038: Is 5G worth it? with Rob Tiffany

Enterprise Product Leadership

5G promises to be a revolutionary technology that will impact all aspects of our lives. But how much of that is real? And how much of it is just hype? To get to the bottom of this, I wanted to bring on a seasoned technology expert to show and I couldn’t think of a better person to invite than my friend, Rob Tiffany!

Rob Tiffany is the Vice President and Head of IoT Strategy at Ericsson. In his role, Rob drives the Internet of Things strategy and execution. Additionally, Rob is also a best-selling author; a frequent keynote speaker; and serves on the boards of SmartCitiesWorld, the Washington State IoT Council, and Kapios Health. He is also routinely ranked as one of the top IoT experts and influencers in the world by Inc Magazine, Onalytica, and many more!

In this episode, Rob and I discuss the value proposition of 5G from a business perspective, why 5G promises a new era of expansion for the Internet of Things, and the steps you can begin to take as a Product Leader to plan for 5G as part of your innovation roadmap. We also talk about some of 5G’s hurdles, including some of its complexities, the cost of switching to this technology, and the pressure it is under in competing in both price and functionality with more established technologies, such as Wi-Fi.

This is a fun and informative episode that no Product Leader should miss!

Episode Details: The True Business Value of 5G with Rob Tiffany:

“Start planning for [5G] right now. It’s already starting to roll out.” — Rob Tiffany

About Rob Tiffany:

Rob Tiffany is Vice President and Head of IoT Strategy at Ericsson where he drives Internet of Things strategy and execution.

Rob joined Ericsson in 2018 from Enterprise IoT, where he was Founder and CEO. There, he created an Edge computing system powered by Digital Twins that targeted enterprises and industrials. As CTO and Global Product Manager at Hitachi, he received the Presidential “Product of the Year” award for designing the Lumada Industrial IoT platform. This product landed in Gartner’s “Visionary Quadrant” and was a “Strong Performer” in The Forrester Wave. Spending most of his career at Microsoft, Rob was the Global Technology Lead for IoT where he incubated the Azure IoT cloud platform and co-authored its reference architecture. Prior to Microsoft, Rob was the Co-Founder of NetPerceptor where he developed one of the industry’s earliest Mobile Device Management (MDM/EMM) platforms for smartphones.

Topics We Discuss in this Episode:

• Rob Tiffany’s career background and his current role at Ericsson

• What 5G is, who it is for, and what problems it is trying to solve

• Why 5G promises a new era of expansion for the Internet of Things

• The business value of 5G

• Various industries that 5G can have an impact on

• Why you need the agility that wireless gives you (beyond Wi-Fi)

• What CBRS is and how it will help facilitate 5G

• Why 5G is better than Wi-Fi for enterprises

• 5G’s hurdles and complexities

• What Product Leaders should consider when they’re thinking about 5G for their innovation roadmap

Product Leader Tip of the Week:

As a Product Leader, you should start planning for 5G today. The capacity, speed, latency, etc. make it all worthwhile. Research it some more, think about the use cases, and plan for all that it can bring you.

To Learn More About Rob Tiffany:

• Rob Tiffany’s LinkedIn

• Ericsson

Related Resources:

• DanielElizalde.com/Template — Download Daniel’s free IoT Product Strategy Template here!

Want to Learn More?

• Sign up for my newsletter at DanielElizalde.com/Join for weekly advice and best practices directly to your inbox!

• Visit DanielElizalde.com/Podcast for additional information, show notes, and episodes.

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts so you don’t miss out on any of my conversations with product and thought leaders!