Nick Gliddon, director of business at Vodafone UK, argues that 5G is essential to enable rapid and widespread progress for both communities and businesses. Earlier this year, Vodafone research estimated that building the UK’s best-in-class 5G network could deliver up to £5bn a year in economic benefits by 2030.
A further survey of 2,000 UK adults suggests that Britons believe 5G will improve society more than AI. The study found that healthcare (31%), utilities such as energy and water (21%), and railways (20%) are the key sectors that will benefit the most from 5G.
Empowering people is at the heart of a digital society, and 5G can help with this in five ways, Gliddon says. This improves connectivity, video capabilities, business applications, immersive experiences, and digital twin technology, which is a digital representation of a physical process represented in a digital version of the environment.
As the UK’s digital world grows, so do its businesses. “A truly digital society is one where individuals, platforms, and utilities are seamlessly interconnected,” says NatWest, director of growth for his Banking-as-a-Service platform, Boxed. Tom Bentley said. “Cloud and 5G technologies offer a better customer service experience with instant fulfillment of products and utilities compared to existing physical processes.” , it relies on high quality data combined with strong interconnectivity.”
Ben Shimshon, co-founder and managing partner of insights and strategy consultancy Thinks, says some organizations in the UK, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, are slowly taking advantage of the opportunities opened up by increased connectivity. They point out that in many cases, they are being used slowly. “Around 99.4% of businesses in the UK have fewer than 50 employees, and three-quarters of them are sole traders with no employees. “I mainly do this work,” he says. Many people find the concept of a digital society “very daunting.”
Clear business benefits
Part of the challenge is making the benefits of increased connectivity clear to time-pressed small business leaders, especially since many businesses remain complacent and incentives for digital adoption remain limited. Bentley says it’s about communicating.
Still, Simshon says there are clear benefits for users who gain digital access, including improved cash flow through faster invoicing and payments. As new technologies such as card readers are adopted, digital adoption is gradual for many small businesses, leading to incremental improvements across operations.
Matthew Evans, market director at UK technology industry body techUK, says that for time-poor small business owners, practical promises such as streamlining administrative tasks and freeing up leisure time are less important than abstract promises of efficiency. He argues that the needs of people with similar needs will resonate more with people. “Think of a scaffolder who would rather watch his son play soccer than do the company’s accounts,” he says. “We need to sell that these digital tools will free up that time.”
Victoria Newton, chief product officer at Engine, Starling Bank’s software-as-a-service division, says the focus should be on actually solving business problems, rather than leading with technology. We agree on one thing. She highlighted how Starling transformed her banking business by enabling 24-hour digital financial services by building its proprietary cloud-based banking infrastructure, Engine, from the ground up. Masu. “Starling has been able to do this and take our technology and embed it in banks in countries that are starting the digital revolution themselves.”
Customer’s choice
However, the organization acknowledged that as society becomes increasingly digital, organizations must put citizens first. For example, Newton believes customer choice is paramount. While some may choose online self-service, others still prefer human contact through banks, branches, and contact centers. Top-down measures to strengthen digital capabilities risk excluding the most digitally disenfranchised without affordable options, she added.
Faye Busby, director of the British Chambers of Commerce, says another barrier to progress is that “people naturally don’t like change”. She highlighted research published earlier this year in collaboration with It suggests a lack of understanding of what could be achieved with further reinforcement. They underestimate the potential of a digital society.
Once again, 5G has the power to electrify our digital society, but only once again will people realize that it’s happening. Several examples show that 5G networks will unlock innovative applications, most of which are made possible thanks to forward-thinking partners.
Gliddon calls Coventry “the most advanced 5G city in the UK”, in part because the city council is so progressive, having worked with Vodafone for nearly a decade. The council achieved smart city capabilities by rapidly deploying 5G antennas and providing planning support to improve traffic flow, air quality monitoring and municipal operations. By building on these digital foundations, Coventry is building a smart energy grid to better manage renewable generation in the region.
Coventry University has become the first in the UK to successfully deploy a 5G standalone network. The Progressive Council has mandated her 5G lab at Coventry University to support the next generation of education in fields such as medicine and engineering. Students now have access to immersive learning through technology such as virtual reality.
For example, medical students are using virtual and augmented reality to explore the human body in ways never seen before. University professors use headsets and 5G allows them to access any part of their body during class, allowing them to make points and take questions from students in real time, enhancing the educational experience. It becomes more flexible and interactive.
5G also enables real-time asset tracking for environmental services provider Veolia. Chris Burrows, head of digital strategy and innovation at Veolia, explains how sensors on Veolia’s recycling trucks can empty bins, identify potholes and even create air quality maps for entire cities. He explains how it takes less than 16.5 seconds (i.e. less).
Surveillance cameras on Veolia trucks also use edge computing to identify potential collisions and instantly analyze footage. “It effectively gives you a life risk score,” he says. This facilitates rapid incident response while providing evidence against false claims. Burrows emphasizes that realizing these benefits requires a collaborative culture and employees who proactively act on data insights.
Meanwhile, techUK’s Evans points to encouraging 5G deployment in areas such as ports and hospitals to manage assets and workforces. “The NHS wastes £300m a year on medicines, but at least half of this is avoidable, caused by broken fridges and drugs left out in the open for too long. Improved asset tracking could help improve the situation. That will change.”
But Evans said if 5G is to succeed and become the “digital fabric of a digital society,” it will need to be deployed at scale and targeted at enterprise use cases.
Daniel Pietsch, Google’s head of digital acceleration programs, predicts that increased adoption of 5G will drive many new business models and opportunities. “It may seem trivial, but there are a lot of buildings that don’t have data,” he says. “There are use cases that go beyond energy optimization and motion sensors. If you track that centrally, you can completely shut off parts of a building when it’s not in use. When it comes to connected buildings and connected vehicles. There is huge scope for innovation.”
Cut the jargon
There are many hurdles to overcome to accelerate the transition to a digital society. Gliddon emphasizes the need for the right language to describe digital innovation in an engaging and sector-specific way. This echoes Buzbee’s view that unclear terms such as “connectivity” remain a barrier, leaving many people unable to understand what they mean.
We need to address the energy demands of an increasingly data-driven society. For Burrows, there is a need for “digital sobriety” when it comes to endless data storage and transfer. Peach expects 5G’s carbon impact to be reduced and to be more efficient than 3G or he expects 4G.
Finally, a digital society requires significant investment. His nationwide 5G coverage comes at a cost. Currently, carriers are largely being asked to independently fund its rollout, with some predicting there is a gap of between £25bn and £30bn for the industry to meet government expectations. This is one of the reasons why Vodafone and Three announced their merger plans. If approved, the combined company will have the scale needed to invest in building one of Europe’s most advanced 5G networks. Vodafone says it will invest £11bn in its network over the next 10 years and will deploy 5G standalone in 99% of populated areas by 2034.
At the end of the day, core network technologies promise significant performance improvements, but realizing the technology’s potential requires careful human and organizational transformation. Telcos, academia, the public and private sectors coming together to think, strengthen collaboration and tell a compelling story that persuades businesses to embrace digital innovation will unlock the potential of 5G and create an inclusive and sustainable solution. It is essential for building a digital society.
Find out more about Vodafone UK and Three UK’s ambitions as a combined business.
