worker Solution Provider
1 2 3
Customer Proof Flexible Services Comprehensive
Points For Offerings For Security
Specific Industries Implementation Capabilities
4 5
Low Bandwidth High Value
And Offline Integration
Functionality Options
Source: Verdantix research and analysis
• Comprehensive functionality for at least two out of the seven use cases considered.
Environmental hazard monitoring, logistics, lone worker monitoring, motion monitoring and ergonomics,
operational insights and work instructions, remote assistance for maintenance and operations, and vital
signs monitoring are the major use cases for connected worker solutions. Providers had to support at
least two use cases to be considered for inclusion in the buyer’s guide.
Based on these criteria, this report includes profiles on AMA, Atheer, Blackline Safety, Damstra Technology,
Guardhat, Librestream, Parsable, Proceedix, PTC, TeamViewer and SightCall.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
16
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDGuardhat’s IIoT Platform And Wearables Solve A Variety Of Operational
And EHS Usage Scenarios
Headquartered in Detroit, US, Guardhat was incorporated in 2014 and has opened a second office in Chicago,
with plans for a third location in Silicon Valley. The firm’s flagship offering is a SaaS platform for worker
connectivity alongside a smart hard hat, the Communicator, which provides Type 1, Class-G protection alongside
wireless connectivity. The firm also offers a ruggedized, touch screen wearable, the Scout tag, as well as a mobile
app. For implementation, the firm has an in-house professional services team that works directly with end users
as well as a network of partners that offer implementation services. Guardhat has raised over $40 million across
six funding rounds, and the firm was recently part of a business accelerator programme led by SAP.iO, SAP’s
business incubation arm.
Key Takeaways
Verdantix found that Guardhat and its connected worker solution have:
• A connected worker platform that supports a variety of use cases.
The Guardhat platform is the foundation on which the firm’s proprietary wearables and software
applications can be integrated with external systems, such as ERP, and manufacturing execution systems
(MES). The Communicator smart hard hat has in-built sensors for temperature, humidity and noise level,
and worker location can be tracked through Guardhat or an integrated third-party wearable and the
Guardhat mobile app, which is available for Android devices, with an iOS app planned for release in 2022.
Guardhat smart hard hats and the Guardhat mobile app have video and audio call capability for remote
assistance calls, as well as media collection capabilities, with data saved within the Guardhat platform (see
Verdantix Guardhat Offers A Holistic IIoT Platform For A Multitude Of Connected Worker Usage
Scenarios).
• More than 30 partners including technology providers and system integrators.
Guardhat extends its value to customers through partnerships with hardware providers, software
suppliers and system integrators. For smart glasses and HMDs, the firm works with RealWear and Vuzix.
Other hardware partners include Equivital and SlateSafety, who supply vital signs monitoring devices, and
RKI Instruments, who supply mobile gas detectors. Guardhat works with SAP and IBM for integration into
enterprise software systems, as well as with Microsoft for Azure and Amazon for AWS. Go-to-market
partners include Deloitte and Caterpillar – CAT dealers resell Guardhat solutions to existing customers of
Caterpillar products for surface mining operations.
• Diverse North American customer base in heavy industries.
Guardhat’s clientele are primarily North American and are drawn from a variety of industries. In
manufacturing the firm works with Snap-on, an American industrial tool and equipment manufacturer
and U.S. Steel, a steel producer. Other customers include US construction firm Barton Malow, Canadian
forestry outfit West Fraser, and US nuclear technology supplier Westinghouse Electric Company.
Westinghouse used a white labelled version of the Guardhat platform, WEConnect, in 2020 to bring
remote expertise to front-line nuclear plant workers.
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
17
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDFIGURE 5
Guardhat’s Connected Worker Solution Overview
Category Attributes Details
Vendor name Guardhat
HQ Detroit, US
Vendor
Overview
Founded 2014
Employees 68
Guardhat Platform, Guardhat App, Guardhat Communicator,
Solution name(s) Guardhat Scout, Guardhat Lone Worker, Guardhat Worker Condition
Monitoring, Guardhat Gas Detection Analytics
− Hardware: One-time purchase
− Software: SaaS per user or enterprise pricing
Pricing model
− Implementation: network connectivity fees are wrapped into the
solution
CW Solution − Hardware: Equivital, RealWear, RKI, Slate Safety, Vuzix
Offering − Integration/Services: CBT Technologies (CBT), United Safety,
Partners Deloitte, RKI Instruments, Caterpillar, Westinghouse
− Software: SAP EHS, IBM Maximo
− Communications/Infrastructure: AWS, Azure
Integration & APIs Custom integrations for ERP software.
Emergency Response provides evacuation and mustering capabilities
Additional features
which accounts for all employees with real-time location data
Number of CWS customers 15
Barton Malow, Caterpillar, Ferrovial, Snap-on, U.S. Steel, West
CW Solution Example named customers
Fraser, Westinghouse
Customer
Footprint Location of customers North America 75%, Europe 20%, Middle East 5%
Industry focus Mining, Minerals & Metals, Oil & Gas, Power Generation
Source: Guardhat; Verdantix research and analysis
BUYER’S GUIDE: CONNECTED WORKER SOLUTIONS
18
COPYRIGHT © VERDANTIX LTD 2007-2022. LICENSED CONTENT, REPRODUCTION PROHIBITEDVERDANTIX CAPABILITIES
RESEARCH, ADVISORY, INSIGHTS & EVENTS
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Research relationships based on an annual research subscription
Confidential advisory services such as commercial due diligence
Thought leadership studies for brand building and lead generation
Executive summits, roundtables and webinars
Advisory workshops to rapidly increase your sector knowledge
Multi-country and complex customer survey projects
Marketing campaign support with analysts and content
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