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Carrie MacGillivray, Group Vice President/General Manager, WW Telecom, Mobile & IoT Research, IDC
Twitter handle: @CMacIDC
The commercials are coming fast and furious advertising the many benefits of 5G. Across the United States, mobile operators are incenting consumers to upgrade their mobile phone or try mobile broadband on a mobile hotspot or router to provide connectivity to multiple devices. With so many Americans working from home in 2020 and 2021, connectivity has become a critical tool to staying connected to family and friends and allowing us to work, learn, and be entertained at home.
5G is an essential part of the connectivity conversation.
For enterprises over the last year, connectivity is gaining momentum as a strategic imperative since it was critical to ensure business continuity. With this focus on connectivity, 5G should become part of the conversation. 5G means many things to many people. At the core, it means faster speeds, lower latency, and the ability to connect many more people and “things” at a moment in time. Organizations are still looking to understand the benefits of 5G. However, the promise of this technology is that it will drive faster decision making because of immediate access to real-time data. Other potential benefits expected are improved business efficiency, productivity, innovation, and new capabilities as a result of ubiquitous access. This advanced mobile broadband connectivity will be key to improve time to market and worker flexibility.
A look at CIO’s plans to invest in 5G.
In late 2020, IDC conducted a study of CIOs, asking where they were in terms of thinking about investing in 5G. We asked about the perceived benefits of 5G to their business. Some of the top 5G use cases these CIOs highlighted included increased bandwidth to accommodate large data volumes, a wider range of remote working scenarios, and the ability to offer better site or workplace connectivity. As organizations face the reality of a distributed workforce in the coming years, having the flexibility and reliability of connectivity is an important consideration to ensure productivity for employees regardless of their work location.
More important than ever is the new robust workplace connectivity coupled with reliable mobile broadband for employees when they are working from home or working from almost “anywhere."
The study also revealed that the readiness to adopt 5G varies across organizations in the United States. While 5G is available and its benefits are already being experienced by organizations that were quick to embrace its faster speeds, increased capability, and ubiquitous 5G coverage, some organizations are taking a wait-and-see approach. In these (relatively) early days of 5G availability, the benefits are being witnessed as organizations look to better equip their workforce — a workforce that is undergoing a massive shift in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. More important than ever is the new robust workplace connectivity coupled with reliable mobile broadband for employees when they are working from home or working from almost “anywhere.”
The time to adopt is now.
The time is here for enterprises to look at the business and organizational benefits that can be reaped by investing in and deploying the transformative capabilities of 5G. Enterprise decision makers should look to a network service provider that offers innovative work-from-anywhere and mobile broadband solutions, nationwide coverage, a road map of network investments, and competitive pricing, all which will make the adoption of 5G seamless. What are you waiting for? It's time to adopt 5G and help your organization continue its journey to being digitally connected.
For more information on the study mentioned, please refer to the IDC White Paper "Observations on 5G Adoption Across the 5G Maturity Continuum," sponsored by
Capable device required; coverage not available in some areas. While 5G access won't require a certain plan or feature, some uses/services might. See Coverage details, Terms and Conditions, and Open Internet information for network management details (like video optimization) at
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