Zebra Technologies today announced the results of its second annual “Intelligent Enterprise Index.” The Index is a global survey that measures where companies are on the journey to becoming an “intelligent enterprise” – one that connects the physical and digital worlds to drive innovation through real-time guidance, data-powered environments and collaborative mobile workflows.

By scoring more than 75 points on the overall Index, the number of companies defined as an “intelligent enterprise” doubled to 10 percent in 2018. The Index measures to what extent companies today are meeting the criteria that define today’s Intelligent Enterprise. Overall, the Index reveals year-over-year growth of Internet of Things (IoT) deployment and investment, highlighting new momentum as enterprises expect less resistance to adoption and increasingly acknowledge IoT solutions as a core component for driving future growth across their organizations.

“As new technologies continue to transform the front line of business, real-time data-driven signals at the edge of operations are empowering front-line workers with the right information to optimize actions and outcomes,” said Tom Bianculli, Chief Technology Officer, Zebra Technologies. “Based on our second annual Index, it’s clear that more companies acknowledge the value of leveraging IoT strategies, and they will continue to propel adoption and investment in the future.”

KEY INDEX FINDINGS

IoT investment is up, and resistance to adoption is down. The Index reveals for those companies surveyed, their average annual spend on IoT is up 4 percent year-over-year. And 86 percent of the companies surveyed expect that number to increase in the next 1-2 years, with nearly half anticipating investment growth of 11-20 percent. As employees become more receptive to new technologies, the number of companies that expect resistance to their IoT plans moving forward has dropped from 75 percent in 2017 to 64 percent this year.

Enterprises are driving a performance edge with real-time guidance. 52 percent of respondents globally say information from their IoT solutions is shared with employees in real or near-real time. This is up 37 percent from last year’s Index, underscoring the increased need for collaborative mobile workflows. In addition, two-thirds of those surveyed have established a plan on how to organize and analyze their data. This is up 10 percent from last year.

Real-time analytics (66 percent) and security (63 percent) were reported as the most prevalent elements of a company’s data management plan.  47% respondents in EMEA say information from their IoT solutions is shared with employees in real or near-real time. This is up 19 percentage point from last year in EMEA. Notably, EMEA organizations are empowering their frontline with actionable data as 27 percent of the EMEA respondents say they provide insights to the frontline workers.

This reflects the need for innovations, technologies and real-time data at the edge of the enterprise.

Security is a top priority across the enterprise. Companies are taking a more proactive, thorough approach when it comes to employing security standards within their IoT solutions. The Index revealed an 18 percent increase in the number of companies that are constantly – versus routinely – monitoring their IoT security to ensure privacy and integrity.

Companies are demonstrating a greater reliance on a solution ecosystem. 40 percent of the companies surveyed report using a strategic partner to manage their entire IoT solution, up from 21 percent from 2017.

This dependence on third-party expertise and management of IoT processes, similar to Zebra’s Savanna® platform empowering its customers and partners, is a key indicator that an enterprise is committed to accelerating data intelligence and adopting IoT.