Australian companies focus on technologies that can push digital focus to recover from two-fold devestation.
Just over half (51 per cent) of Australian organisations plan to start using or increase 4G/LTE technology use, while 73 per cent plan to start using or increase 5G technology use in the next 12 months, to support changed business strategies.
A recent report by Telsyte, commissioned by Cradlepoint, found the growth in wireless WAN adoption is in-part a reaction to the catastrophic events of 2020, including the national bushfires and global pandemic.
The survey found that over half (52 per cent) of Australian organisations have almost recovered from the disruptions caused by these two events in areas of IT infrastructure planning and business process.
The digital transformation timeline of nearly two-thirds of organisations has been brought forward due to the current climate.
About 89 per cent of organisations have started looking to invest in technologies that will better prepare them for future unplanned events, with 61 per cent of respondents already making such investments.
Telsyte managing director, Foad Fadaghi said the events of 2020 have seen the move to wireless WAN join the list of technologies becoming critical to business.
“While adoption of wireless software defined networks had been occurring steadily, many now see it as critical as a result of the disruption caused by the pandemic,” he said.
“Australian organisations are increasingly fast tracking their wireless WAN infrastructure investments and 5G is set to be an important part of the mix.”
While flexibility and remote management are high on the agenda, improving network cybersecurity is the number one IT priority for organisations over the next 12 months (61 per cent of respondents rank it as a top priority). When it comes to business networking technologies like SD-WAN, 84 per cent see security as a critical feature.
It has beccome evident that the way organisations do business will likely change for the long-term because of the impact of COVID-19.
Alongside this realisation, Australian IT leaders are ready for the promise of 5G, believing they will already benefit from some of its capabilities in the next 12 months.
While increased speed and improvements over 4G are much-discussed advantages of 5G, Australian businesses also anticipate 5G to bring huge potential for AI and augmented reality (66 per cent), in addition to lower latency (62 per cent).
The increase in use of LTE and 5G is set to extend beyond branch or multi-site organisations. Sixty percent of companies expect the number of connected vehicles in their fleet to increase in the next two years and half (54 per cent) of businesses expect the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to their infrastructure to increase over the same period.
