How can CSPs monetize 5G

The advent of 5G technology is currently revolutionizing various industries by facilitating connected vehicles, smart cities, industry 4.0, connected health, and other immersive applications worldwide. Numerous businesses, particularly large tech companies, are developing value-added services that utilize 5G broadband to enhance operations and provide users with exceptional experiences.

Communication Service Providers (CSPs) must seize this opportunity to capitalize on 5G broadband by creating value-added services. This not only allows them to cater to mobile B2C customers but also enables them to diversify their business, establish predictability, and promptly respond to customer needs. Furthermore, it opens up avenues to target specific vertical markets and foster B2B and B2B2X ecosystems.

To thrive in this landscape, CSPs need to go beyond merely selling broadband and instead provide services that deliver tangible value, capitalizing on the enhanced speed and reliability of 5G in industries such as automobiles, utilities, and healthcare.

However, the challenge lies in the limitations imposed by legacy network infrastructure, hindering their progress. The growing demand for bandwidth is straining existing infrastructure, necessitating the migration to Software Defined Networks (SDNs) for improved network reliability. Additionally, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) enables the expansion of network capabilities. Addressing the legacy issue also calls for the implementation of a new service orchestration layer atop the network, offering an avenue to effectively monetize the capabilities of 5G.

Service orchestration entails the ability to create, oversee, and integrate diverse network elements into a marketable product for customers. Since the needs of different industries vary, the underlying services must be provisioned dynamically, adapting to changes in resilience, security, and routing capabilities. Communication Service Providers (CSPs) should possess reusable cloud-based services that can be easily deployed, packaged, and offered as tailored solutions for specific use cases within various sectors like Connected Health or Smart Cities.

By adopting a cloud-native approach, these services become portable, scalable, and more resilient compared to monolithic applications. They operate proactively and respond to events, automating business workflows and simplifying order tracking, failure management, fallout handling, and diagnostics for repairs.

For instance, within the realm of smart devices and IoT sensors, telecommunications companies (telcos) can develop applications that leverage IoT data from factories to provide asset monitoring, predictive maintenance, and enhanced sustainability. This empowers manufacturing customers with valuable insights to drive actionable decisions. Additionally, CSPs can collaborate with automobile manufacturers to create in-car commerce use cases, such as online ordering, in-car payments, and geofencing for curb-side pickups, seamlessly integrated within the infotainment systems.

Enabling the connected vehicle

 The car of the future is connected, autonomous, shared, electric – and it’s already here. For example, by 2030, more than 95 percent of passenger miles will be served by autonomous cars. With sensors now built into every imaginable aspect of a vehicle, from fully voice-operated features and driver attention monitoring to biometric security for reducing theft, the possibilities for the customer experience are endless. Car manufacturers have started thinking beyond traditional car features like design and engine type to consider cutting-edge digital capabilities like personalized subscription services where user can opt in or out of a range of on-demand features from a centralized marketplace.

Because of this, customers have changed the way they purchase cars – it’s not just about aesthetics or performance anymore. There is a shift in customer preferences to include features like personalized digital entertainment and data-powered productivity. Connected cars of the future will also offer facial recognition systems that change in-car settings for the driver, in-car gesture control and voice recognition for advanced security, and in-car shopping with geo-based prompts.

Capgemini’s research indicates that the automotive industry is a leading adopter of smart factories and use of digital technologies such as IoT connectivity, intelligent automation, and cloud-based data analysis and management. However, to take advantage and truly commercialize on the possibilities of the connected vehicle, automotive leaders need to ensure they have a strong technological foundation and that they are:

• Adopting next-gen capabilities that will drive innovation. This includes 5G, cloud, and AI. In fact, up to 15 percent of all new vehicles sold in 2030 could be fully autonomous using next-gen capabilities.
• Conforming to safety and security demands. Given the sensors and the data-driven nature of connected vehicles, they may be more prone to hacking. But turning control completely over to software could lead to new hacking vulnerabilities and other liability issues that companies cannot ignore. To overcome this, automotive companies have to allow drivers to intervene in emergencies.
• Choosing the right operating systems, hypervisor options, embedded software design, and hardware compatibility. These parameters are critical factors to consider given the increasing share of electrified vehicles as a percentage of new vehicle sales. For electrified vehicles, it’s important to have the right OS and embedded software and software.
• Enabling rapid prototyping, development, and testing/verification. There’s no denying that the future of the automotive industryis tied closely to additive manufacturing. Continued innovations in the 3D printing industry – including new materials, printers, and techniques – will continue to change the way companies design and create. To remain competitive, or simply stay relevant, organizations need to adopt smarter and faster ways to prototype and develop.
• Enhancing the capabilities behind design and production. A connected vehicle requires multiple end-to-end capabilities. The industry is in a critical period of disruption, and those who build in the software capabilities in the same way they think about hardware will be able to win mindshare and market share over the long term.
• Think beyond the vehicle. For connected cars, the ecosystem is not just within the vehicle. Because of this, automotive manufacturers need to work with fleet suppliers and service providers to deliver sustainable, connected value across the ecosystem. For example, automobile manufacturers need to work with city planners for better sustainability options such as placement of electric vehicle charging stations based on data.

The automotive industry is at an inflection point that is very similar to that of the telecom space in 2010 with the emergence of Apple. Software architecture will drive the future of the sector, and automotive CIOs need to take advantage of the opportunity by prioritizing the capabilities and differentiating features of their vehicles and connecting with service providers to deliver next-gen customized experiences.

This post was originally published by the author at https://www.capgemini.com/us-en/2021/04/enabling-the-connected-vehicle/