As the development of 5G technology ushers in enormous new opportunities, Joe Weinman, an American 5G digital transformation strategist, proposed a set of new digital frameworks that could best allow businesses to seize opportunities and achieve success in the approaching era.
Speaking in an interview with China.org.cn on Monday, Weinman said businesses should, first and foremost, understand their broader strategies before trying to figure out what role 5G might play in their future development.
For example, they need to consider whether they plan to change their products, upgrade their processes or improve their customer experience, he said.
"5G is a gray rhino, or a known force of disruption and change. It is not a surprise, but often we don't react to it in time," Weinman said, speaking at the Globalized Digital Economy 100 Forum, which took place during the ongoing Smart China Expo 2019 (SCE 2019) in southwest China's Chongqing municipality.
Weinman identified four major applications for 5G, of which one is enhanced mobile broadband, another is fixed wireless access, and the remaining two relate to machine-type communications.
At the same time, he warned, "It is important to realize that technology by itself, while good, is not the whole answer." Weinman explained that when it comes to adoption of new technologies, the most crucial point to consider is customer value, not necessarily the technologies themselves, which require a strong user base to succeed.
He consequently proposed four key strategies for businesses to create customer value and gain competitive advantage in the 5G era.
The first strategy, "information excellence," represents the digital evolution of operational excellence, a field primarily built to improve processes, use of assets and organizational structures so as to take full advantage of burgeoning collaborative environments.
The second, "solution leadership," refers to the shift from stand-alone products in the pre-digital era to digitally connected smart products, which in turn enable the creation of new platforms and ecosystems.
The third strategy is "collective intimacy," which means "building better customer relationships and experiences at scale," said Weinman, and the fourth and final one is "accelerated innovation" through digital technologies such as artificial intelligence.
When asked about 5G competition, Weinman said that despite battlegrounds among companies and countries, there are also opportunities for collaboration. "5G isn't different from any other technology where companies and countries benefit from participation in open source, information exchanges and dialogues," he explained.
Weinman is well known as the founder of "cloudonomics" and the author of "Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing" and "Digital Disciplines: Attaining Market Leadership via the Cloud, Big Data, Social, Mobile, and the Internet of Things."
The SCE 2019 is a four-day event featuring state-of-the-art technological achievements and the development of smart living in the future. Following the theme "Smart Technology: Empowering Economy, Enriching Life," the expo's stated aim is to showcase new products, technologies, and forms of business in the worldwide smart industry, and to promote international cooperation in the digital economy through summits, exhibitions, competitions and forums.
