5G will redefine entire business models. here's how

Everyone knows what a farm looks like, does not it? The same goes for a plant, a mine, a power station. Although the scale has changed, they are still recognizable by their shapes 50 or 100 years ago.

The fourth industrial revolution will change that. This will melt the boundaries – and the boundaries – of the big industries that define the economy, transforming their appearance and what they produce. And it will do it because it will be powered by the 5G.

Why? Because 5G is more than the next step of 4G. It has unique features that make it socially and economically transformative: low latency (in other words, an almost imperceptible delay when making remote orders); fast speeds (about 10 times faster than current networks); connection capacity (allowing up to 1 million connected devices per square kilometer); and unparalleled reliability (enabling new applications based on accuracy).

This technology is already there. The world's first 5G networks were deployed in the United States and Korea last year. China, Japan, Australia, Finland – and many other countries where governments have actively advocated the adoption of 5G – will follow soon.

And the important thing is this: Businesses and governments should not wait for the 5G and the fourth industrial revolution. Business models are already changing. If you want to take advantage of the first users, now is the time to move on.

What do these changing business models look like? For example, Nokia's "conscious factory" in Oulu, Finland. Ninety-nine percent of the factory is now automated. Its temperature and humidity change automatically to keep the machines in perfect condition. The parts are delivered with the help of autonomous vehicles. The equipment includes an indoor GPS, which allows managers to see exactly where it is, what it does and whether it can be used or positioned more efficiently.

All this makes the installation highly customizable. Everything except walls, floor and ceiling can be moved. And of course, there is ubiquitous connectivity between robots, work tools, and the underlying network.

In conclusion, the Oulu plant has taken advantage of connectivity to become one of the most flexible, versatile and productive plants in the world.

These three characteristics – flexibility, versatility and productivity – are at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution and are not limited to manufacturing. As 5G gains momentum, all businesses will benefit. Sectors such as health care, agriculture and transportation will be able to optimize processes and act on real-time data badysis, which will result in an increase considerable productivity.

This scope of applicability is particularly important. In the past, digitization had benefited a relatively narrow part of even the most developed economies. In the United States, for example, just 30% of industries (such as financial services) shared 70% of the benefits of digitization. This allowed them to increase their rate of productivity growth almost four times faster than other industries.

The fourth industrial revolution could make these gains much more equitable. Broader access to the cloud, for example, would allow all businesses, regardless of size, to improve their productivity and processes.

This does not mean that the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will come easily. There is a reason why a bank is easier to scan than a farm, for example: it's because a farm, such as a factory, an oil rig or any other physical industry, has a wide range of machines, tools and systems, each of them requires a different form of optimization.

The key to efficiency is controlling these physical badets with the help of digital technologies. This is only possible if information technologies and operations are combined, allowing companies to exploit their own data to badyze, optimize and control their complex systems.

To arrive at this new stage of the digital transformation, three priorities are defined.

1. Connect everything. A business needs to know the status of its badets and to be able to control them in real time, regardless of their location.

2. Calculate in the wild. The cloud is still too centralized. New developments, such as stand-alone drones, require uninterrupted, zero-latency connectivity provided by so-called "peripheral clouds" that bring applications closer to badets and users.

3. Sweat the data. Currently, about 90% of the data available in a plant is not even collected. But increased connectivity and a periphery cloud will provide us with a wealth of real-time information that can be instantly badyzed and exploited. As a result, trains could be preemptively diverted during floods, factory drones could automatically redirect parts where they are most needed, and first responders could badyze the scene of accidents before they happen. arrival.

5G can help unlock each of these three priorities. Especially when companies work with partners such as Nokia, able to provide transparent, reliable and end-to-end products and services.

I will say one last thing. We only have one chance to do it right. For too long, the benefits of digitization have disproportionately benefited a small group of industries, leaving behind hospitals, farms and other vital social badets.

The world is waking up to this. At this year's WEF meeting in Davos, the key players in the communication technology sector, including Nokia, have decided to work with others to identify and overcome the various technical, regulatory and organizational issues that are currently blocking the market. adoption of 5G.

This is only a first step. More are needed. Governments in particular must act on gas and give priority to the adoption of 5G. But if something was ever worth it, that's it. I firmly believe that the sooner governments, businesses, and individuals gain access to 5G, the sooner the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help people around the world live safer, happier, and more productive lives.

The opinions expressed in this article are binding only on the author and not the World Economic Forum.