5G small business
opportunities:
An industry-by-industry view

There has been lots of press about 5G and its potential to transform enterprise and consumer business models. You might be wondering if there are 5G small businesses opportunities and what can 5G do to help this market segment.

Just as it took time after the internet became widely available for companies to recognize its value as a way to reach their customers, and a similar change took place in the early days of mobile computing, 5G has the potential to be just as impactful.

There's no doubt many companies are learning how to apply technology to improve their business operations. According to the Bank of America 2022 Small Business Report, 50% of small business owners see 5G as one of the most important technologies they'll deploy over the next 10 years.¹ This builds upon findings from Verizon's third annual State of Small Business Survey, which found 53% of businesses have added to their tech stack to better connect with their customers.

When considering potential 5G small business opportunities, it makes sense to examine what 5G can do differently from alternatives like 4G. 5G benefits include high throughput, which can enable the performance of sophisticated applications such as virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), and low latency, which means companies can invest in new digital and mobile experiences.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are over 32 million small businesses that collectively employ 61.2 million people across an array of industry sectors. Some of the most common sectors are professional services, construction, real estate, transportation and retail.² How they use 5G will depend in part on the specific business requirements, customer needs and pain points they're trying to solve for and the experience they're trying to deliver.

Some of these potential 5G new business opportunities include:

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that about 30% of work was done remotely among regional enterprises.³ Managing collaboration between remote employees is a common challenge for many professional firms—one survey found two-thirds of remote professional service workers feel disconnected from their colleagues.

5G opens the door to AR-enabled collaboration both among colleagues and clients. AR can simplify coordination by allowing teams to visualize processes as they work, even if they're working remotely. 5G has the potential to better handle AR's data throughput demands so everyone can share the same information at the same time.

5G could help construction firms get better insights into what's happening on their worksites by providing the connectivity to support wearable technology as well as enabling the use of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors throughout the worksite. The data collected from those devices could then help improve worksite productivity, management and safety. The low latency that 5G can provide could also pave the way for more construction firms to use drones that could assess worksite safety conditions and provide updates that help keep projects on track. The massive bandwidth and capacity that 5G can provide could support the increased use of 3D printing in constructing projects -- residential construction to hospital complexes.

Construction firms and architects could also collaborate more effectively with clients on project design and management. Similarly, real estate agents could use 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) to deliver immersive and customer-centric experiences to prospective buyers, such as the ability to layer pictures of furniture and other accessories over existing room layouts.

In an era of supply chain challenges, 5G could help the transportation industry by increasing supply chain visibility. The throughput and low latency that 5G can offer combined with IoT sensors could provide companies with accurate near real-time inventory visibility throughout the supply chain. This could help reduce inventory shrinkage, provide timely product tracking, better manage delivery routes and contribute to a demand-driven supply chain.

5G and MEC could also offer the low latency and high throughput needed for semi-autonomous transportation. Driver-assist features and other autonomous technologies could help improve safety and increase efficiency. This is important given 85% of truckers cited driver-related costs as one of the greatest challenges in the U.S. trucking industry.

5G could help retailers provide a connected experience that combines the best of online and in-store shopping. Technologies like AR-enabled displays, for instance, could allow customers to virtually try on multiple outfits and provide easy access to product details, comparisons and reviews. The massive capacity 5G can provide could handle the data requirements for creating these blended retail experiences. Meanwhile, 5G-powered sensors could provide customers (and managers) with a timely, accurate view of inventory in the store.

5G Edge Cashierless Checkout could help retailers provide a more convenient shopping experience that can reduce transaction time, improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue. Autonomous checkout has many use cases, including concession stands, 24/7 stores in hotels, small grocery or convenience stores, and even pop-ups.