and partners, while also adding telcos
from EMEA and APAC into the mix.
“We have Asian and European telcos
working with us, so we have worked to
broaden the exposure as well as creat-
ing diverse perspectives,” says Wilde.
“The Council has grown over the course
of the last two-and-a-half years, so it’s
interesting to see that we’ve got custom-
ers also coming to us that want to join.”
“So it’s moved very much beyond
just a pure telco conversation and con-
nectivity conversation, and really moved
much more into an open innovation
forum where CTOs, as well as directors
and VPs in marketing and sales and
operations are interested in joining.”
While interest is clearly high, and
growing, one of the core challenges
facing Wilde and the 5G Council is that
customers are not aware of what this
next generation of network provides.
Wilde says he believes SAP custom-
ers still do not fully understand what a
5G network can do and he feels it will
be another two, three, or even four-year
process to get customers comfortable
with its capabilities.
Part of that educational process is
working with the likes of Verizon and
Deloitte to put together a 5G Playbook
to make it easier to understand both
the technology and specific use cases
that SAP can partner on.—
Frank Wilde,
Vice President, SAP“ The 5G Council is serving
as that hub for how we
drive the next level of
innovation across a
number of industries”99technologymagazine.com