Deloitte Study: Enterprises Are Building Their Future With 5G and Wi-Fi 6
Advanced wireless technologies seen as a 'force multiplier' for emerging technologies -- including AI, IoT, cloud and edge computing
Key takeaways:
- Eighty-six percent of networking executives believe that advanced wireless will transform their organization within three years, and 79% say the same about their industry.
- Seventy-six percent of executives believe 5G will be a “critical” networking technology for their company in three years, and 70% feel the same way about Wi-Fi 6.
- On average organizations expect to spend US$115.7 million on wireless technologies over the next three years.
- Eighty-seven percent believe advanced wireless technologies can create a significant competitive advantage for their company.
- Fifty-six percent of executives rated security as the biggest challenge in adopting advanced wireless.
Why this matters
To understand how enterprises are adopting advanced wireless technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6, including motivations, challenges and preferences, Deloitte surveyed 415 networking executives in the United States in early Q1. The executives are responsible for connectivity at organizations that are in the process of adopting 5G and/or Wi-Fi 6 or planning to adopt either technology within the next three years. In fact, 86% of networking executives surveyed believe that advanced wireless will transform their organization within three years, and 79% say the same about their industry.
The shifting networking landscape
Advanced wireless technologies are gaining in strategic importance as respondents expect their use of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 to more than double over the next three years and their use of 4G/Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Wi-Fi (5 and below) to diminish, but not disappear.
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- On average organizations expect to spend US$115.7 million on wireless technologies over the next three years.
- Fifty-seven percent of respondents are currently in the process of adopting 5G and/or Wi-Fi 6 (including planning, testing, and piloting); another 37% plan to adopt these technologies within the next year.
- More than 9 in 10 executives surveyed regard advanced wireless technologies as “very” or “critically” important to their business success today.
- 4G/LTE and current (or previous) versions of Wi-Fi are the most valued wireless technologies; however, executives believe that 5G (76%) and Wi-Fi 6 (70%) will be within the top-three critical wireless technologies three years from now.
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