How to Position Your Company to Take Advantage of 5G

As the next generation mobile technology begins to roll out, companies will be well-advised to be prepared for change.

5G is definitely a game-changer. Since the technology was first unveiled in 2017, governments and industries have been busy trying to understand what its implications will be for a very wide range of different areas: from national security and industrial production to digital communication and the evolution of AI-powered technology.

While the vastly-increased data speeds and lower latency rates that 5G promises will undoubtedly have a huge effect on many areas of life and the broader economy, one of the main arenas where its change will be felt is in how companies understand and interact with their customers.

We’ve already written about 5G and some of the ways it is set to change mobile apps and digital marketing.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at some of the concrete steps companies can follow as part of a comprehensive 5G Strategy that allows them to take advantage of the vast capabilities offered by the technology – and to keep up ahead of the competition.

1. Develop a 5G Strategy

The first step for any company wanting to adapt to the new technological standard will be to develop a 5G roadmap that clearly defines the goals, challenges and opportunities for the transition to the new technology.

This strategy can include the points we detail below, but will also need to formulate budgetary allocations for investing in the change, setting timelines and assigning roles to the strategy’s implementation. This might naturally be a challenge for smaller companies with limited budgets – however, a little preparation is better than none at all.

2. Upgrade systems

A 5G strategy will undoubtedly involve a large technical component.

Indeed, any company looking to take advantage of 5G will need to upgrade their existing IT infrastructure in order to be able to handle the much higher volumes of data it’s going to bring – and to ensure they are not overwhelmed by it.

This will give companies the opportunity to overhaul their IT systems in order to be centered on wireless communication. After all, one of the immediate changes 5G will bring is a gradual transition away from wire-based networks, as wireless gains the ability to transfer enormous amounts of information.

What this also means is that IT security will also need to be re-examined and re-calibrated to deal with the increased threat that comes with more networked devices. Edge Computing will therefore be a powerful tool in how companies begin to manage devices connecting to their networks in this new, fully-wireless world.

Ensuring you have established the technical foundations on which to take advantage of 5G – from larger data storage capacity through cloud integration and faster processing capabilities – will provide the basis for starting to get creative with the technology. 

3. Richer Digital Marketing

Do you remember when 4G technology first began to make its presence felt in the mainstream? It was a little over a decade ago, when smartphones were still a relatively new phenomenon (the first iPhone launched in 2007, around the same time that 4G was becoming the global gold standard for bandwidth).

Well, we all know what has happened since then: smartphones have emerged as one of the most popular devices in the world, reshaping how we do business, communicate with each other (4G is what made mobile video calling possible), and how companies market their products and services – to name just a few.

5G can be expected to bring even more drastic changes in what is possible from a digital marketing perspective.

Companies will be able to offer their customers incredibly rich digital media experiences direct to their mobile devices. As product designers find ways to expand the capabilities of devices, content creators will find new, immersive ways of telling brands’ stories and bringing products and services into new virtual spaces.

What this means is that companies should already be talking with their digital marketing teams about how they can begin creating content that will make use of the ability to transmit data-heavy media to customers’ devices.

Whether it’s through Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Extended Reality, or other extremely rich HD experiences, companies that are able to arm their marketing strategies with amazing, immersive content will have a clear advantage in the future.

That being said, it’s also important that the expansion of digital marketing assets does not come at the expense of alienating consumers who might not yet have 5G coverage or devices. So, responsive design approaches and a measured communication strategy will play key roles in how successfully new content is delivered – and received. 

Establishing a content strategy for taking advantage of the new technological possibilities will allow companies to be better positioned to stand out from the competition once 5G coverage becomes more widespread.

4. Data Analytics

As well as bringing a drastically increased capacity for new, rich media experiences, 5G will also revolutionize the amount of data that companies will have access to from their markets.

The Internet of Things (IoT) – which already numbers in the billions of devices – will continue to expand and become more sophisticated, offering companies the ability to gather more complex and unique data from more nuanced and intelligent touchpoints.

In parallel, the growing power of AI and Machine Learning to decipher and generate valuable insights into this data is also set to increase. 5G will facilitate an exponential increase in the amounts of data that can be processed in near real-time, allowing a company with the right analytics and marketing assets to provide highly dynamic and adaptable content and services to users based on their immediate behavior.

The challenge for companies therefore lies in capturing these possibilities in order to offer relevant, reflexive and valuable services and products that respond to their customers’ needs.

In order to do this, companies will need to adopt a dramatically enhanced data strategy that is able to handle vastly increased volumes of data, and to turn that data into actionable information. Tools such as Customer Data Platforms will be a key component in achieving this, so it makes sense to get acquainted with them as soon as possible.  

Here at Bocasay, we help clients from a range of different industries to build, upgrade and enhance their IT and digital assets in order to best meet the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy. Get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to start a conversation about how to get your project off the ground.