Enterprise connectivity took center stage at MWC Las Vegas last week, with experts presenting compelling reasons for 5G adoption and an optimistic assessment of the opportunities ahead for a wide range of businesses.
Here, Mobile world live review the key takeaways from the GSMA event in North America.
Call to action from companies
Lara Dewar, CMO at the GSMA, set the tone on the keynote stage by presenting a four-point action plan intended to guide the mobile industry’s efforts to drive the future of business, as she argued that connectivity is at the core of AI and all other new technologies. technologies.
She noted that while 60 percent of connections in North America will be powered by 5G by the end of 2024, the business community holds the key to the next phase of growth. She explained that “the needs of businesses are enormous,” and so are the possibilities of 5G, “so this is truly a match made in Heaven.”
AI is more than just a buzzword
AI and generative AI (genAI) formed the connective tissue between various keynote speeches, panels and the exhibition floor.
Durga Malladi, SVP and GM, technology planning and edge solutions at Qualcomm, said companies have a wealth of proprietary data that can be used to train their own large language models.
Malladi noted that genAI can translate text from one language to another or summarize documents to create detailed notes. On the productivity side of genAI, software engineers can query large language models to create code for a specific topic, saving time and reducing the need for debugging.
The expert explained that “productivity tools are clearly transforming a large part of businesses, and it is important to actually embrace them so that employees can use them as much as possible.”
Paula Goldman, Chief Ethical and Human Use Officer at Salesforce, advised companies to look closely at how they can deploy agentic AI in the workplace.
Agentic AI, she noted, can act independently to achieve business goals or make decisions on its own, but guardrails must be in place. She explained that agent AI should be seen by companies as a partner and not just a tool.
SME opportunity
The main theme of MWC Las Vegas was “5G for enterprise IT” and T-Mobile US Business Group SVP Mishka Dehghan shared Mobile world live her company has seen “a lot of momentum” among small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
According to a US government agency, there were 33,185,550 small businesses in the US last year, employing 61.7 million people.
Dehghan said SMEs and mid-sized enterprises are looking for managed services to enhance their operations, which the operator delivers through “a very intentional portfolio to serve all segments”. She noted that SMEs are looking for their own customized services and applications.
Potential of open APIs
GSMA intelligence chief Peter Jarich appeared on the Mobile world live podcast recorded on the exhibition floor to add some extra color to a report from the organization about the potential of 5G for companies.
A survey of 4,200 global enterprises found that while they understand what they want from 5G, there was interest in learning more about using open APIs. As businesses undergo digital transformation, Jarich explained that it is up to mobile operators to help them understand how to best use open APIs.
Collaboration key for private 5G
Nokia’s Jeff Pittman, head of the mobile networking business unit, said Mobile world live when it comes to deploying private 5G networks, “partnerships are extremely important” for enterprises.
While companies want help solving their pain points, vendors, operators and system integrators must help them understand all the pieces of their connectivity puzzles, the expert noted.
These components include a carrier-grade 5G network, a device ecosystem, real-time analytics through AI and machine learning, and security.
Companies typically don’t have the IT bandwidth to handle new services such as private 5G networks, he added. That’s why they need strong partnerships for their digital transformations.
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