In today’s digital world, organizations are increasingly focused on monetizing their data by acting intelligently on business events in real-time. The deployment of 5G networks exponentially boosts the amount of data generated due to the increase in interactions by users and/or devices. This provides a great opportunity for modern enterprises to capitalize on these streams of information by identifying monetization moments and proactively preventing threats and fraud, all in real-time.
The next-generation network will also evolve the landscape of organizations involved in the deployment and use of 5G-powered applications. Not only will 5G greatly affect communications service providers (CSPs), but also the enterprise market, which will benefit considerably and be an early adopter. Determining how to tap into the enterprise market will become vital to CSPs’ success, especially as large organizations across industries consider implementing their own private 5G networks. As we begin to see more early enterprise partnerships established, here are three trends that will drive 5G for the enterprise in 2020:
#1: Network slicing will only grow in importance
With the implementation of 5G, the network slicing market is expected to grow at an exponential rate. Arguably one of the most important features of 5G, network slicing empowers enterprises with end-to-end “ownership” of a piece of the 5G network, providing portions - or slices - of carrier networks for specific customer use cases. This includes everything from smart homes, the Internet of Things (IoT), connected cars, and even smart energy grids.
The benefits to owning a “slice” of 5G in the enterprise are vast. It will essentially act as an “on-off switch” for enterprises, enabling better control, agility, management and security of the network for optimized usage. In 2020, we will begin to see a shift from capacity-based slices (slices built primarily with bandwidth allocation in mind) to service-specific slices (more slices with wider variety of characteristics), and even application-driven slices in a few years.
#2: Artificial intelligence and machine learning will cultivate the anomaly economy
The introduction of 5G networks will present organizations with more opportunities around fast moving, streaming data, driving events and intelligent connectivity. In order to capitalize on these continuous streams of data, organizations must leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to analyze volume-heavy data streams, in real-time, to provide the insights needed for data-driven cognitive decision-making. Looking ahead, better business decisions will be made with 5G data closer to the edge, allowing for lower latency and faster decision making. Events driving actions and actions generating new events will make business processes increasingly self-organizing and self-healing.
One of the most significant opportunities for AI/ML with 5G will be anomaly detection or detecting abnormalities in patterns that could indicate a previously hidden threat or opportunity. The earlier businesses can catch critical deviations, the easier it is to correct and avoid any failures or revenue loss. Businesses can also use anomaly detection to capitalize on positive trends, increase user engagement, hyper-personalize, or revisit business direction. Moving into 2020, the combination of the vast amounts of streaming 5G data, AI, and ML will drastically increase the speed, power and value of anomaly detection for many businesses.
#3: Industrial IoT, fraud/security, telecom, and financial services industries will thrive
Enterprises around the world will be impacted by 5G, with the industrial internet of things (IIoT), fraud/threat management, telecom, and financial services industries poised to benefit most in 2020. This progress will mainly be driven by the increase in the device connectivity and the speeds afforded by 5G.
Dheeraj Remella,
Cheif Product Officer,
VoltDB
For fraud and threat management, for example, anomaly detection will help launch an era of active fraud prevention and in-event detection, moving away from traditional post-event reconciliation that can cost organizations millions of dollars annually. Anomaly detection will also help identify unusual patterns and suspicious behavior that could be indicative of botnet attacks and thwart them in real-time.
Looking at the IIoT, detecting anomalies is expected to help reduce unplanned downtime, improve productivity and operational efficiencies, and provide insights to help shape future business decisions and assess risks. The fourth-generation industrial revolution is being powered by 5G, ML, and AI along with more reliable low power sensor technology advancements. The fourth generation supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems evolution will accelerate incorporating multi-access edge computing for event-driven decisions made closer to the edge with better contextuality while moving analytics to the cloud for economic reasons.
For telecom operators, data is what will prevent them from becoming a utility company serving a “dumb pipe” for over the top (OTT) technologies. Operators will begin striking tighter partnerships with content and cloud companies to provide better end user experience by moving content closer to the edge. The other - and probably more important - monetization avenue for operators will be powered by network slicing and IIoT by creating meta platforms that provide better quality of service (QoS) assurances with network performance optimizations. Machine learning is going to play a vital role in this as well. Operators can only monetize effectively by preventing fraud proactively.
In 2020, we will see the financial services industry navigating how 5G will affect the retail banking user experience. The benefits will not just be limited to better mobile banking experience, as 5G will also provide a better understanding of their customers from all facets. This enhanced insight will enable organizations to better engage with their customer in an ultra-personalized manner. Blockchain technology is another key technology that will see a higher uptake in the industry.
With the rollout of 5G networks, organizations across industries will see transformations that were unimaginable with 4G. However, taking advantage of this opportunity is contingent upon CSPs’ willingness and urgency to target the enterprise market. In 2020, we will continue to see more CSPs and enterprises work together to lead the way in 5G innovation.
