5G

Acceleration or restructuring?

75 percent of industrial companies’ executives cite 5G as a key enabler of their digital transformation over the next five years, ranking second to cloud (84 percent), and ahead of advanced automation and machine learning[i]. The obvious immediate impacts of 5G include higher speeds, low latencies, lower power consumption and greater reliability. It is unclear, however, if these executives appreciate the extent to which 5G could drive transformation.

Far from merely increasing speed, and with impacts far beyond industrial companies, 5G could prompt an era of corporate reinvention. Indeed, 86 percent of networking executives believe that advanced wireless will transform their organisation within three years, with 79 percent saying the same about their industry[ii]. Given its role in empowering emerging technologies from edge computing to machine learning, The World Economic Forum suggests that being surrounded by 5G and the ambient technology it drives, will be as revolutionary as electricity or the automobile[iii].

This is reflected in various forecasts, with one suggesting that 5G has the potential to unlock $4.3T in value for enterprises,[iv] as the technology prompts us to shift from simply connecting people to information at greater speeds and volumes[v] towards connecting people to everything, and anything to anything. To realise 5G’s potential, real insight must be generated. With ‘…everything now sending data signals, companies need to have a way to future-proof their ability to manipulate this data[vi].’

In the short term, 5G could drive augmented reality app proliferation on smartphones, shifting how we access and display information. Workplace design could further change as VirtuL Reality and other mediums become legitimate work spaces in the mid-term and 5G augments opportunities to collaborate and share data through high-resolution images, videos, and 3D immersive experiences[vii].

The synergy of 5G with emerging industries such as the Internet of Things (IoT) will ‘…open up potentially new roles for intermediaries in the value chain...offering to bundle and repackage connectivity for particular industries.’ This will catch incumbents across a range of industries unaware and potentially unprepared. Given the networked nature of the edge, the likely creation of ecosystems around edge and IoT data, approaching cybersecurity at the ecosystem level is increasingly necessary to protect potentially weaker links in the cybersecurity chain, such as smaller third parties.

First we do things differently, then we do different things

Across a range of industries, 5G will likely alter the need for collocated labour, shift business models, introduce new skillset requirements and create new industries.

Decentralised labour

• From Germany, South Korean construction machinery manufacturer Doosan Infracore demonstrated the use of a 5G network and autonomous construction machine to overcome the 8,500-kilometre distance to a simulated construction site in Incheon[viii]. Remote construction becomes plausible.
• Remote surgery also becomes a possibility, embedded within a connected healthcare system that is increasingly decentralised and patient-driven – making home health a growth industry.
• With ambient data indicating physical and even mental status, organisations could become responsible for mental health as failure to act on warning signs becomes a liability, even for physically decentralised companies.

Shifting business models

• Manufacturing could account for nearly 25 percent of 5G use cases by 2028[ix]. Together with 3D printing, 5G connectivity could allow for closer production to end consumers.
• 84 percent of upstream and 76 percent of downstream energy execs suggest ‘5G will revolutionise their industry by offering new ways to provide products and services (e.g., drone delivery[x])’
• Ambient data, 5G and AFgifjcial Intelligence (AI) will enable us to delegate commerce search to our virtual personal assistants, as ‘adverts will seek to game our avatars’ algorithms, making marketing as much about information and computing power as human creativity[xi].' Marketing to robots will require a different approach.

Creating new industries

• Connecting cars to each other and the infrastructure around them could play an important role in the future of autonomous vehicles and improving safety[xii].
• Proactively managing health or else acting when symptoms first show will usher in an age of predictive and even prescriptive health. On-device AI and 5G allows wearable medical devices and phones to work together to identify health problems detected by a wearable device and alert a doctor[xiii].
• Cybersecurity becomes personal. Could a 'body area network' be the key to keeping medical devices safe or transferring data between individuals[xiv]? More 5G driven data will likely lead to hacking and possible poisonous/fake data in healthcare and a range of other industries.
• Pairing 5G with edge computing can enable real-time services – from ambient finance to on-demand mobility.

Rewiring IT and the organisation

IT changes are likely required too since 5G networks could demand up to one hundred times more resources than the typical 4G network[xv]. Despite the cyber-risks inherent in 5G, security and operational advantages are cited by 54 percent of executives as a key benefit[xvi].

The development of mixed reality apps will mean that 5G ‘...could usher in the death of the non-productive work space[xvii].’ The notion of the workplace, already warped by the covid experience, will become increasingly fuzzy. Companies will therefore have to address how to build and maintain virtual cultures, while 5G and remote work could contribute to a greater platformisation of talent as specialists and executives potentially work for multiple employees[xviii]. With work shifting from ‘place’ to ‘actions’, roles will change. The foundation allowing this – the quantified person – will further impact travel, health, transport-on-demand and a range of financial services.

5G will make data exponentially more valuable and potentially more dangerous. What data we hold and how we use it will be the life and death of our companies; the very data we use to inform strategy could prove a liability if such contextual data reveals privacy invasion or poor data management practices.

The edge, combined with 5G, will force every organisation to reaffirm and perhaps redress the question of just what business they are in and what it is they do. Mental models, the nature of competition, talent requirements, IT architecture and the competencies needed to play in future spaces will all change.

[i] Source: CapGemini, 2019 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/06/06/1865091/0/en/Industry-wants-to-leverage-the-5G-revolution-but-barriers-remain.html

[ii] Source: Deloitte, 2020 https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/telecommunications/5g-adoption-study.html

[iii] Source: World Economic Forum, 2018 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/the-world-is-about-to-become-even-more-interconnected-here-s-how/

[iv] Source: KPMG, 2019 https://home.kpmg/xx/en/blogs/home/posts/2019/04/unlocking-the-value-of-5g.html

[v] Source: strategy&, 2019 https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/report/Making-5G-pay?sf208752087=1

[vi] Source: DB News, 2018 https://www.dmnews.com/data/article/13034597/futureproofing-big-brands-against-the-data-explosion

[vii] Source: Deloitte, 2020 https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/telecommunications/5g-adoption-study.html

[viii] Source: Aju Daily, 2019 https://www.ajudaily.com/view/20190409125548712

[ix] Source: Tech Republic, 2020 https://www.techrepublic.com/article/manufacturing-to-dominate-nearly-25-of-5g-use-cases-by-2028/

[x] Source: Accenture, 2019 https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/energy/accenture-technology-vision-energy-2019

[xi] Source: FT, 2019 https://www.ft.com/content/77e366da-dfb6-11e9-b8e0-026e07cbe5b4

[xii] Source: Bloomberg, 2019 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-07-30/is-5g-the-future-of-connected-cars-video

[xiii] Source: World Economic Forum, 2020 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/5g-is-about-to-change-the-world-in-ways-we-cant-even-imagine-yet/

[xiv] Source: ZDNet, 2019 https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-future-of-cyber-security-your-body-as-a-hacker-proof-network/

[xv] Source: Actual Tech, 2019 https://www.actualtech.io/5g-will-change-data-centers/

[xvi] Source: Cap Gemini 2019 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/06/06/1865091/0/en/Industry-wants-to-leverage-the-5G-revolution-but-barriers-remain.html

[xvii] Source: CMSWire, 2018 https://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/6-ways-5g-will-empower-the-digital-workplace/

[xviii]Source: Quartz, 2019 https://qz.com/work/1707685/how-5g-will-transform-our-ability-to-work-from-home/