Plotting your 5G adoption blueprint

A successful 5G journey starts with a digital transformation strategy, moving quickly, and fine-tuning existing business processes to fully harness what 5G has to offer.

We’ve all heard about 5G, the next-gen mobile connectivity currently rolled out in Singapore. But beyond futuristic advances in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and autonomous vehicles, 5G has a lot to offer to businesses, too. Deployed judiciously, 5G can give organisations the capabilities they need to leap ahead of competitors.

For instance, 5G can help businesses increase business efficiency, achieve results faster, and facilitate innovative deployments at a lower cost than before. Moreover, the faster connectivity of 5G and its support for more devices is expected to fuel a boom in connected devices and smart sensors, which will, in turn, bring in a fresh flood of data and their associated insights.

While there is no question that 5G delivers unprecedented technical performance, a technological solution by itself cannot bring an organisation to greater heights. Breakthroughs in today’s digital-centric world begin with digital innovation, which is enabled through digital transformation (DX). To fully leverage the power of 5G, businesses must begin by putting together a comprehensive DX strategy.

This starts with a digital transformation roadmap focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences through insight-driven goals. Monolithic traditional systems should be gradually replaced with agile and cloud-driven infrastructure for greater scalability and flexibility. Focused around microservices and connected by software-defined networking (SDN), new capabilities can be rapidly built from existing applications using APIs instead of crafted from scratch every time.

With a versatile digital core, 5G can bring the organisation to greater heights. For instance, powered by an advanced hybrid cloud architecture, businesses can double down on edge deployments with cutting-edge AI systems that can respond with sub-second latency to support smart factories. Similarly, 5G can facilitate the real-time collection of streaming data from existing IoT systems to streamline the manufacturing process to boost production and efficiency.

Faster 5G speeds will also make it practical to develop improved augmented reality (AR) applications for outdoor use, instead of being limited to locations with good Wi-Fi networks. Indeed, much more efficient utilisation of the mobile network spectrum means that more connected devices can work simultaneously on the same network, alleviating concerns of slowdowns.

Like all new technologies, 5G hardware will initially be more expensive than older systems based on 4G. According to McKinsey, 4G was about 200% more expensive than 3G in its first year of launch, while 3G HSPA+ was about 330% more expensive than 2G Edge¹. But as the same report noted, past transitions also showed that organisations that hesitate lose the first mover’s advantage – and that costs drop quickly.

For instance, 5G represents a massive leap forward within the industrial sector. With improvements in speed, latency, and energy efficiency, the technology will enable a substantial boost across multiple scenarios, from Industry 4.0 applications, sensor-based building management, mobile medical monitoring, and even smart retail.

Ultimately, the potential economic value of 5G as a platform for open innovation is tremendous and unquestionable. The onus is on businesses to identify the optimal use cases to derive the maximum advantage from 5G. As with all business endeavours, this can only take place through business case discovery and the relevant cost-benefit analysis.

The other key aspect of achieving success with 5G is to work with a partner that can support your 5G journey. This is vital for the impartation of 5G skill sets to in-house personnel, help ensure that network designs have ample room to scale and evolve, and to ensure the delivery of top-notch connected experiences to users.

Indeed, taking full advantage of 5G requires people who understand the inherent advantages and capabilities that 5G can bring to them. And as the technology continues to evolve and new developments are made, the partner can offer specialist support to ensure that critical elements such as security, performance, and compliance are met.

As businesses initiate their 5G journey, they must also assess business processes that might be disrupted by 5G and whether they need to be changed or adapted. To fully harness the new capabilities, manual and unconnected systems should be redesigned with 5G deployments in mind. And in places where edge deployments make sense, the appropriate infrastructure investments might need to be made.

Change is coming, and only the prepared – and connected – can expect to lead the race to the future.

Looking to start your 5G journey? Let us help.

Find out more about Singtel 5G.

¹ McKinsey, The 5G era: New horizons for advanced-electronics and industrial companies, Feb 2020.