For years, we’ve been hearing the promise of what 5G technology would bring for us once it released. We are now on the doorstep of a full-scale 5G rollout. The promise of what 5G will do for businesses is almost palpable and organizations are excited for what 5G can do for their organizations. In fact, roughly 80 percent of organizations feel that 5G will impact their business significantly. However, with all the excitement of what could be, it’s important to note that a measure of caution is warranted.
In a recent report, “Accelerating the 5G Future of Business,” surveyed businesses expressed both excitement and apprehension surrounding 5G connectivity—especially with the announcement of Samsung’s latest Galaxy line, which is 5G-enabled. This announcement brought 5G connectivity into reality. The problem, however, is that with their release comes concerns over cyberattacks.
Concerns over 5G security are up 3 percent (35 percent versus 32 percent) from last year’s survey. What’s more, 62 percent of those surveyed feel that utilizing 5G technology could make it easier to be a cyberattack victim.
Expectations
Since full 5G connectivity has yet to go live, there is still a lot of speculation about what 5G will or won’t do for our mobile experience. However, that hasn’t stopped people from voicing their opinions. Over half (57 percent) of those surveyed by Accenture feel that 5G connectivity will be revolutionary with nearly a quarter (24 percent) stating that 5G won’t have much impact on their business and will be similar to 4G.
According to the report, a large contributing factor for high consumer expectations for 5G connectivity is the promise of fast speeds, low latency and reliability. This excitement is before 5G is even available. Sixty-seven percent of consumers expect that their biggest benefit for utilizing 5G will be the support mobile workers receive while in the field. Additionally, an increase in the ability to work remotely and app accessibility being more reliable and faster also topped consumer exceptions at 64 percent and 67 percent respectively.
For organizations, 79 percent of those surveyed feels that 5G will allow them to be more connected within their field. Likewise, 78 percent feel that 5G will advance them enough to allow for more business opportunities. Increased productivity (77 percent) and better operations (76 percent) were also among the highest benefits organizations believe 5G will bring them.
Concerns
With the good comes the bad and no matter how excited people are about the opportunities that 5G can offer, there will always be concerns as well. This is especially true of new technologies. The top 2 concerns that could keep organizations from adopting 5G connectivity are upfront costs (31 percent) and concerns about security (35 percent).
5G security is a complex relationship. Of those surveyed, most (68 percent) of those who responded feel that 5G will actually make their business more secure. However, they are still concerned about supply chain integrity (29 percent), the nature of connected devices (37 percent), user privacy (41 percent) and access to the service (34 percent).
For those concerned about the number of devices connected with 5G, 74 percent stated that their concern was that the more devices they had connected, the bigger likelihood of a data breach. Moreover, 74 percent also stated that they understood that their security infrastructure would need to be redefined before adopting 5G.
