You may not realize it but 5G will reboot the digital world. In the same way, smartphones transformed the meaning and purpose of cellphones, so 5G will upend connectivity and internet commerce. One of the most startling surprises about 5G is its potential to level the playing field when it comes to online business, allowing small and medium businesses to compete with large, well-funded enterprises.
Indeed, there are two assumptions about 5G that experts universally forecast. First, new niches for online businesses that have not yet been conceived will boom in astonishing ways. Second, small and medium-sized businesses will be the ones to profit more from 5G than large and mega businesses. Here are several important insights into the business world arising from 5G broadband.
What is 5G?
In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019. 5G is the successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cell phones.
How does 5G help small business operations?
This technology can be particularly effective for small business owners. Here are some benefits:
1. Increase your team’s productivity
5G has the potential to create whole new ways to work. It may even make evolving your small business easier. With it, devices can gain powerful, low-latency connections to the cloud, so devices may not have to do as much computing. This would make it possible to use devices that are essentially a screen and a battery with a high-bandwidth connection to the cloud.
Impromptu conference calls and collaboration work can be done virtually anywhere. You and your employees can be more productive every minute of the workday.
2. Help your sales channels be more productive
A benefit of 5G for business is that new ways of communicating make it possible to train people in new ways. Augmented reality, for example, enhances on-the-job training by providing the ongoing input employees need to do the job better as they start out in a new position.
3. Transform your customer experience
5G is dramatically faster than 4G. A video download that takes minutes with 4G would take just seconds with 5G. This kind of performance can be harnessed to transform the experience you provide to your customers.
4. Connect everything
A 5G approach enables businesses to use new data and devices to accomplish more—whether it’s automating maintenance alerts to your technicians, or tracking items shipped from a warehouse in real time.
5. Create new business opportunities
5G opens the door to new business models that you can follow along with new products and services you can offer. The ability to collect more data, more quickly, and put it to work for your business and your customers is one of the benefits of 5G for businesses of every size—and may even spark a transformation of your business model.
First, Understand All Your Options
In general, entrepreneurs understand that 5G will speed internet data, grant unlimited bandwidth, and end latency. As dramatic as those changes will be, they are simply the tip of the iceberg. To discover the potential of this new technology, you will want to investigate precisely what this means to your business operations. Specifically, you will need to explore how 5G monetization will impact your company’s revenue stream.
Transactions will occur instantaneously, allowing you to experiment quickly with new business models, whether your firm operates as business to consumer (B2C), business to business (B2B) or business to business and beyond (B2B2X). New paradigms of monetizing online services are currently in development: subscription-based, single-use based and still other creative, flexible forms of monetization.
The Internet Becomes Your Sales Rep
As the internet of things (IoT) expands into countless homes and businesses, its ubiquitous sensors will turn willing companies into transparent suppliers for their customers. You will be able to invite clients right into the workplace. You will be able to allow customer avatars to sample your products, such as trying on clothes or using your equipment. You will be able to respond in real-time to requests, orders and issues. Thus, there will be virtually no latency in the delivery of goods either. Production and order completion will speed up exponentially. You will be able to keep track of your suppliers and raw goods continually. Today’s “touchless stores” are just a preview of the degree to which consumers can shop at home, examine products and either sit in the parking lot to receive them or have them delivered to their front doors.
Instant Interface Automates Full Control of Your Processes
Of course, there will be a hefty dose of AI involved in the many new developments that occur with the advent of 5G. Consider the example of the farmer who is able to monitor not just the temperature and wind but also the humidity and the appearance of crops in the field. If certain fields need attention, AI programmed farm implements that are 5G enabled can address the concerns without the farmer’s personal intervention.
This is not some far-fetched science fiction but a useful reality. There is no industry that will not be transformed in a fully 5G world. Just as you can now lock your front door from anywhere around the globe, you will be able to run your production line while watching the sunset in your driverless car.
Localization Makes the Small Market Your Big Market
Speaking about those farms on the outskirts of your community, they will sooner or later all become 5G enabled, along with all the other homes and businesses where you live. It is important to remember that 5G, unlike the previous four generations of wireless broadband, is by its nature localized. Instead of hulking, large servers in some distant place, end-users will have the cloud located close by. With 5G, you will be able to serve your nearest customers with all the functionality of large corporations but also with individual appeal and proximity.
It is literally true that 5G will bring your work home and make it much more personal.
About the Author
Kevin Gardner graduated with a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from UCLA. He works as a business consultant for InnovateBTS® where he helps companies integrate technology to improve performance. He shares his knowledge and expertise not only with his clients but with his fellow bloggers and readers.
