William Burns on AI productivity
From Zebra Technologies Corp ($ZBRA) Q1 2026 Earnings Call · · Castify Earnings Call
“We do see AI driving internal productivity within our business. The areas you really would expect software development, and a lot of work being done using AI tools across our development process within research and development, our sales and marketing teams leveraging AI across what they're doing around the globe working with customers and then marketing platform and others. Supply chain forecasting. We're seeing that our customer service teams as well. We're using AI tools broadly across the entire organization.”
On , William Burns, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Zebra Technologies, spoke about AI productivity during Zebra Technologies Corp ($ZBRA) Q1 2026 Earnings Call on Castify Earnings Call.
About William Burns
William Burns, CEO of Zebra Technologies, has described the company as "deeply embedded" in customer operations and "increasingly central" to efforts to drive productivity through workflow automation and AI integration. He stated that the company sees a 5 to 7% organic sales growth profile over a cycle for its connected frontline and asset visibility automation markets, citing third-party research that nearly 75% of warehouses globally are in the early stages of automation. Burns noted that the company is using AI tools internally across software development, sales, marketing, and supply chain forecasting, and he said the biggest opportunity is in providing AI solutions to customers, with first revenues from AI agents expected in 2026 and scaling thereafter. Burns discussed the company's response to tariffs, stating that Zebra has implemented approximately $80 million in annualized pricing adjustments and shifted additional North American production out of China. He said the company "prefer not to increase price, but in this case, we have no choice" to offset tariff impacts. Burns also highlighted the acquisition of Elo, describing it as a combination that "strengthens Zebra's portfolio" and is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings. He reported that the company executed $500 million in share repurchases year-to-date through early May 2026 and raised its full-year outlook, while also noting that customers remain "a bit cautious" due to uncertain trade policies and macroeconomic conditions.