When it comes to 5G, many people understand that it is just an enhancement to the technology of mobile phones that are connected to 3G or 4G networks that will speed up Internet connectivity, providing online entertainment with a higher resolution and clearer audio and so they need to prepare to save money for a new 5G phone.
Or they may have even noted that both 3G and 4G coverage has not been fully implemented. Many areas are not covered so there is no need to rush to embrace 5G. All these opinions and observations are quite normal for the era of “Feeling Digital”. From “Feeling Digital” to “Being Digital”
From the perspective of organizations, the understanding of the meaning of digital transformation is only to have a website, to use social media for business communications, for online trading or to build mobile applications.
In fact, these things are just aspects of “Feeling Digital”
Truely “Being Digital” really requires a whole value chain. The introduction of digital technologies is very economical while providing faster services to meet the infinite needs of customers, including a better service coverage. Such as for merchants who open mobile apps, websites or Facebook sites to create online trading with customers that may be profitable or increase sales at the beginning. However, when competitors can follow suit and do the same then creating sustainable growth and profitability is hard work because this is just the creation of “Feeling Digital”.
But in order for an organization to evolve to become digital, what is important is to build a new ecosystem by depending on digital technology.
For example, the creation of Alibaba’s business is not a buying-and-selling trading business like other retail traders. Alibaba built a business platform that brings buyers and sellers to meet there and who are capable of doing business together with transactions that cost less, are faster and with a greater coverage.
The key is not just building a website or social media but about the understanding and use of these tools to create a digital business model. Alibaba did not build new manufacturing facilities but turned to sourcing or facilitating more existing manufacturers worldwide to come to its platform.
The same is true for Uber or Airbnb which use digital tools to innovate with new business models to compete with existing players in the market.
However, other organizations have addressed the problem incorrectly, believing that they can merely open a website, develop a mobile app and they will meet with success like Alibaba, but the results are well known and most of these organizations cannot survive.
Many state agencies want to be part of a digital government, but with the goal of just “Feeling Digital”. They enable government services that people can access online via websites or mobile applications. But a reduction in the document processing and government authentication has not occurred since many state agencies still require government documents or scanned documents to be sent to them and these documents are located in the same ministry or department.
The creation of a “Being Digital” government goes beyond the building of infrastructure that connects data from all agencies in both government and non-government sectors in order to meet the needs of people before they make a request.
However, with the existing infrastructure the transformation to a digital organisation needs time and requires an investment of money as well as knowledge and expertise. Hence, many organizations have chosen to opt for “Feeling Digital” with their customers first.
Mobile phone technology from 1G, 2G, 3G and to 4G were designed to create a “Feeling Digital” environment such as with the use of social media and entertainment. But the introduction of these technologies to create a “Being Digital” environment is difficult, costly and takes time for service availability and while it is possible to create “Being Digital” services, continuing problems still exist in terms of quality control and cyber security.
The most obvious difference between 5G and earlier technologies – 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G – is to enable the building of exciting new experiences for consumers. Yet, while part of 5G is designed to develop new experiences, the bigger part is to provide an infrastructure that enables businesses be more digital with lower costs, more rapid service availability, quality control and other benefits.
The 5G-enabled edge devices are not limited to only mobile phones and will expand to embrace other devices such as car sensors, robot arms and robots themselves that can connect over the infrastructure with businesses in many areas.
There are forecasts of revenue by Ericsson and Arthur D. Little that have found that revenues from mobile operators that focus on a “Feeling Digital” experience will be just US$1,736 in the year 2026, having grown from US$1,497 in 2016. However, revenue from 5G infrastructure that enables other industries to benefit from “Being Digital” will experience exponential growth to US$3,498 in 2026, a big jump from US$968 in 2016.
There are 10 key sectors that will benefit from 5G infrastructure, ranging from agriculture, retail trading, finance and banking, media and entertainment, energy and utilities, manufacturing, security, healthcare and public transportation.
The concluding perspective for 5G is that it is important to the digital infrastructure of the country and the Government’s policy to drive the reform of the country to lead it into the 5G digital age plays an important role in providing the foundation for stakeholders to leverage. This is the key reason that Thailand needs to pay attention to 5G at this time.
