Speaking today at the Microlise Transport Conference (MTC) 2026, Phil Sambrook (pictured), vertical strategy lead for transportation and logistics at Zebra, said that supply chain complexity and compliance challenges are here to stay.
Sambrook said: “The regulatory compliance and the complexity you have to live through isn’t going away. It’s only getting worse in the near term.
“Technology is a necessity as well as a nice to have.”
He said technology is key in enabling business in supply chain and logistics to manage this, but can also make the job itself easier and more exciting, making it more attractive to the next generation of workers.
Sambrook added: “We have to improve the receiving and unloading. Whilst doing that, I still need visibility. I need to know where it is, why it’s there, when it’s moving.
“The workforce of today is different. They think differently. They were educated differently.”
Research conducted by Zebra found that 68% of IT budgets in the sector are now allocated to the implementation of automation technology.
However, Sambrook said that automation is not going to replace workers within the next five or 10 years.
He said: “It’s simple technology brought forward to enable the worker to be more efficient. It’s there to support and not to replace.”
