Whether they are used for powering information displays, automating testing, controlling machinery, monitoring an environment, or doing other tasks, enterprises see Raspberry Pis as serious devices for doing serious tasks. Each model has a long product lifecycle—even the older models (1B+, 2B, 3A+, 3B, and 3B+) will remain in production until at least January 2026. There is little risk that they will go obsolete, so you can maintain a sufficiently large stock and treat them as modular components that you replace rather than fix.
Stable hardware vs. changing software
While you can rely on the hardware to remain constant, the same is not true for the software. The Raspberry Pi's official supported operating system is Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian), and it should be updated regularly to get the latest security and bug fixes.
This presents a problem. Because Raspberry Pis provide a bridge between the physical and virtual worlds, they are often installed in difficult-to-reach locations. They also tend to be installed by hardware folks, typically electricians for plants and assembly technicians for products. You do not want to waste their time by requiring them to connect a keyboard and monitor, log in to run raspi-config, install software with apt-get, and then configure the software.