Zebra Technologies has released a new report that suggests that public safety organizations are hoping to accelerate their technological transformation. The company’s report on the Future of Field Operations found that public safety organizations are particularly interested in mobile technology, with 86 percent of those organizations prioritizing field workers (and their mobile devices) when designing workflows.

Despite that mobile-first approach, many organizations still feel like they are lagging behind the pace of innovation. Seventy percent believed that they were not investing enough to take advantage of the latest 4G and 5G technologies. 

“Public safety agencies around the world are already realizing a performance edge by using rugged mobile devices across various use cases,” said Zebra Director of Government and Critical Field Service Strategy Alex Cooper. “With the availability of faster wireless networks, police, fire and emergency medical first responders can improve their productivity, effectiveness and relations with the communities they serve and protect.”

According to the report, the vast majority of public safety agencies (84 percent) believe that the increased use of mobile devices will allow them to save more lives. Eighty-eight percent expect to see efficiency gains while using the technology, while an overwhelming 98 percent believe that mobile technology will reduce operating costs within the next five years.

Those agencies are particularly interested in rugged devices, including tablets, smartphones, and mobile printers. More than 90 percent of the respondents plan to deploy all of those devices within their organization at some point in the next three years, with overall adoption rates expected to hit 96 percent by 2025.

At the moment, mobile devices are primarily used for navigation, and to send emails while in the field. The respondents are hoping that better technology will enable more advanced applications like collision reporting and biometric surveillance.

Zebra’s SE7410 barcode scanner recently appeared alongside Suprema’s BioMini Slim 3 fingerprint sensor in a new BioPad tablet from Mexico’s SIASA.