Imagine being able to stream anything anywhere without having to worry about bad signals or data limits. Soon connecting to the internet will be as commonplace as connecting to electricity. 5G has the power to unlock limitless computing and impact the entire world, including the customer experience.
Cristiano Amon is the president of Qualcomm, a company that has technology in every smartphone in the world. Amon is considered the godfather of 5G because of his work planning, advocating and creating the technology. He is passionate and optimistic about the potential of 5G to change the way we work, communicate, shop and live.
The most obvious impact of 5G will be super-fast internet, with speeds up to 10 times faster than current levels. With current 4G, customers can experience poor signal areas where they don’t have the power to stream or access the internet as quickly as they like. That trouble won’t be an issue with 5G, as everyone around the world will have guaranteed connections no matter where they are.
The impact of massively increased speeds is enormous. In recent years, even slightly faster internet speeds have allowed consumers to stream music, so they don’t need to buy CDs or download MP3s. The same buying shift will happen with 5G as consumers can stream 4K video anywhere in the world, which means they won’t need to buy DVDs or download movies.
5G will also have a huge impact on social media and allow for instantaneous connections. People will be able to share things in real time and have live conversations around the world.
Gaming could also boom with 5G and cloud-based gaming. Instead of having to purchase expensive computers to handle large games, 5G will allow consumers to play any game on any device no matter the computing power required.
5G goes hand in hand with the growth of AI. Because of 5G’s fast speeds, everyone will essentially be constantly connected to the cloud. Al and machine learning can also build faster connections and flag activities that aren’t normal. Amon says that with this growth comes the need for more protection of our digital selves on par with how we protect our physical selves.
What does this mean for the customer experience? Everything is changing. Consumers will be able to connect with brands in real time and will expect faster service and responses. Connectivity will impact innovation and allow products to come to market more quickly. Brands will also have more data on their customers to provide uniquely personalized experiences just when customers needs them. The world will get smaller as connectivity increases.
Unlike today’s wireless technology that is primarily used in the wireless industry, 5G will touch all industries in both B2B and B2C. 5G will become part of the critical infrastructure and change manufacturing, IoT, healthcare and so many more industries.
Amon says that consumers who like their smartphones today will be very happy once 5G is up and running. Companies will need to match that love and excitement with service and experiences that leverage the power of 5G.
Listen to Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, President on the Modern Customer Podcast.
Blake Morgan is a keynote speaker, futurist and author of two books, “Customer Of The Future” and “More Is More.” Sign up for her weekly customer experience newsletter here.
