Capitalizing on the promise of private 5G requires a use-case-driven approach

The age of intelligent industry is here. Digital transformation is changing how we live, work and play, creating new business models and customer experiences never before possible.

Advanced technologies like AI/ML, IoT, Cloud, digital twins and AR/VR are enabling new sources of value in countless ways – from creating new immersive experiences to enabling new intelligent services like smart home, autonomous vehicles and connected factories.

5G has the same disruptive potential.  However, companies need help in understanding how to harness this new technology to accelerate their business strategy to achieve their growth and profitably ambitions.  It’s incumbent upon our industry to educate the market on the power of private 5G by tying implementation of this exciting new technology to customer outcomes and showing how 5G works to accelerate digital transformation already well underway.   

Taking a use case approach can help companies see how the adoption of 5G with its increased throughput, ultra-low latency, device scaling and enhanced security in concert with other technologies can drive specific and measurable business outcomes.  Organizations need a clear picture of where their current technology portfolio would be challenged by the use cases they want to pursue. This means identifying the specific connectivity pain points for prioritized use cases, analyzing which connectivity technology is causing the problem, and building a full understanding of how 5G can support, including the appropriate implementation model.

There are many areas where private 5G can drive outsized impact, where real-time AI processing at the edge is needed. This can range from use of video surveillance in retail stores to more effectively managing out of stock SKUs to remote management of production lines and adoption of digital twins.  

Capgemini Research Institute’s Report “Accelerating the 5G Industrial Revolution: State of 5G and edge in industrial operations” surveyed senior executives from 1,000 industrial organizations and found that 40% of them expect to roll out 5G at a single site within two years and most identified private 5G networks as the preferred model for implementation. However, the majority of industrial organizations are currently at the ideation and planning stages for 5G, with fewer than a third having moved to the pilot stage and beyond. For those that have done 5G trials and implementations, as many as 60% of early adopters say that 5G has helped them realize higher operational efficiency. The key use cases that are generating business impact include the use of 5G to conduct video-based quality inspection, remotely controlling and operating machinery, running AGVs and other autonomous robots, and enabling remote collaboration using AR/VR-based applications.

Operationalizing a new technology is always challenging. Problems range from lack of 5G-ready IOT devices, interoperability between different ecosystem components, integrating 5G with existing networks and IT systems and immature observability and management tools. Building use cases and undertaking pilot programs in tandem with organizations from the 5G ecosystem can help overcome these sorts of challenges and drive speed to value.

You are not alone in working through these deployment challenges.  Capgemini is a leading strategy, systems integrator (SI) and engineering firm that has developed reference architectures to support a wide variety of industry use cases, working closely with ecosystem partners to deliver best-in-class solutions from telcos, hyperscalers, network equipment providers (NEPs) and device manufacturers. Capgemini Engineering’s Manas Tiwari, says “systems integrators bring real value in helping an enterprise properly define their business objectives and goals and working through convergent transformation of technologies and systems. “The goal is having a deployment that’s performant, pervasive and that scales,” acknowledging that it is easier said than done.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Mobile World Live Unwrapped webcast:, called “Enterprise reality for private 5G”, which offered up 5G practitioner’s views on the market landscape and included a panel discussion including participants from GSMA, Capgemini, Microsoft and T-Mobile. The panelists were candid that there is a real learning curve for customers as they embark upon this journey and we collectively need to share learnings to help speed uptake and overcome hurdles.

Mike Fitz, VP of Solution Sales for T-Mobile shared some example use cases where they are helping clients drive real value from private 5G deployments, including a packaging company who is using AR/VR to enable training and ongoing maintenance and a refinery customer who is using digital twin for predictive maintenance. Microsoft’s Dario Scacciati, Managing Director of Telecommunications and Media for the Americas, pointed out that the market is still immature and that they are working with the ecosystem to help support scalable and repeatable solutions such as computer vision to drive value more quickly and less expensively.

It is time to supercharge your digital transformation with the power of private 5G.  Here are 5 simple steps to get started:

1. Take a use case-driven approach to identify where 5G can unlock new sources of value   
2. Build the business case for 5G adoption supported by a multi-year implementation roadmap
3. Harness the ecosystem (e.g. telcos, hyperscalers, NEPs, SIs) to help identify the optimal network deployment model for your business and test and validate the benefits of 5G
4. Start small, adopting a test and learn approach using pilots to prove value before fully scaling
5. Ensure that security is built in by design from the earliest stages  

For more information on Private 5G and how it can accelerate your transformation journey please register for on demand access to the webcast Enterprise reality for private 5G – 5G Practitioner’s views with a candid panel discussion from cross-industry leaders and reference the report from Capgemini Research Institute: Accelerating the 5G Industrial Revolution.

TelcoInsights is a series of posts about the latest trends and opportunities in the telecommunications industry – powered by a community of global industry experts and thought leaders.