My new crystal ball was delivered this morning, so it’s time to make some enterprise mobility predictions for 2025.

I ordered it on an early black Friday deal yesterday and got free overnight shipping. Even though my AI-driven shopping guide encouraged paying for same-day delivery, I saw no need to pay for faster amusement. But enough about my ecommerce buying habits; let’s look at what mobility and supply chains operations teams might see in 2025.

The robots are coming

In 2024, several labor disputes included concerns about the battle over automation – none more visible than during a strike by American dockworkers. The conversation about how humans and robotics coexist in operations will continue to be important. 

These “cobots” save workers strenuous physical labor but should be just that: a support for workers, so they can accomplish more tasks each day. The roles these technologies serve may evolve, but labor discussions will continue to focus on how to ensure workers are given opportunities to grow into managers of the automation that makes up the “industrial internet of things.”

Overstocked with threat actors

From cyberattacks at ports to ransomware disruptions to enterprise systems, supply chains have proven a ripe target for malicious actors. IT and security teams will need to shift more budget into proactive threat prevention.

On the mobile front, where some of the most infamous breaches have occurred, this will include adopting threat prevention tools that secure the user, device, applications and networks over which users connect. Mobility is a highly dynamic threat vector, so it will be essential for IT teams – across corporate and operations, in partnership with their security colleagues – to seek out solutions that deliver security and management of all kinds of mobile devices in their enterprise ecosystem.

The experience matters

Compliance with IT policies and security mandates will continue to be a focus for IT analysts and security teams. No secret: The less intrusive the policies, the easier it is to get mobile users to abide with them. In that spirit, organizations will evaluate how mobile policies are implemented through their MDM tools to provide the least intrusive experience.

Solutions like single sign-on (SSO) and how secure connections are established will be key criteria for those IT teams evaluating new tools. Again, how these digital employee experiences (DEX) play for corporate mobile users and operational task workers will factor into those evaluations.

Growth of public/private 5G

Expect to see more deployments of 5G networks, particularly private 5G as organizations look for more ways to upgrade from legacy dark networks. Especially for large outdoor facilities like shipping container yards, stadiums and other large venues where frequent transactions occur among mobile users and enterprise systems.

The public/private 5G migration in operations has already been demonstrated by rugged device manufacturers. Consider Zebra Technologies, who introduced their first scan-intensive mobile computer with private and public 5G wireless data connectivity – the MC9450 – earlier this year. It's reasonable to expect more mobile computers with equivalent connectivity to come to market in the year ahead.

Predicting good success ahead

Good things will come in 2025, and we’ll share them together from the Everywhere Workplaces where we elevate our customers’ businesses. Wishing you and yours the very best during this holiday season, and a productive, secure and successful 2025!