OS Migration And Workforce Mobility: A Revolution is Coming

By Michael Petersen, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Zebra Technologies

From enhancing workforce productivity to improving customer service and extending asset lifecycles, mobile devices and applications have become inextricably interconnected with enterprise workflows. While certainly business critical, they do represent substantial investments for organizations, as well as challenges from both a deployment and support standpoint. One of the most pressing mobility challenges currently facing enterprises is the end of service (EOS) for Microsoft Windows CE and Mobile embedded operating systems – a mainstay of enterprise-specific rugged mobile devices. These OSes boast a 90+ percent market share and are used in more than 15 million devices today. Migration to a next generation platform means big operational changes lie ahead – bigger still for those who wait.

Change is hard for any company. Most have spent decades perfecting the way they run their operations. Mobile devices play a big role in that equation. Finding partners who will help retain their code but also apply it to a new, more modern operating environment – as well as align their user experience with the best technology has to offer -- has significant business benefits. The Internet of Things (IoT) and Enterprise Asset Intelligence (EAI) specifically. Both deliver new levels of actionable visibility to all enterprise systems – goods, assets, people, processes and places -- at all times. Truly transformative to business operations, both also require new models of workforce mobility only achievable with newer, more robust operating systems. New levels of ROI await those with the right partner and roadmap to get there.