'Intelligent enterprises' have doubled this year

Zebra Technologies has announced the results of its second annual “Intelligent Enterprise Index” revealing that the number of truly intelligent businesses has doubled since 2017.

Overall, the Index revealed year-over-year growth of IoT deployment and investment showing that enterprises expect less resistance to adoption and increasingly acknowledge IoT solutions as a core component for driving future growth across their organisations. 

Additionally, companies are taking a more proactive and thorough approach when it comes to employing security standards within their IoT solutions. The Index revealed an 18 per cent increase in the number of companies that are constantly, instead of routinely, monitoring their IoT security to ensure privacy and integrity. 

Resistance to IoT adoption decreases

Of those companies surveyed, average annual spending on IoT was up by four per cent year-over-year with 86 per cent of companies expecting that number to increase over the next one to two years. The number of companies that expect resistance to their IoT plans moving forward also dropped from 74 per cent in 2017 to 64 per cent this year.

The index measures where companies are on the journey to becoming an “intelligent enterprise” that connects the physical and digital worlds to drive innovation through real-time guidance, data-powered environments and collaborative mobile workflows.

Businesses that score more than 75 points on the overall Index can be described as intelligent enterprises and according to Zebra Technologies that number of companies meet its requirements doubled to 10 per cent in 2018.

Zebra Technologies' Chief Technology Officer, Tom Bianculli offered more details on the findings of its second annual Index, saying:

“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. 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.” 

Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.