Accelerating the 5G industrial revolution

Back in 2019, most industrial organizations already saw the vast potential of 5G. With the intervening rollout of commercial 5G and the launch of the Release 16 specifications, what have the early adopters learned and how can this help accelerate adoption? We wanted to find out.

For the latest Capgemini Research Institute report, Accelerating the 5G Industrial Revolution: State of 5G and edge in industrial operations, we surveyed senior executives from 1,000 industrial organizations that plan to adopt 5G as part of their operations, and 150 senior executives from 75 telecom organizations that either have or are planning to roll out 5G networks.

Most organizations, we found, are just embarking on their 5G journeys. In fact, only 30% have reached the trial and real-world implementation stages. Despite this, these early adopters are already seeing tangible business benefits, and as many as 60% of them have increased their operational efficiency. But maximizing 5G potential is not without its challenges, which range from a lack of 5G devices, integration with existing networks, identifying the right use cases, to accessing vertical-specific solutions, managing cybersecurity, orchestrating a multi-vendor environment, and containing the environmental impact of 5G implementation.

To counter these challenges, telcos, cloud providers, OEMs, and other partners must together build a resilient ecosystem of devices, solutions, and service offerings. In these early days of 5G implementation, it is especially important that telcos quickly build essential capabilities to become providers of vertical-specific solutions rather than just being connectivity providers.

5G, combined with edge computing, can help organizations unlock value through new, previously impossible industrial use cases.