The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted heightened interest in the acceleration of digital transformation plans, particularly in 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).
This comes as Ernst & Young (EY) revealed the results to its Reimagining Industry Future Study 2021 on June 25.
In the report, EY found that some 71% of the 1,000 enterprises surveyed believe that the Covid-19 pandemic will expedite digital platform development. This holds especially true regarding 5G data.
“Just as 4G networks have fundamentally disrupted consumer technology, 5G will be the game-changing technology for industrial transformation across all sectors. Access to 5G networks will be key to realizing the potential of industrial disruptive technologies such as AI and IoT that will enable enterprises to establish their market leadership. Laggards will face strong barriers to entry and struggle to bridge the digital divide,” says Joongshik Wang, EY Asean Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications (TMT) leader elect.
In the Asia-Pacific region, there have been many strides in 5G development. 78% of organizations in this region are either currently investing or planning on investing in 5G data. Additionally, countries such as Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam have all already announced 5G network development plans.
Due to the economic problems caused by the pandemic, businesses need to reorganize their digital platforms. One such way that businesses can reorganize their digital platform is to invest in 5G data. Currently, 17% of enterprises have already done so while 73% plan to do so in three years’ time.
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However, despite the desire to switch to 5G, many enterprises do not have a coherent strategy. 64% of enterprises have reported that they cannot find a proper vendor who will accommodate their 5G strategy.
Many do not consider telecommunications operators as digital transformation experts. This may be harmful being that telecommunication operators will have a significant role in the switch to 5G.
Integrating 5G to already existing technologies has also been identified as a problem in which 38% of enterprises believed that it would be hard to incorporate 5G with the technology they already had.
“Organisations understand the importance of 5G, IoT and other emerging technologies; however, the capability gap among suppliers is a key concern. Telecommunications operators should take steps to improve their transformation expertise, recognizing that businesses want suppliers to act as partners that provide end-to-end solutions. For this to happen, operators should explore new ecosystem positions while focusing on the opportunities for business model overhaul that 5G can enable” says Tom Loozen, EY Global Telecommunications Leader.
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