Imprivata and Zebra Technologies Flash Insights 2023
New Partnership Presents Potential Solution for Fleet Management

Potential benefits

• Enables device checkout via a badge tap and enables multifactor authentication on the device itself
• Prevents users from checking out devices without authenticating via a trusted digital identity
• Enables a device-level PIN rather than an app-level PIN, thus eliminating the need for users to log back in to apps every 15 minutes; logging in to the device via a badge tap also logs the user in to all integrated applications
• Provides audit trail of user access, including who, where, when, and which device
• Enables stolen or lost devices to be wiped clean
• Leverages Imprivata’s other security offerings to protect against cybersecurity threats

Potential hurdles

• Healthcare organizations have unique needs and requirements: Vendor partnerships and new product developments often encounter unforeseen hurdles. While GroundControl has been successfully rolled out to iOS customers, the Zebra integration includes new, as-yet-unvetted features. Additionally, there are no healthcare-specific Zebra customers to date (one non-healthcare organization has adopted the integration). Any alpha or beta Zebra customers may uncover healthcare-specific challenges to address. Failure to resolve these early hurdles could lead to ongoing difficulties for later adopters.
• Operating system updates sometimes cause functionality issues: Many technology partnerships don’t fully test to ensure updates in one product don’t break functionality in the other. Imprivata’s iOS customers have reported complaints about this in the past, so Imprivata and Zebra have an opportunity to invest in sufficient testing prior to rolling out updates.

A Closer Look at Imprivata GroundControl

Imprivata is a digital security and authentication company with multiple security products. They acquired the GroundControl solution in 2019. GroundControl is live with iOS devices and has been developed for Android devices as well (KLAS has not validated live Android users). The following high-level insights come from GroundControl customers interviewed for research KLAS published in November 2021.

A Closer Look at Zebra Technologies’ Shared Smart Devices

Zebra Technologies is a mobile smart device company whose devices are built specifically to be used in rugged settings (i.e., manufacturing and healthcare) and are deployed as fleet phone systems. Zebra recently rolled out the Zebra TC52-HC handheld smart devices. KLAS published research in February 2022 outlining customers’ initial feedback. These customers typically reported high satisfaction with the customizability of the Android-based TC52-HC and reported plans to leverage the devices long term. Customers who chose the TC52-HC over other devices, such as iPhones, noted its durability, hot-swappable batteries, built-in barcode readers, and other healthcare-specific tools, like the staff duress or panic button.