Insights, commentary and news

There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years about the coming of 5G, the next wave of wireless technologies.

Originally predicted to be released in 2017, it looks like we won’t get to use it until sometime later this year, or, for practical purposes, sometime in 2019. And, just because it’s available, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll all be using it that soon.

Ok, with this in mind, let’s step back a little. What is 5G? 

Basically 5G is a wireless network that will give us performance at up to 20 gigabits per second, or up to 10 times faster than current 4G.  

I get it, 10 times faster doesn’t mean much if you don’t have any context from within which to make a comparison. So let me share this as a way of painting a picture of just how fast 5g really is:

Last winter, a local television station here in Cleveland, WKYC, sent a reporter Will Ujek to cover the Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. As you might expect, Ujek covered the stories of Cleveland-area athletes competing and posted other general interest features as well. Everything from how to prepare for a trip to the Olympics to what foods to try and how to enjoy the Olympic experience, Ujek did a very nice job of bringing the Olympic experience to his viewers back home in Cleveland. But he also did something surprising: Ujek made 5G understandable for non-technical people.

In one of his nightly reports Ujek did a story on some of the amazing technologies used in the Olympic village. In one big room (or tent, I’m not sure), there were also sorts of “experiences” designed to let visitors live for a moment like an Olympian. He showcased some of the ways VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) technologies let visitors ski downhill or ski-jump and many others. (On a side note, there were many brands, from Coke to Samsung to McDonald’s and Canadian Tire, giving fans virtual experiences, too.)

But then Ujek took a little turn in his reporting that revealed to viewers how and why so much of this great technology was being previewed at PyeongChang:5G. 

In an almost toss-away comment, Ujek explained to WKYC anchor Jimmy Donovan, his counterpart in Cleveland, which the Korean government had pushed to implement 5G in time for the Olympics. Donovan asked Ujek to explain 5G and that’s when he did something so simple (and amazing). He looked and Donovan and said, the best way to explain the power of 5G is to show you how I’m doing all of my live reports from PyeongChang. Then Ujek pulled his phone from a simple tripod and said, “I’m doing all of these reports from my phone.”

Let me repeat: he was doing his live reports from South Korea – 6,600 miles from Cleveland – using just his phone and his 5G wireless connection! And the connection was clearer than a local video call or any satellite television broadcast. 

Why does this matter?

Think about how many times in the past few years you’ve read about artificial intelligence (AI). AI is going to this. AI is going to do that. And how much time has your agency or your internal team spent on ideating and planning ways for automation to be insinuated into your customer experience? 

Don’t get me wrong, AI is powerful and will be more powerful, and you’d be stupid to go forward without learning more about AI and thinking about how it can help you and your business. But so much intellectual capital is being spent on how AI can replicate human interaction (presumably because humans are inefficient and expensive); what if there was a way to use technology to make your humans more effective and less expensive? I think 5G is that technology. I think 5G technology will make real intelligence more valuable than artificial intelligence.

Imagine you’re the maker of kitchen appliances, and because of direct selling, your products are no longer supported by in-store personnel. Sure, you’ll try to build on-line services that can guide buyers through the shopping experience. You’ll continue to evolve your live chat. You’ll create lots and lots of videos and step-by-step infographics. But you’ll still be lacking that human who can personally demonstrate feature and/or up-sell. What if you could assemble of group of experienced humans –working from their own homes – to engage with customers online via a super high-speed video connection? (I know this is done to a certain degree now, but it sucks.) With 5G, the connection will be nearly as good as being in person and your helpful human and then bring in supplemental materials, documents etc.

Imagine you’re a personal fitness guru. Right now, you’re business is only as big as the gym you’re in. With 5G, the world is your gym. And not just one-way. Now you can deliver personal or class-room programs and even help your members interact with each other.

And what about e-commerce? If you could have a human “present” within the shopping experience, imagine your improved close rate. And because this human doesn’t need to be in your office (or because they’re part-time job sharing), your costs are dramatically lower.

The bottom line is, 5G will finally deliver on the promise of geo-agnosticism. (I think I just invented a word.) More and more of us will be able to deliver more value from wherever we are.

And that feels like a great idea, from where I’m standing.