87% of executives in the Middle East expect 5G to impact business, with 61% planning to invest in 5G campus networks, though 5G and digital technology face various barriers, according to a joint report by Microsoft and Accenture.
5G impacts and barriers
The report, that included a survey of 257 senior executives from the Middle East, revealed that77% of respondents are planning to invest an incremental 3-10% of their Information and Communications Technology budget on advanced networks like 5G in the next three years and that companies expect 5G to impact business. 64% of respondents from the oil and gas industry and 45% from manufacturing prioritize near-term 5G campus network investments.
However, the widespread adoption of 5G faces barriers, with many companies failing to upgrade their networks holistically. Alongside the isolated nature of these changes, many companies also perceive serious challenges in integrating network and digital technology, extracting return on investment, and choosing the right partner ecosystem and platform for their solutions.
Tech Leaders
However, the study revealed that a small number of high-performing companies, or “Tech Leaders”, are on track to deliver more value than their peers in the next three years. Tech Leaders expect revenue to grow 2.1x faster, expand margins 1.6x higher, and are 16% more likely to see their 5G and network investments result in new product and service innovations – driving superior value creation for their business.
The report highlights a series of measures that these successful companies are putting in place:
Understanding next-gen technology solutions: Tech Leaders demonstrate a deep understanding of technology convergence across the organization, this allows them to move quickly and gain benefit from early adoption.
Planning for transformation: Tech Leaders actively re-skill, hire, and leverage partner expertise to build the future workforce, allowing them to quickly derive value from new technologies.
Building security into the process: The adoption of new technology is seen as an opportunity to transform their security mindset and architecture.
Identifying the correct partners and platforms: Tech Leaders prefer to work with strategic partners who share a common vision and are ready to co-innovate and co-create new products and services.
The report comes at a time when the UAE is making strides in the support of 5G technology.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
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