While the speed of data transfer is important, it's not the only thing. You could argue the speed of data transfer isn't the priority. What is a priority for businesses is latency. This is where 5G truly shines with it promising ultra-low latency for businesses. This has the potential to transform the way we work digitally.


You can look at the various characteristics of 5G networks to see why it's such an advancement in this regard. Compared to 4G or LTE networks, 5G ends up promising a lot of practical changes. For one, it delivers much greater capacity. It also promises increased throughput speeds and it promises what's most important - low latency. The capacity is what refers to the total amount of data that can transfer at any given time. It ultimately determines how many simultaneous connections it can handle. This is an area where 5G trumps 4G as it can handle 500x more devices at the same time as LTE. The next thing that it promises to do is offer better throughput speeds. This is the total amount of data that can go through the system. This is usually what you will do speed tests to find out. It's measured in either Megabit per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps). The last thing that 5G delivers is better overall latency. This is the total amount of time it takes for information to get from point A to point B. This is extremely important for businesses in today's digital age. It's ultimately what impacts your business the most. After all, you are likely holding virtual meetings, conferences, and calls. It's essential to have good latency when you are doing these critical tasks for your business because it's what enables your connected devices to communicate fast. With lower latency, you have better responsiveness.

Many experts in the industry tend to use various examples of self-driving cars. They will use these examples to show the use cases for low latency connection. A car needs to have a very fast reaction time to react properly to dynamic environments. Whereas, the same car wouldn't need higher throughput speeds. A lot of the cloud-based services that businesses rely on are constantly performing high-complexity data analysis that does require better throughput speeds. Those that have these higher bandwidth requisites would typically be using a traditional WiFi connection. However, this is no longer going to be required when we enter the age of 5G.


While it's nowhere as "cool" as self-driving vehicles, the possibilities that 5G brings to the table for businesses aren't to be missed. Low latency can deliver tremendous benefits to virtually any business. When applied to various processes, it can maximize efficiency. This alone is reason enough to consider investing in these technologies as a business because it makes things like a reliance on cloud technologies much more practical. It also makes cloud-based applications increasingly responsive. This can keep your workers constantly connected and spend less time buffering. It can also help in today's age of remote-dominated work. Any business that relies on any sort of collaboration or digital communication would be able to experience a lot of benefits from 5G because they will get speedy and reliable video conferencing, and zero lag or delay with their conferences and presentations.

Beyond the office, any business that relies heavily on machinery including manufacturers would be able to not only monitor, but identify and fix problems before they impact their operations using these technologies. While it does depend on the size of your business, having this type of real-time information and the ability to communicate instantaneously can skyrocket productivity and efficiency throughout your workplace.

Believe it or not, the true value of promising 5G network technology hasn't even been defined yet. There is so much potential that it can tap into. For instance, tactile internet that delivers some sort of haptic feedback could be possible. This would change the way humans interact with devices and it can go even further beyond just touch. It could bring new life to certain industries and mediums like entertainment and even healthcare.

The biggest thing that people need to start doing to leverage the power of low latency 5G networks is to start thinking about use cases right now. Low latency 5G networks have changed the game. They've enabled real-time communication which can impact virtually everyone. No matter what comes of 5G networks and what the future holds, it can have a real impact on your business at this moment. It's time to tap into the power of 5G.​