More than half of Asia-Pacific’s leading organisations see mobile technology investment as key to improving business performance, according to Zebra Technologies.
The latest Asia-Pacific vision study on the Future of Field Operations reveals that up to 60% of APAC organisations will invest in disruptive technologies and enterprise mobile devices to enhance front-line worker productivity and customer satisfaction in field operations including fleet management, field services, proof of delivery and direct store delivery workflows.
The online survey interviewed 2,075 mobility decision makers from 20 countries across the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
“Based on our study, the top three trends that are driving changes for field operations across Asia-Pacific include growing expectations of performance and convenience from end customers, the replacement of paper in the field by mobile technology, and the disruptions to field operations caused by emerging technologies and faster networks,” said Lim Fang How, regional director for Southeast Asia at Zebra Technologies.
“In Asia-Pacific, forward-thinking organizations are setting their field operations apart with three key strategies — the scaling of mobile technology and support technologies enterprise-wide, evaluating the total cost of ownership of mobile technology as a standard practice, and using emerging field operations technologies more extensively to achieve a competitive edge,” Lim said.
The survey also found that 58% of APAC organizations are expanding mobile technology to enterprise-wide use – reaching 97% by 2023.
From 2018 to 2023, the use of handheld mobile computers with built-in barcode scanners in the region is forecast to grow by 41%, mobile printers by 60% and rugged tablets by 57%. The higher levels of inventory, shipment and asset accuracy provided by using these devices is expected to increase business revenues.
Further, mobile-first firms in APAC are expected to implement the use of sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID) and intelligent labels from 76% to 98% from end 2018 till 2023.
