Enhancing the Future of Mobile Fieldwork with AI

As we start to scratch the surface on the business benefits of AI, it’s already clear that this technology will have a profound influence on how mobile field workers operate. So, let’s look at AI’s potential impact over the next 5-10 years.

written by: Jon Tucker, Head of Product and Service and Solution Centre, Panasonic TOUGHBOOK

The endless possibilities of AI

The majority of businesses big and small have artificial intelligence (AI) on their radar. Nearly three years after Open AI’s ChatGPT chatbot pushed generative AI tools into the public consciousness, AI is rarely off the front pages. Slowly but surely, the general perception of AI solutions has evolved from a level of fear and uncertainty around AI, to a state where organisations are starting to realise its tangible business benefits.

We have already started to integrate advanced AI capabilities into our range of TOUGHBOOK rugged devices, with the latest iteration of TOUGHBOOK 40 and G2 models featuring AI-enabled Intel^®processors with dedicated NPUs. This has the potential to significantly enhance efficiency and productivity through real-time data analysis at the edge without a network connection. This will be a game-changer for mobile field workers who have been tasked with doing more with less in the most challenging of environments.

Like any technology – either well-developed or in its infancy – AI has its advantages and disadvantages. However, at Panasonic TOUGHBOOK, we’re at the start of an AI journey that will prove to be exciting and educational; we’re truly exploring the art of the possible.

AI provides a competitive advantage

It’s understandable that businesses are cautious about AI. However, it has arguably reached maturity whereby AI adopters will be able to see a tangible difference on their workforce and output.

For example, AI will be able to help older generations, especially in industries laden with legacy technology, to quickly upskill them through identifying the required training courses. This will provide the perfect combination of experience and modern technology by supplementing the required knowledge for their role.

There is one thing we can predict with a degree of confidence. People will stop worrying about AI taking their jobs, and will instead be concerned that those who use AI will quickly replace those that do not. They will use AI to their advantage, replacing old processes and ways of doing business.

As an assistant to the human worker operating in the field, AI will prove to be a differentiator for companies to demonstrate how they cut through the noise and increase efficiency.

Liberating the mobile workforce with AI

Over the next 5-10 years, we will reach an inflection point with the technology that mobile field workers use to perform their responsibilities. With an array of solutions available, the challenge is now exploring the potential of AI to liberate them from the restrictions that such tools may present.

How can a field service worker, who is absorbing and acting upon the data they are looking at, input this into the action they subsequently undertake with their hands – without needing to look back and forth at screens? We’re now at the stage where we need to be determining how AI can act as the vehicle for streamlining how best to use technology, without it being a hindrance.

For example, touchscreen displays in vehicles have long been accompanied by Heads-Up-Displays, that provide drivers with critical information without them needing to look away from the road. Now, the question is how AI/natural voice recognition can help mobile field workers to safely act on information presented to them whilst driving? This is a prime example of how AI can add further value to mobile field workers.

Ultimately, the next five years will see AI being increasingly used as an assistant to mobile field workers before it starts to play a bigger role as a main decisioning tool as we enter the 2030s. As a result, Big Data will take on new meaning as AI use proliferates.

Everything, everywhere, at the edge

The development of increasingly sophisticated data models as the backbone to AI solutions will cause the amount of data accessible to mobile field workers to skyrocket. We’ve already seen major infrastructure announcements from the United States in 2025 on building huge datacentres to accommodate this expected surge.

With questions on how to best utilise so much data, and the security of accessing it in the field, this is where edge processing can literally give the edge to mobile field workers. Our latest TOUGHBOOK rugged devices, for example, give users full control over the data they use to enact real-time data processing and analysis directly on the device, without accessing datasets from connected networks, which could risk exposing valuable IP.

For industries where legacy technology is more prevalent than others, such as manufacturing, this will enable users in the next five years to move beyond using AI for tasks such as fault analysis, information retrieval, and automatic report generation, towards increasingly detailed analytics and predictive maintenance.

Taking Industry 4.0 as an example, AI will move beyond simply being an assistant as we approach the mid-2030s. It will instead provide actionable intelligence and decisioning for selected tasks, based on billions of datasets, that will be far beyond human capabilities. This will provide the automation, autonomy, and efficiency that the sector craves, freeing workers to focus on the tasks that require human input.

Continuous innovation breeds market disruption and user choice

In the last two and a half years, AI platforms have evolved from chatbots and invaluable research tools, to government bargaining chips in an ongoing battle for supremacy, as the true potential of AI is being realised. This see-saw effect will likely continue throughout the remainder of the decade, and beyond.

Regardless, the proliferation of AI tools will only have a positive effect on the speed of AI development for mobile field workers. As the consumer market spearheads adoption of AI solutions, we’re likely to see a marked increase in businesses moving from a “shadow IT-based” approach (whereby AI tools fall outside of being an “official” tool), to being adopted into official workflows, e.g., Microsoft Copilot being increasingly adopted by Windows 11 users. As mobile workers realise the potential of AI technology, the tangible day-to-day benefits should become clearer, further snowballing adoption.

As more AI tools become available, this will give plenty of choice to users, who will be able to choose their desired solution based on a widening range of factors.

Are we ready to take a quantum leap forward?

As ever, organisations looking to deploy AI for the first time, or increase existing applications, should approach it with cautious optimism. Questions still remain around the risks of AI, namely data privacy concerns and security, not to mention how to effectively regulate AI models globally.

Whilst AI has the ability to provide businesses and their mobile workers with a quantum leap in efficiency and decision-making support, government frameworks and legislation need to develop at the same speed, to cover all scenarios and permutations that AI throws up.

Remember Google Glass? The innovative wearable, launched over a decade ago, was ultimately short-lived, as concerns around data privacy mothballed the project. If launched today, we would likely be asking the same questions around how to keep PII safe.

These concerns will need to be addressed, and business confidence established, before we see a sharp uptick in AI solutions as wearables, transforming the role of the mobile worker, and removing any restrictions around technology that I mentioned above.

Ultimately, this will lead to Big Tech developing increasingly AI-focused frameworks and operating systems to enable businesses to securely utilise AI to its fullest. As a result, it’s likely that the next Windows operating system will be AI-centric, helping to create more efficient and user-friendly devices.

An AI mobility partner for the future

Just as with any emerging technology, organisations – big or small – cannot realise the potential of AI on their own. Businesses with hundreds, if not thousands, of mobile field workers and devices, cannot simply introduce a new commercial off-the-shelf solution and immediately take advantage of all it has to offer.

They need a long-term mobility partner that goes far beyond a simple rugged device manufacturer, enabling organisations to transform the role of the mobile field worker with a complete suite of solutions.

In the next 5-10 years, AI will shift workers’ focus from manual tasks to enhanced decision-making, automation, and collaboration at the edge, changing how mobile field workers interact with technology, customers, and their environments. This will lead to improved efficiency and productivity.

Looking back on where we’ve come from and the speed of progress to date, anything is truly possible in the future.

TOUGHBOOK empowers mobile field teams by providing secure, reliable technology solutions and comprehensive support throughout their AI adoption and implementation journey.

Enhancing the Future of Mobile Fieldwork with AI

The endless possibilities of AI

AI provides a competitive advantage

Liberating the mobile workforce with AI

Everything, everywhere, at the edge

Continuous innovation breeds market disruption and user choice

Are we ready to take a quantum leap forward?

Are we ready to take a quantum leap forward?

An AI mobility partner for the future

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