High-speed 5G drives new opportunities for small businesses

AS THE 5G ROLLOUT CONTINUES, IT OFFERS SMALL AND MIDSIZE BUSINESSES A FAST, SIMPLE, AFFORDABLE ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL BROADBAND

During the past decade, technology has driven change across all aspects of society, especially business. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend, sparking tremendous increases in remote work and e-commerce and intensifying shifts in the way people communicate and consume media. The widespread adoption of digital tools and skills will provide greater flexibility and resilience to deal with future risks and uncertainties, according to the World Economic Forum 5G Outlook report, and 5G will play a critical role in enabling this. It will also create new opportunities for small and midsize businesses (SMBs).

“Redefining the customer and employee experience is of critical importance right now for businesses of all sizes,” says Wendy Taccetta, senior vice president for nationwide small business and channel chief at Verizon Business. “In fact, according to research we conducted earlier this year, nearly seven in 10 business owners believe that 5G will help their company overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Among small business leaders polled by Verizon, 49% named 5G a top or important priority for their business.

A TECHNOLOGICAL LEAP

Cellular technology has steadily improved since Nippon Telegraph and Telephone introduced 1G service to Tokyo subscribers in 1979. As the technology spread worldwide, each evolutionary step from 1G to 4G LTE delivered greater capabilities and more business use cases for mobile connectivity. But the promise of 5G dwarfs everything that has come before. “It’s not an understatement to say that 5G represents the biggest technological revolution since the introduction of the internet,” is how Todd Krautkremer, chief marketing officer at Cradlepoint puts it.