5G expert on how technology will change the future

In the exclusive “The Digital Economy Explained” series, created by Digital Pioneers and Telegraf.rs, another esteemed guest shared his views on the latest AI and digitalization topics. Toby Redshaw, global IT business transformation leader, engaged in an interesting discussion with a team of experts: AI expert and a global digital cognitive strategist Mark Minevich, Gen Z digitalization expert Angelica Sirotin, and the European strategic communications and media expert in the tech space Andjelina Petrovic, representing Comtrade Group.

The main focus of the conversation was a 5G network, as well as how the new technologies, such as IoT and artificial intelligence, will accelerate technological development of the entire society.

Toby Redshaw is senior vice president at Verizon, a Fortune 500 company, where he’s directly working on the future of Verizon’s 5G network. With this in mind, it’s safe to say there are few people with a deeper expertise in 5G than Redshaw.

As a global IT business leader, Redshaw is also a regular participant in the top business forums, such as the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Speaking about his work experience throughout the years and many changes that he witnessed, Redshaw said that perhaps the most exciting time in technology was when artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G collided.

According to him, based on those changes and with the help of modern networks, such as 5G, an incredible momentum of changes will be created over the next five to six years.

As he pointed out, now is the right time to get used to them – whether you like it or not.

When asked about how all this will affect our lives and jobs, and what private and public sector can do about it, Toby said that awareness and leadership come first.

"It's up to all of us - and investors, customers and employees. The other thing is awareness, whether or not to do it. What will be a profitable investment? I think the future of brands will be focused on building trust. That we all strive towards a common interest. You won’t be a successful company if caring for the community doesn't come first," he said.

Speaking about how all these new technologies, especially 5G, will affect the future labor market, he answered that changes are accelerating thanks to innovations, which can be seen especially in the context of the coronavirus crisis that the world is experiencing.

"5G is not just a connection network. There is a big difference between 5G and the previous ones, for example 3G. Now everything is in real time. It doesn’t take tons of data to run a model and only then for anomalies to surface. Now I can predict all that in advance, the environment itself becomes more digitally literate. From a human perspective, buildings, roads, infrastructure, everything is better connected," he said.

This, he further added, is especially important because it reduces the costs of data storage and also saves time.

He pointed out that this will only improve going forward.

"Devices will become proactive and very precise. They are interconnected, whether it's a hospital, a factory, or a football stadium. Everything will become mobile."

He touched upon the economic forum in Davos, where he is a regular participant, saying that one of the topics was the 4th industrial revolution and how it changed the world.

"The only difference is that this revolution is purely technological, while we can say that the previous one lasted for decades. This one lasts about six years. I believe that the world will progress more in the next four or five years than what has been achieved in the last twenty," he said.

He added that it’s inevitable that there will be winners and losers in this revolution, where 5G technology is leading the change. Therefore, his advice is to get in the game as soon as possible, in order to get access to all technologies and develop them.

He sees the positive side of the crisis in the fact that it’s a cycle in which conditions for experimentation and innovation are improving.

He pointed out that there are many smaller innovation labs, and that we should share knowledge with each other to achieve the best possible results. Partnership and connectedness, he added, are the right path to success through a shared cycle.

When it comes to the European Union and the development of 5G, Toby praised it highly.

He recalled that many hubs and innovation laboratories that develop 5G were opened in Europe and in the US, but that Europe is known as one of the hubs for launching them, which is a very important foundation.

"That initial scene influences the development of 5G and the development of startups, which is important for the whole world of innovation. Are innovative people changing the world? Aren't they? These are people who are willing to take risks even when it's hard," he said.

According to him, it's important to unite and experiment: geographically, he pointed out, Europe is an ideal environment for that.

"In Berlin, for example, some amazing things are happening, incredible things. Then there's the public-private partnerships in France. It’s really all impressive. And that’s a model that should be applied in many places around the world," he explained.

He reminded of a big hub in London that opened just before COVID-19 crisis.

"The real key, I think, is that you can allow things to fail as well, but also to grow big. When it comes to people, a certain percentage of them never succeed, but that’s not a model for future business. I’ve recently had a conversation - a man told me about his startup that failed and, somehow, he seemed to be apologetic. I think that's wrong. Learning from it is much more important than the reason why that startup failed", said Toby.

Then he added: "I think failure has its value. Give it a try."

Ceck out the full episode in the video at the top of the article.

(Telegraf.rs)