Is your business 5G-ready?
5G, the fifth-generation of mobile networking, is set to transform how many of us use the internet. Operating at 5Ghz, it is set to deliver speeds of up to 1 Gb per second, significantly faster that the current 4G network (with its theoretical top speed of 300Mbps).
Having access to 5G could be critical to the competitiveness and success of the world’s small businesses.
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the benefits
Businesses, which embrace 5G, could enjoy a myriad of benefits, including improved communication, faster task completion and could be better placed to take advantage of new technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT). 5G could also help to open the door to new experiences like autonomous vehicles, increased live streaming and an acceleration of Industry 4.0.
This is all great news, but you will notice that we said “could” rather than “will”! At first glance, the potential appears to be unlimited, but when we take a closer look at how businesses are configured today, we can see that real challenges exist. These need to be addressed now, even before the dawn of our new 5G world.
We thought I would share some insights into the challenges faced by professionals on a day-to-day basis through the lens of the Manufacturing industry.
The Manufacturers’ Challenge
A modern manufacturing environment can encompass:
- Multiple different production sites
- A number of internal departments
- A range of different suppliers and distributors
- A growing number of homeworkers
- A plethora of internal systems
- Several new or legacy ERP/MRP systems
As keeping the systems up and running and available when and where needed requires the IT department to run at full speed, it is only possible to imagine the struggle represented by this new ecosystem.
Here are just some of the factors that IT Departments need to consider:
- Workstations: Typically, hundreds of computerised workstations, laptops and other end user devices
- Workspaces: Main Office, productions sites, site offices, home offices, remote and mobile workers
- Mixed Environment: Virtualized and physical device environments, ERP deployments, projects and routine business
- Access: A mixed user base with unique access requirements, access when and where the users need it, on whatever device they desire
What the Business Demands
All businesses are demanding and have high expectations when it comes to making things happen without any impact on day-to-day activities.
We tend to see 3 main stakeholders with very different needs:
- The Executive Team – Typically impatient and expect operations to run smoothly while also being able to react to changes and developments, so as to ensure onward business competitiveness.
- The End Users – Users demand fast login times, a consistent and familiar workspace every time, regardless of the device used, access to the right application when and where they need it.
- IT Department – They strive for the ability to manage applications, user profiles, management and roaming in a live environment without any reduction in performance, with only a light touch from the department staff i.e. minimal management time. They are also keen to have the ability to roll out new software and applications to users at speed with minimal impact on the team’s resources.
The solution – Scense Workspace Management
The good news is the technology exists to keep all the stakeholders satisfied, at Appixoft we are proud of our Scense solution, which allows our clients in the manufacturing space to adequately predict what each individual workplace will look like. We provide a high degree of adaptability, which leads to consistent end user satisfaction. Scense ensures there are minimal dependencies on third parties. As problems are now resolved with the Scense environment, IT teams have time to focus on more strategic issues.
For more information please contact us.