7 In 10 Public Safety Agencies See Need To Speed Up Mobile
Technology Adoption : Zebra Study
Zebra
Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:
ZBRA), an innovator at
the edge of the enterprise with solutions and partners that enable businesses
to gain a performance edge, released study findings that reveal public safety
agencies globally will increasingly adopt mobile technologies to continuously
improve workflows and community relations within the next five years.
The final of Zebra’s three-part Future
of Field Operations: Public Safety vision study shows that 86 percent of public safety
respondents have indicated their agencies are taking a mobile-first approach in
their technology strategies, and workflows are designed around first responders
and their mobile devices. However, seven in ten agencies are still concerned
that they are not investing quickly enough in new mobile technologies to keep
pace with the speed of change, especially with the availability of faster 4G
and upcoming 5G wireless networks.
 |
| Pic Sources |
In India
Within the next
year, 88% of respondents to Zebra’s study say they expect increased
productivity and efficiency by using mobile technologies – up from 52% today.
Similarly, 84% say saving more lives will be another key benefit of using
mobile devices within a year, jumping from 45% today. Deploying mobile devices
and mobile printers will also lead to reduced operating costs within the next
year, according to 79% of those surveyed – and notably, almost all respondents
(98% ) say they will achieve savings within five years. Another advantage
highlighted in the study is improved community relations, which 99% say will be
realized by 2025, up from 38% today.
While many
public safety organizations will continue to rely on a responsive model in
their workflows, there will be a rapid growth of agencies that will adopt a
predictive model that is able to assign the right asset to the right issue at
the right time. This will more than double by 2025.
Among the most
common applications used by public safety officers in the field today are email
(53% ), mapping and navigation (51% ), and location-based services (50% ).
Other applications not used by most agencies today that are rated as “extremely
important” by those who currently use them include biometric monitoring (63% ),
collision reporting (59% ) and situational awareness (59% ).
Mobile device
adoption will see rapid growth over the next three years as rugged tablets
without keyboards will be implemented by 95% of respondents’ agencies, rugged
2-in-1 tablets by 90% , rugged smartphones
by 95% , and mobile printers by 91% of them. Like other institutions and
businesses whose critical work takes place primarily in the field, public
safety decision makers rate ruggedness of mobile devices in their fleet as a
key differentiator, with 96% saying they will implement rugged devices by 2025.
Among those currently using these devices, rugged tablets with attachable
keyboards (52% ) and rugged smartphones (51% ) are the top devices for
emergency response use cases.
Other Zebra
products that cater to the growing demand in this sector includes; the L10 Rugged Tablet sets a new standard in office, vehicle
and field-based computing; TC77
Touch Computer that
offers a smartphone experience for maximum simplicity with rugged construction; TC57 Touch Computer that delivers the ultimate in
enterprise-class touch computing; and ZQ500
Series Mobile Printer that
offers a lightweight, compact printing solution that can withstand repeated
drops to concrete from up to 6.6 feet.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Zebra’s study indicates that seven in ten
public safety agencies see an urgent need to invest more quickly in mobile
solutions to keep up with technological advancements and to serve their
communities better.
· Mobile devices offer public safety agencies a
strong performance edge to boost productivity, save lives, reduce cost, and
better engage their communities over the next five years, the study found.
· Adoption of mobile devices will increase
quickly over the next three years, as 95 percent of agencies will deploy rugged
tablets without keyboards, 90 percent will use rugged 2-in-1 tablets, 95
percent will invest in rugged smartphones, and 91 percent will have mobile
printers on the field.
·
Ruggedness of
mobile devices scores highly with public safety leaders, as 96 percent of them
will choose to deploy rugged devices by 2025.
SURVEY BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY
The results are
part of a three-part series on the Future of Field Operations released over the
first half of 2020. The two previous parts were focused on energy and utilities, and field service providers. More than 1,200 key decision makers from these
three industries located across the Americas ,
Europe and Asia Pacific were surveyed.
New Delhi, June 24, 2020
