5G technology promises to benefit most business sectors. For SMEs, it could be a significant way for them to increase productivity, increase efficiency and create new opportunities across the value chain. 5G offers a combination of higher speeds, higher capacity and lower latency. Coupled with high mobile adoption rates, SMEs and other companies will likely integrate 5G into their propositions as a matter of course. So what does this mean for CSPs? Many SMEs already seeing value in 5G and viewing CSPs as their trusted 5G go-to partner.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often viewed as the unfashionable end of the B2B universe; only one in three communication service providers (CSPs) view them as a major source of future 5G revenue. However, they can be an important asset in the 5G landscape.
According to Omdia's 5G World Global Insights Survey, two-thirds of CSPs identify large, multinational enterprises as the segment that will bring in the most 5G revenue. However, large enterprises that Omdia surveyed do not put CSPs on their 5G priority list.
Meanwhile, SMEs express a different opinion: CSPs are their preferred partner for 5G strategy execution.
SMEs present a great potential for CSPs. Many of them already see value in 5G and view CSPs as their trusted 5G go-to partner.
SMEs represent 99% of businesses, 70% of employment and 50-60% of GDP so there is vast potential to maximise growth by servicing businesses that fall into this category.
SMEs are arguably the most overlooked actors in the market. As they represent 99% of the world's businesses, they could become the front line of 5G adoption and revenue generation. However, many CSPs are still focusing 70% of their B2B resources on less than 1% of the enterprise universe. The impact? Squander the opportunity to capture all ICT spend through 5G or cross-sell campaigns targeting SMEs.
The volume end of the B2B market includes a huge number of non-technical
B2B decision-makers. They don't care about technology - they only want tangible business outcomes.
5G’s fundamental core is about scalability. It could be a game-changer to help SMEs increase productivity and efficiency and create new opportunities across the value chain. Most importantly, SMEs believe in 5G's value generation. Beyond Now worked in collaboration with Omdia to create an eBook exploring 5G for SMEs, which uncovered this insight and delved into many more.
