Organizations moving to adopt next-gen wireless strongly believe it has the potential to provide competitive advantage, unlock the power of other emerging technologies, and transform their organization and industry in the next three years.
Introduction
NETWORKING executives view advanced wireless technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6 as a force multiplier for other innovative technologies—including AI, IoT, cloud, and edge computing—and as being foundational to transforming their enterprises and industries. This is one of the key findings of a recent study conducted by Deloitte on advanced wireless connectivity. To better understand how enterprises are approaching adoption of these technologies, we surveyed 415 US-based networking executives who have plans to adopt 5G and/or Wi-Fi 6 (see sidebar, “Methodology”). This report presents the perspectives of these networking leaders and provides insight into how and why organizations plan to adopt advanced wireless.
Advanced wireless technologies will likely become an essential part of the fabric that links billions of devices, machines, and people in the hyperconnected era. They promise dramatic performance improvements—such as faster speeds, increased data capacity, lower latency, greater device density, and precise location sensing—that make wireless an attractive alternative to wireline networks for heavy-bandwidth, time-sensitive needs. Many organizations are shifting to advanced wireless to enable innovation and gain competitive advantage. Indeed, many networking executives view these technologies as increasingly critical to their enterprise success, and business leaders are joining IT leaders to drive adoption. It is telling that networking executives don’t view 5G and Wi-Fi 6 as incremental improvements to previous generations of wireless, but as a significant opportunity to transform how their enterprises operate, as well as the products and services they offer. Remarkably, 86% of networking executives surveyed believe that advanced wireless will transform their organization within three years, and 79% say the same about their industry.
As the next-gen wireless future rapidly becomes a reality, with pilots and active experimentation underway, carriers and enterprises alike should decide how to participate in the evolving ecosystem. Each generational advance in wireless connectivity introduced new market entrants that disrupted traditional players to capture the bulk of incremental value creation. With 3G, device-makers displaced the carrier’s lock on the end customer. With the advent of 4G, enterprise mobile apps and cloud platforms grabbed a significant share in a growing market, creating a whole new ecosystem of software players. If history is any guide, 5G is also poised to shake up the wireless ecosystem—particularly in the enterprise market—and participants should carefully consider how they can capture and offer value. The executives we surveyed report that they engage with a wide variety of providers and are very willing to reconsider these relationships in their migration to advanced wireless.
As the next-gen wireless future rapidly becomes a reality, carriers and enterprises alike should decide how to participate in the evolving ecosystem.
Methodology
To understand how enterprises are adopting advanced wireless technologies, including motivations, challenges, and preferences, Deloitte in Q1 2020 surveyed 415 IT and line-of-business (LOB) executives in the United States who are responsible for connectivity at organizations in the process of adopting 5G and/or Wi-Fi 6 or planning to adopt either technology within the next three years. These organizations plan to connect employees, machines, and customers via advanced wireless networks—and a majority of the networking executives (61%) say they are responsible for all three of these areas. Nine in 10 executives determine investments or develop strategies for networking technologies, and the same proportion oversee networking technology deployments or make technology decisions.
Seventy-seven percent of the surveyed are IT executives while the rest are LOB executives. Forty-eight percent are C-level executives: CIOs and CTOs (41%) and CEOs, presidents, and owners (7%); 20% are senior VPs/VPs/business unit heads; and the remaining 32% are senior directors/directors. In terms of company size, 30% have an annual revenue of US$250 million to US$1 billion; 45% have revenues of US$1 billion to US$5 billion; and 25% have revenues of US$5 billion or more. Six industries are represented in the survey: consumer, retail, and automotive (27%); technology, media, and telecom (17%); energy, resources, and industrials (17%); financial services (14%); life sciences and health care (13%); and education (12%).
Note: The executives were surveyed before the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt in the United States. To consider how the pandemic may affect perspectives on advanced wireless, see the sidebar, “The impact of COVID-19.”
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