We know that keeping a business running well starts from the inside – with systems and data that fosters better decision making. Well, now you can equip employees with wearable technology that gives them data to make smarter choices – all from a wristband.

Apple’s iWatch is expected to be available this summer, but leaders already are getting their hands on technology to help them improve their health with the increasingly popular Jawbone Up. Maybe you have seen them around your office. They are sleek wrist bands, available in a variety of colors, with the capability to help you understand how you sleep, eat and move, set goals and make daily adjustments or lifestyle changes.

Jawbone Up is a piece in a series of technology designed for a mobile lifestyle and a part of a larger wearable technology trend that’s gone global. Wearable smart bands alone are expected to grow 350 percent this year. Canalys, an independent analyst, reported the shipment of 1.6 million smart bands in the second half of 2013 and projects shipments to top 8 million in 2014 and 23 million in 2015.

Boosting Productivity
We have long talked about how to use technology to boost productivity. More active and healthier employees have been proven to make a difference in employee productivity and overall healthcare costs. Now, the tools are available.

We’ve seen it at Marco. A few managers and executives, including our CEO, have started wearing the bands and it’s going viral. We’re seeing more and more people with the bands. The best part? We’re seeing the change. Employees are parking farther and farther away. They are taking walks to re-focus and they’re sleeping better.

The Jawbone Up is more than an app or a band. It’s an integrated system that automatically collects a series of data on your sleeping and movement patterns and allows you to input your food and beverage consumption. The latest version, Up24 (available for $149.99), connects wirelessly to your mobile device to reflect real-time analytics and chart your behaviors over time based on your goals.

Intentions into Actions
The Jawbone technology, like much of the health monitoring technology available in the marketplace today, focuses on helping users turn their intentions into actions.

Here are a few key features that make a difference in the workplace:

• Gain insights into the quality of your sleep: We know that the number of hours your head is on the pillow does not constitute a good night’s rest. With this technology, you can find out how long it takes you to fall asleep, how long you slept well and how many times you woke up through the night. Now when you wake up still feeling tired, you have some data to back it up and can make some changes.
• Set a smart alarm: This feature will wake you up at the right time from a power nap. So you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to focus.
• Initiate an idle detection: We regularly encourage employees to get up and walk around and not spend the whole day staring at a screen. But, we all get lost in work. With this technology, you can choose to set an alarm to nudge you to take a walk when you have been idle too long.
• Scan your food: You can scan a barcode and type in what you consumed. The technology tracks your calories day to day and how it compares to your personal and peer benchmarks.
• Log your moods: This allows you to use the insights and discover connections that affect how you feel throughout the day. Then, make adjustments so you achieve your desired mood more regularly.

Need more motivation? Jawbone Up band technology has gone social and allows you to become “friends” with other Jawbone Up users. You can view each other’s results and goals and provide encouragement – or, in our case at Marco, some healthy competition. I just had to get one, too.