Zebra Technologies 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% in 2018. Overall, the Index reveals the year-over-year growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) deployment and investment.
 
“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, CTO, 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.”
 
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% year-over-year. And 86% of the companies surveyed expect that number to increase in the next one to two years, with nearly half anticipating investment growth of 11% to 20%. 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% in 2017 to 64% this year.
 
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% increase in the number of companies that are constantly – versus routinely – monitoring their IoT security to ensure privacy and integrity.