In recognition of the growth in our leadership, Fortune has named Red Hat to its list of the Most Admired Companies for 2018. We are ranked fourth within the computer software category. This is our first time on the list and the first time we were invited to participate in the voting, which we believe is a testament to the growing influence of open source.
We surveyed more than 400 Red Hat customers from around the globe about their 2018 priorities, including top challenges, budget allocation, cloud deployment strategies, and plans for emerging technologies. This year's survey saw a bit of a shift from previous years, and some findings highlighted respondents' mindshift towards doing more with existing IT investments, while others exemplified the role cloud initiatives are playing within organizations.
Eric Shander, chief financial officer (CFO) of Red Hat, discusses why business experience is valuable for CFOs, the move toward digital finance, and the importance of the CFO-CIO relationship. He also shares his views on why CFOs need to spend time with external stakeholders, including customers.
We're pleased to announce the latest update to the world's leading enterprise Linux platform with the beta availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 Beta is designed to provide a consistent foundation across the hybrid cloud and offers key new and enhanced features around security and compliance, platform efficiency, and manageability.
To better understand how artificial intelligence (AI), smart mobile devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), and business process management (BPM) technologies are being applied and the impact they are having in the enterprise, Red Hat commissioned research firm Vanson Bourne to survey 300 IT decision makers from organizations in the U.S., Europe and Asia that employ a significant field workforce. According to the results, strong technology investment is expected by respondents with an average increase of 25% through November 2018, reflecting the importance of technology in transforming field service operations.