Tech and Telecoms in 2020 – What’s coming our way?
5G
One of the biggest tech trends not to miss out on next year, is the arrival of 5G. 5G will have a huge impact on the role of telecoms and see companies become service providers as well as distributors. A shift in sales approach will be required to enable customers to understand and utilise the full power and potential of 5G.
The European Union’s 5G action plan includes uninterrupted data coverage by 2025 for railways and all major roads. It will support a hundredfold increase in connected devices per unit area. With a barely undetectable latency, improved data rates and network slicing, this will open the door for new services, network operation and customer experience for telecoms operators; once again putting them back in the driving seat.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing’s impact in the world of telecoms continues to evolve and in 2020 the boundaries are endless. Cloud computing’s pay-per-use service model enables telecoms to introduce new and ever-expanding services, reduce their costs and adjust to market demands more effectively. It is confidently predicted that future domestic telecom enterprises will become one of the main beneficiaries of the cloud computing industry. One of the main benefits of the cloud, is that it is able to offer both economies of substantial scale and cost effectiveness to the telecoms industry. Telecoms will not only be a service provider but will also be able to use the cloud themselves.
IoT (Internet of Things)
Described as the 4th industrial revolution, The Internet of Things (IoT) has exploded in recent years and is rapidly evolving. It is predicted that 20.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide by 2020, and a recent Business Insider Intelligence study predicts that the IoT market will grow to over $3 trillion on an annual basis within the next 10 years. The telecom industry enables internet device connectivity and is one of the largest contributors in the Internet of Things market. Internet of Things technology enables telecoms monitor base stations and data centers remotely ensuring low latency and minimal downtime for the network. As a key contributor and influencer in the provision of IoT infrastructure, telecoms is in the perfect position to offer unique services for IoT. The more devices on the network, the more opportunities are created. Despite an obvious requirement for an increase in security measure, the impact and disruption of IoT is expected to be largely positive.
Artificial Intelligence
We have all seen (AI) Artificial Intelligence in use in the telecoms world through applications such as virtual assistants and chatbots. This is an approach telecom companies use to improve customers service and satisfaction. When it comes to the regular and predictive maintenance of telecoms networks, AI is an essential and reliable tool. AI is also revolutionary in detecting fraudulent online activity, a quality that will go hand in hand with arrival of 5G and the necessary cyber security improvements. AI also allows telecoms to acquire pragmatic business insights from the significant volumes of data they are to gather on a daily basis.
Big Data Telecommunications companies are collecting and also producing volumes of data from mobile devices, apps, wearables and more. The amount of data obtained from wireless devices is expected to increase rapidly throughout 2020. Companies will need to use this to their competitive advantage in order to survive. Telecommunications companies should make sure that their networks can accommodate and transport unimaginable amounts of data efficiently as well as continuing to support new technologies. As previously mentioned, telecoms will also need to address the rise in security concerns that come with the rapid advance in technology. Consequently, data collected by telecoms can of course be analyzed and assessed to improve customer service, determine and evaluate new products, and maintain and optimize the network. Big data is key to helping telecoms companies in building a stronger business.
