The two biggest challenges cited by respondents for the past year were a lack of projects (32%) and financing of customers’ projects (31%). Caswell Mthembu says that many SMEs are unable to finance big projects, and BlueStar’s ability to fill that gap has been instrumental in enabling customers to access deals and projects that are key for their growth.
David Forster clarifies, “BlueStar doesn’t get involved in third party financing, but works with local credit providers to ensure customers have sufficient credit to support their needs.”
He goes on to comment on the lack of projects in the autoID space. “With the global economy last year, many users in the areas we play in, such as manufacturing, transport and logistics, found it necessary to push their devices to the limits of their lifecycles. Fortunately, Zebra devices can go up to five years past their end of sale cycle, so users can extend their lifecycle.”
Forster says that 2025 is going to see a lot of changes globally in supply chain legislation around autoID solutions, “We’re expecting more focus on the origin of products, which will create demand for our technology because of the traceability of the components used.”
The top three impediments to growing their business in 2025 are listed by respondents as: lack of financial support for projects (42%); supply chain restrictions (23%); and not enough software solutions (14%). Forster comments, “Supply chain restrictions are a global issue, and we’ll have to wait and see how the recent change of leadership in North America affects this. However, BlueStar has a centralised warehouse for the EMEA region, so our customers shouldn’t be limited by lack of access to stock locally.”
Mthembu adds, “By having a local counterpart who holds stock for BlueStar, SMEs shouldn’t struggle with supply chain restrictions. Our strategy is to provide a solution instead of a device, combining it with a software solution to meet that customer’s specific requirements.”
Over the past year, respondents say that mobile computing (49%) is the technology that has driven most of their business, followed by IOT (24%), scanning (14%) and RFID (6%). For 2025, the technologies expected to drive the most business are IOT (36%), mobile computing (27%), RFID (17%) and scanning (14%).
Mthembu comments that mobile computing has become the entry point to data, with everything driven into the AI space, where the data can be manipulated.
Forster says, “BlueStar focuses on autoID point of sale and retail technologies and has expertise in all the abovementioned areas – ie IOT, mobile computing, RFID and scanning.”
The verticals expected to be the leading revenue drivers for 2025 are retail and hospitality (21%), field services / utilities (21%), and education (18%). Mthembu agrees that retail will be a driver of revenue but says he’d like to see healthcare (which came in at 9%) higher up in those rankings.
“It’s all about providing frontline workers with access to the data that they need. We’re also seeing a lot of innovation being done in the healthcare sector, which will drive growth.”
The top five priorities for customers during 2024 were: reliability (60%); integration (51%), performance (51%), security (44%) and support and services (40%). Mthembu believes that ease of use trumps all of these. “Customers want technology that’s interactive and easy to use.”
Forster approves of reliability coming in at number one, “The autoID devices we supply are rugged and fit for purpose. I’m surprised that security came in at number four but it highlights the fact that people may not be aware that these devices can access their back end. Mobile computers and scanners that provide access to people’s systems need to be as secure as any other system within the business.”
Artificial intelligence was named by most respondents as the technology that emerged in 2024 that had most impacted their business. Mthembu says, “AI is a key driver of all of the technologies discussed above, from mobile computing to RFID and IOT. AI is driving a seamless world in which everyone is connected and everywhere at the same time.”
“AI data modules are being integrated into autoID devices, using AI to pull data from the device to meet the business’s strategy,” explains Forster. BlueStar is currently conducting internal training on AI in business to enable it to fully deliver this capability to its customers.
BlueStar will unpack the full survey outcomes during a webinar on 26 February. Click here to find out more.
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