5G 2B is Blooming

This article was contributed by Huawei, a member company of TM Forum 5G is not the only technology required by verticals when transforming. Alone, 5G is an enablement of communication services that realize new tactile experiences, massive connectivity and enhanced throughput. But these network communications services need to be complimented with other technologies and applied to enterprise business problems or opportunities in a manageable. If it can’t be managed, then it can’t be operated and monetized. Now while this enablement brought by 5G is pivotal to enterprises to achieve industrial digital transformation, these enablers offered by 5G enable address three paths to business. These paths require new management functions in operation and business support systems (OSS/BSS) such as product management (wireless private line, mobile private line etc.), experience management (QoS guarantee, resource reservation etc.) which will be underpin by new capabilities like fast service provisioning, end-to-end business operations reliability, end-to-end bandwidth and end-to-end latency management in order to close the loop with enterprise partners.

Three 5G paths to business

To effectively deliver cost efficient 5G solutions, 5G practices need to offer solutions that are extensible and reusable to support both the common, and unique enterprise business operations needs. Enterprises in the same industry can share up to 70-80% common operational and business processes. This translates to an opportunity that business operations can be largely industrialized and offered as templates to similar enterprises in the same vertical or sector. It is crucial that any BSS software solutions a rich capability framework to land, operationalize and assure end-to-end successful 5G-based enterprise business rollout. They must take into consideration the role of 5G business ecosystem players, such as communications service providers (CSPs), developer communities, other technology service suppliers (e.g. drone operators, AI specialists per industry, etc.) and the standards community (such as 5GAA, 5GACI, 3GPP, GSMA, ETSI etc.).

Cloud brings business and operational agility, and yet while cloud reduces re-investment through shared resources, it introduces new complementary technologies and facilitates their use in enterprises business operations. This translates to an enterprise being able to scale proofs of concept of 5G+ implementations and manage business operations in an assuring way.

Through cloud-based business operations and monetization offerings, CSPs and enterprises across key verticals can be enabled with template-based business operations solutions, whether it be on 5G private networks, 5G private line, hybrid or public cloud. They can achieve vibrant 5G enabled business ecosystems. These 5G-enabled ecosystems can incorporate holistic day-to-day simplified operations capabilities, such as network-as-a-service, self-management portals, slice management, SIM management, partner management, codeless integration using Open APIs for co-creation and innovation through DevOps and CI/CD pipelines for fast iteration, and efficient business operation of 5G enabled services. Existing and new services, partners and developers can altogether leverage the enabling business and operations stack for successful enterprise digital transformation.

Managing 5G capabilities as a service

Combining various digital technologies together with 5G requires understanding and focus on the enterprise’s core business. 5G itself is a digital transformation technology that will transform a CSP into an enabler of enterprise solutions – given the right business operations framework. Investment in new OSS/BSS capabilities for 5G for B2B, such as in Hunan’s Xiangtan Steel’s 5G business operations, facilitates the use of AI, machine vision and augmented reality technologies to increase the enterprise partners’ productivity, reduces faults, mitigates personnel risks, and more importantly industrializes knowledge-based operations for better business continuity.

5G Enables AI + AR/VR for Enterprises to transform their business

Source: GSMA 5G Use Cases for Vertical China – 2021 CSPs are working closely with solution partners on 5G to proactively advance their role in society from being network providers to capability enablers for new enterprise partnerships to flourish. New digital technologies, cloud and platforms business models can advance the value of a CSP to an enterprise business. As 5G investments take center stage of CSPs around the globe, enterprise businesses and society at large will look to 5G-integrated solutions to unlock massive productivity gains.