Global business leaders say that mobile and wireless are critical to the way they do business, but they worry that their needs are outpacing existing access networks, according to a new report by Forbes Insights, in association with Huawei.
In order to evolve and succeed in the future, these executives say their companies will require revolutionary increases in the speed, capacity and connectivity of mobile devices—and they’re looking to 5G networks to provide it.
The introduction of 5G networks in the next five to 10 years is expected to create huge opportunities to build enterprise value in a range of industries, profoundly affecting business operations, P&l economics, asset valuations and revenue models.
Titled "The Mobile Industrial Revolution: Anticipating the Impact and Opportunities of 5G Networks on Business," the survey of more than 1,000 executives found a capability gap: more
than one-third of all executives say that their current systems already can’t support the evolving needs of their business, including more than half (55%) of executives at organizations with revenues in excess of $10 billion. The problem is most pressing in the Asia/Pacific region, where 38% of all executives agree they’ve out- grown their networks, followed closely by Europe (36%) and North America (34%).
‘Eye on the future’
“Organizations with an eye on the future are already anticipating the impact of 5G technology,” said Bruce Rogers, Chief Insights Officer at Forbes Media. “They are working on long-term plans to innovate and realize value from this.”
“5G will help to realize a completely new world for consumers, for vertical industries and for operators,” said Qiuheng, President of Wireless Network Marketing Operation of Huawei. “This will be a fully connected world converging the physical world and the cyber world, and this world will provide infinite new business opportunities for vertical industries and for operators.”
The study also reveals that a majority of executives (67%) say they need mobile networks that provide ultra-high throughput. Nearly as many say they require massive numbers of connections (64%), or ultra-low latency (59%). What they need is 5G networks.
Overall, more than a third (36%) of all executives polled in the Forbes Insights survey say they know “very little” or “nothing” about the technologies and issues around 5G wireless; 38% say they “understand the fundamentals,” and only 27% say they are “very familiar.”
Executives based in Europe tend to be far better informed than their colleagues, with only 24% saying they know little or nothing, compared with 42% in Asia/Pacific and 40% in North America.
Unsurprisingly, leaders in the technology industry are much better informed than their colleagues in other verticals.
Executives at just 26% of all companies say they are “extensively” exploring or planning how they might use 5G, while 15% say they are not planning at all. The companies sitting on the sidelines tend to be smaller and earn less revenue: 28% of executives at companies with revenues below $500 million say they aren’t making plans—five times as many as the 3% of executives who aren’t planning for 5G at $10 billion-plus organizations.
More than 80% of all executives believe that 5G technologies will have positive effects on multiple areas of their business. The areas where they’re most bullish about the benefits of 5G: customer experience, service/ product quality and worker productivity.