A recent survey by Nokia highlighting the business benefits and drivers for 5G seeks to demystify the hype surrounding the new technology.
The survey revealed that most are familiar with 5G and a third of those surveyed are already using the connectivity technology.
The new research highlighted 5G plans, expectations and the biggest 5G WAN and LAN drivers for businesses across key industries in the US and UK.
“We conducted this survey to demystify 5G hype and to get to the crux of what will drive enterprises to adopt 5G for their WAN and LAN applications. It also reveals how CSPs can grow revenue by offering the services that enterprise customers are willing to pay for,” said Josh Aroner, vice president marketing for Nokia’s service provider business.
The study was conducted in partnership with Parks Associates and surveyed over 1,000 IT decision-makers.
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Almost half (47%) of IT decision-makers surveyed that their organizations have already started planning for 5G, others are waiting for more widespread 5G availability (54%), and nearly one third (30%) reported they would also like to better understand the value of 5G before developing a strategy to use it in their organization.
“We anticipate requirements born out of the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate longer-term 5G plans with a focus on digitization, automation and analytics, which perfectly lend themselves to physical distancing, monitoring and remote working,” Aroner said.
“Now we have a better understanding of what is happening in the network, there is a clear call to action for CSPs to invest in vertical expertise and guide their enterprise customers with more 5G education.”
The COVID-19 pandemic started as operators around the world were ramping up 5G network rollouts, exploring new use cases and business models, particularly for enterprises.
Nokia said that the survey revealed that 61% of businesses would look to a mobile operator for direction when planning 5G services, CSPs have an opportunity to position themselves with those enterprises who are looking for 5G expertise during these uncertain times.
The research also identified video as the ‘killer app’ for 5G across verticals and different business sizes, with 83% finding it compelling and 48% citing 5G-enhanced video monitoring as a near-term (0-4 years) opportunity.
Respondents can readily grasp the additional value that 5G can bring to video, with 83% finding video alerts such as detecting and recognizing who is on premise as valuable capabilities. Video was followed by remote-controlled machinery with 77% of participants interested, and connected cars at 73%.