In the business world, companies are constantly striving to incorporate innovative technologies into their processes to make connections and perform better than their competitors. There’s one crucial type of technology that can make a difference in this context — 5G is becoming increasingly popular.
With its incredibly high speed and low latency, 5G technology is changing the business operations of companies in Canada and across the world, significantly enhancing their power to connect, gather data, and communicate.
In this blog, the professionals at our IT services company in Edmonton will delve into the benefits of 5G technology. We will also share how it can empower businesses, and the steps you should take to incorporate this technology.
Understanding 5G Technology: A Definition
5G technology is best defined as the fifth-generation mobile network. This new global wireless technology comes after various other technology types, such as 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. A 5G connection has a higher capacity than the 4G network and is ideal for companies for various reasons, which we will explore below.
When defining 5G wireless cellular network technology, it’s worth noting that it offers various benefits. As mentioned, these benefits include high speed, meaning the upload and download speeds are faster with a 5G service than with a 4G network. Data can be transmitted from employee to employee at speeds of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps).
Additionally, the 5G wireless cellular technology also offers low latency, meaning the delay between sending and receiving information is low. While 4G technology has a latency rate of 200 milliseconds, 5G technology has an average latency rate of 1 millisecond. Latency is low in 5G technology because of the edge computing devices that process data closer to where it is generated.
It’s also the case that 5G networks can handle more devices and data traffic than 4G networks because their capacity is significantly higher. 5G networks achieve this through advanced technologies such as multiple input multiple output (MIMO) features, which are multiple antennas found at the receiver and transmitter ends.
Opportunities for Businesses with 5G
Thanks to these advantages, 5G offers many opportunities for businesses to stay ahead in a competitive environment. The specific opportunities businesses can gain when using this type of technology include the following points:
Enhanced Connectivity
5G can help businesses in two specific ways in terms of enhanced connectivity: Real-time data sharing and improved communication. This technology allows companies to receive and transmit large amounts of data quickly without delays, which can lead to improved productivity and communication.
Specifically, such networks are ideal for remote workers who work within international businesses and need to share data with other stakeholders. For example, in a video call, 5G networks can upload and transmit data from one device to another with minimal delays in transmission and reinforce the stability of the connection.
The technology is better than 4G when it comes to connectivity since 5G upload speeds can be approximately 30% greater than 4G.
Augmenting the Customer Experience
The customer experience can be greatly enhanced with 5G technology. By offering high-speed connectivity, 5G networks can work well for data downloads related to market trends or customer behaviour.
Excellent download speeds through a 5G network combined with data analytics platforms and customer relationship management (CRM) tools allow data to be shared instantly. This allows companies to identify customer trends quickly and adjust their marketing strategies in accordance with consumer behaviour, significantly augmenting the customer experience.
Smart Infrastructure and 5G
Businesses can integrate 5G solutions with Internet of Things (IoT) devices to gain a range of advantages. In the healthcare industry, for instance, medical professionals can utilize 5G connections to receive patient data through IoT wearable medical devices.
The 5G technology ensures patient data is instantly accessible to healthcare professionals and enhances the timely care they can provide.
Challenges to Keep in Mind
When integrating 5G technology, businesses may need to complete infrastructure upgrades before deploying these networks. For instance, healthcare businesses need to install new routers and antennas as well as data management systems to cope with the speed of data transmission. They also need to consider whether the devices they use are 5G compatible to facilitate data processing.
Additionally, if you’re incorporating 5G technology, you’ll need to think about the potential security concerns and ways to protect data transmitted to IoT devices.
The main issue across many industries that use IoT devices is that each one can have different levels of security; in the medical industry, for instance, an insulin pump that transmits patient data over 5G network might lack the required security measures to keep the data secure and protected from unauthorized access. So looking into data security with 5G is critical..
How to Prepare Your Business for 5G
Now, there are a few steps you’ll need to follow when preparing your business for 5G. It all begins with assessing the readiness of your current infrastructure.
You’ll need to look at your existing network and think carefully about whether the connected devices and systems within your company can support the 5G network technology. You may notice that upgrades will be required, and assessing the infrastructure can help you prepare for this.
It’s then important to think about how 5G can align with your industry and identify use cases. For example, you might want to improve connectivity between remote workers or enhance the customer experience. Or you might want to better track your inventory, stock levels, and shipments with the help of 5G technology and compatible devices.
Once you’ve identified the use cases, you should then consider choosing and partnering with a 5G provider. A 5G provider can offer 5G innovations to your business so that you can integrate them with your systems. When selecting a provider, it’s best to consider a few factors, such as the speed, reliability, and longevity of the solutions they offer.
Beyond this, if you’re looking into enterprise-centric private 5G deployments, the network operator you partner with needs to understand your enterprise and its existing local area network connections (LAN).
It’s worth checking whether they can align the private 5G solution with your business’s existing LAN and your business’s systems. Providers offering solutions such as these will make the integration or upgrade to 5G technology as seamless and familiar as possible for your business.
Incorporate 5G Technology into Your Business with Tech Masters
5G coverage has the ability to transform businesses and elevate your connectivity, communication, productivity, customer experiences, and data transmission. For these reasons, the professionals at our managed IT services company, Tech Masters, highly recommend 5G technology.
If you’re looking to incorporate 5G technology, there are many ways to gain its benefits. A managed IT services company can help you integrate this type of 5G wireless cellular technology into your current system setup.
Start with an infrastructure assessment, and then, once you have identified your specific needs, take the steps to embrace 5G advancements to stay competitive; contact Tech Masters to incorporate 5G and reap its advantages today.
