- May 24, 2022
- Tech
- Data
- Cloud
- Luxembourg
- Security
- Startup
- Development
- Digital
The pandemic has prompted greater interest in 5G and IoT for 52% of organizations. 64% of businesses are struggling to identify the right 5G strategy vendor. 18% of organization respondents see telecoms as digital transformation experts.
Almost three
quarters of enterprises (71%) believe that the covid-19 pandemic has
accelerated existing digital transformation plans, with 52% signaling greater interest
in 5G and the internet of things (IoT), according to the EY Reimagining Industry Futures Study 2021. The study of more than 1,000
global enterprises finds that 74% of organization respondents across a range of
sectors believe 5G will represent an opportunity to reinvent their processes
over the next five years.
As
organizations continue to build out their transformation plans, 65% of
respondents believe that emerging technologies will play a critical role in
their business’ recovery from the covid-19 pandemic. However, most
organizations are approaching their deployments with caution, with just 17% of
enterprises currently investing in 5G. At the same time, another 73% plan to
invest in three years’ time.
Sixty-four
percent of enterprise respondents reported that they are struggling to identify
the right kind of vendor to address their 5G strategy, while 74% of respondents
stated that vendors must provide a more coherent vision of 5G to construct a
robust investment case. Priorities stated by respondents when it comes to
choosing a 5G vendor include that vendors must deliver business outcomes as
partners rather than pure technology benefits (79%), and end-to-end solutions
are a preferred supplier attribute (30%).
Telecommunications
operators lack digital transformation expertise
The report
finds that only 18% of respondents see telecommunications operators as digital
transformation experts, a vital competence that must be improved as enterprises
increasingly turn to 5G to drive transformation agendas forward. The majority
of respondents see IT services and application/platform vendors (51% and 65%
respectively) as digital transformation experts.
When asked
what their top 5G priority was, 36% stated it was around exploring 5G’s
relationship to other emerging technologies; while 5G’s integration with
existing technologies and processes was seen as the number one challenge, cited
by 38% of business respondents.
Tom
Loozen, EY Global Telecommunications Leader, says: “Organizations 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.”
Asia-Pacific
pulling ahead in terms of current and future investments
5G
investments among organizations in Asia-Pacific are further ahead than the
Americas and Europe, with 78% of organizations currently investing or planning
to invest within the next two to three years, compared with 71% of
organizations in both the Americas and Europe. Meanwhile, 27% of Asia-Pacific
organizations signal significantly greater interest in 5G and IoT since the
COVID-19 pandemic, compared with 13% and 15% in the Americas and Europe,
respectively. Overall, the study finds European enterprises are lagging
compared with the other regions in terms of recognizing 5G’s potential: 70%
believe that 5G will enter the heart of their business processes, compared to
80% in Asia-Pacific and 75% in the Americas.
Adrian Baschnonga,
EY Global Telecommunications Lead Analyst, says: “There is an obvious hunger and interest in 5G
and IoT across all businesses. It is clear that service providers should
reposition themselves as collaborators to their customers, but there is no one-size-fits-all
solution to unlocking the benefits of 5G. Service providers should take care to
educate and inspire enterprises in Europe that may be in an earlier phase of
adoption or less aware of the pervasive opportunities represented by 5G and IoT.
Meanwhile, organizations that are more focused on 5G’s role in pandemic
recovery require a different approach and service providers must be ready to
refine their 5G propositions at pace in order to cater for fast-changing use
case needs.”
Press
release by EY