5 Steps to Set the Stage for the 5G-Powered Cloud

The fifth generation (5G) of cellular network technology is here to take over. In the next few years, 5G coverage in tier-1 cities will reach 60%, with more than three billion subscriptions worldwide. This reflects 5G’s ground-breaking potential — 20 times faster data transmissions, a tenfold boost in connection density, zero downtime, and so much more. These capabilities will change the world forever. Many industries and services including cloud will witness a revolution. Gartner predicts that 5G’s ultra-fast speed, high capacity, and exceptional reliability will push cloud adoption to a new level of broader, deeper and ubiquitous usage. The synergy of the 5G network and cloud will open doors for advanced innovation and unprecedented growth, but to take its full advantage, you must start preparing now. And here are the first five steps that will help you get started: –

Know Your Cloud Tune

Before you start your 5G-enabled cloud adoption journey, know how the transition relates to and benefits your business. Assess your current cloud capabilities with respect to people, processes and technology. Define your ideal IT environment and outline the gaps in existing capabilities compared with this desired state. Based on this, prioritise activities and initiatives, that, when executed, should bridge the identified gaps. This step will help you evaluate operational readiness to ensure seamless transitions once the 5G rollouts start accelerating.

Bridge the Knowledge Gap

5G will have a five times greater chance of being accepted if transparent communication is maintained around its capabilities. Thus, to leverage the advantages of 5G-enabled cloud, simply transforming your IT infrastructure won’t do the trick. You must also take proactive measures to ensure that your workforce and consumers are prepared to take advantage of all it has to offer. For this, you can start by explaining your near-term, mid-term, and long-term goals to your employees. Ensure that your customers know what benefits this transition will bring for them and specify the required pricing plan and hardware upgrades.

Make Security your Priority

5G can support up to one million connections per square kilometre. The increased number of devices connected with your 5G cloud ecosystem would unlock more opportunities for you as well as hackers. IoT devices contain personal data and business-sensitive information and often lack full-proof security features. In the last two years, nearly 60% of cyberattacks have been traced to compromised, unpatched software. And IoT devices and edge cloud are typically prone to this vulnerability.

As IoT devices and edge cloud will increasingly become part of your IT infrastructure in the 5G era, your security and data privacy concerns will skyrocket. To address this highly complex threat landscape, adopt a zero-trust security approach. This will ensure all users, whether in or outside your organisation’s network are continuously authenticated, authorised, and validated before being granted access to the cloud network.

Get your Skates on

5G improves more than just connection speed. Low latency is its greatest advantage, which will allow your cloud applications to respond in one millisecond — a response rate that is 250 times faster than humans and 100 times faster than 4G. However, to use this to its fullest, you need to build a cloud infrastructure that aligns with 5G network standards in terms of velocity and data volumes and can handle more specific applications. For this, you can upgrade your cloud storage capacity and adopt cloud architectures built on technologies such as virtualisation and

Tie the knot with the right cloud partner

Embracing the 5G-powered cloud would require partnerships with trusted cloud service providers. However, before engaging in any such partnership, make sure the provider’s platform and technologies align with your current cloud environment and support your upcoming objectives. An understanding about their 5G adoption plans, partnerships, offerings, security infrastructure, and more will give you an insight into their capabilities and help you make more informed decisions.

Start by evaluating the cloud service provider’s roadmap for service development in the 5G era. Assess their ability to protect data moving to or within the cloud. This will ensure they are compliant with the necessary legal or regulatory obligations and ready for the security concerns that 5G-powered cloud might unleash.

Cloud service providers often have partnerships with multiple vendors to offer a strong ecosystem of experts for every need. It’s important for you to understand the accreditation levels and technical capabilities of these vendors for explicit clarification of service dependencies and the implications on SLAs.

Think 5G-powered cloud, Think Airtel!

In our mobile and digital-first world, 5G-enabled cloud is poised to be a business enabler. But owing to lack of digital experience and expertise and more, enterprises can fail to adopt it strategically, holistically and in a forward-looking way. Having the right managed service partner like Airtel with its all-inclusive suite of 5G-ready cloud services and connectivity solutions can help your organisation change this.

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