Ecosystem approach vital to the enterprise 5G opportunity in MEA

ISLAMABAD ( Web News )

5G is revolutionizing the world by facilitating ground-breaking innovation that is helping to forge a more prosperous and sustainable way of life. It’s impacting every conceivable field, unlocking exciting avenues for consumers and industries alike.

It can prove to be a gamechanger for communication service providers (CSPs) as well. Especially, those eyeing the enterprise sector to generate new revenue streams. But for that they need to join hands with a diverse set of partners, including developers, systems integrators, hyperscalers and potentially other CSPs to create an ecosystem of new applications and services.

“The 5G ecosystem is a constellation of mutually beneficial relationships aimed at addressing a specific business objective,” says Akin Akintola, manager of Nokia’s Open Ecosystem Network.

 

Here, it is important to note that the ‘business objective’ should be that of the customer, not the CSP or any other player in the ecosystem. This distinction is critical since it’s within the enterprise domain where the biggest opportunities of 5G and associated technologies are present. According to Bell Labs Consulting it could amount to $4.5 trillion by 2030.

Physical industries are lagging in the digitalization race, having struggled to absorb emerging technologies compared to other sectors such as online, retail, media and banking. They are in dire need to make their supply infrastructure more resilient, adaptive and responsive to evolving demands.

Dan McBride, who researches emerging 5G ecosystem models for Nokia, says that an ecosystem approach to the enterprise 5G opportunity is vital, because business goals like digital transformation and intelligent automation require complex solutions that exceed the capabilities of any one supplier.

Having said that, ecosystems come in different shapes and sizes. Notable among them are the ones created by hyperscalers and SaaS giants like Amazon and Salesforce with global platforms like AWS and AppExchange, respectively. There developers can access resources, experiment, build, and commercialize the results – with a portion of any revenue going to the ecosystem orchestrator.

CSP could also team up with other partners to focus on a specific vertical or use case and subsequently replicate the model for as many verticals and use cases as possible.

It is, however, crucial to exercise due prudence in choosing an ecosystem. Read the full article here to know how the right 5G enterprise ecosystem could benefits CSPs.