SPECIAL REPORT SERIES

UTILITY INSIGHTS

UNDERSTANDING 4G LTE

FOR BUSINESS

www.smithbellerby.co.uk ii

Contents

Executive Summary 1

The Evolution of Business Communications 2

What is 4G LTE? 4

The Applicability of 4G LTE 5

The Future of Telecommunications 7

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bradley Agnew / Digital Marketing Manager

I enjoy working closely with the team to ensure that we provide value to our

clients, delivering utility insights and industry news across all our online

channels. I’m responsible for managing our digital strategy, which means that

I’m always looking for new ways we can help clients and add value using

digital media.

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 1

Executive Summary

As workforces becoming increasingly mobile and

organisations continue to demand greater

communication and collaboration between

employees, the business environment is applying

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

increasingly broadly. This evolution in business

communications depends upon significant

development of mobile communications

technology.

4G LTE (‘Fourth Generation – Long-Term Evolution’)

represents the latest development in data technology

for cellular networks, delivering technical performance

improvements that translate to practical advantages

over previous generations, offering organisations an

excellent opportunity to improve organisational

performance and gain a substantial competitive

advantage.

The improved mobility and performance that 4G LTE

delivers enables organisations to:

Maximise sales and achieve higher levels of

customer service.

Improve operational efficiency and service

delivery.

Develop organisational efficiency and

workforce productivity.

Achieve substantial cost reductions.

Improve decision-making and flexibility.

Compared with 3G, 4G LTE delivers much higher

bandwidth, increased network capacity and reduced

latency, resulting in faster network responsiveness and

more efficient communication across the value chain. In

practice, this allows:

Increased accessibility of enterprise-level

applications to mobile workforces.

Faster real-time file sharing, media streaming,

and communication between employees.

Improved workforce productivity, employee

motivation and management effectiveness.

Using survey data together with Smith Bellerby project

experience, this paper outlines the technical

performance improvements and practical benefits that

UK organisations can expect from 4G LTE and sets out

to explain how the value of LTE can be fully leveraged

to improve organisational performance.

With UK operators deploying 4G LTE nationwide, non-

domestic customers need to consider how to best

exploit the opportunities that this crucial development

in mobile communications presents. Organisations

much understand the evolving nature of

communications and how 4G LTE can support them in

continuously improving organisational performance and

capitalising on the competitive advantage of an

increasingly flexible and mobile workforce.

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 2

The Evolution of Business Communications

Organisations across a diverse range of industries

and sectors continue to demand more effective

communication and greater collaboration as

workforces become increasingly mobile. The rising

popularity of smartphone and tablet devices utilising

cloud-based content and services means that

emerging technologies present an excellent

opportunity to improve organisational performance

and achieve significant cost savings.

These developments in business communications can be

summarised in three key trends:

Increasing mobility of the workforce.

Continuing demand for cloud-based service

delivery.

The consumerisation of information technology in

organisations.

These key trends in the evolution of business

communications will contribute to a rapid increase in the

already significant data demand from UK organisations.

As data demand from consumers continues to rise, this

trend will be reflected in organisations across a diverse

range of verticals, driven by the continuing

consumerisation of ICT in organisations and the

development of enterprise-level mobile applications.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Increased worker productivity

Increased employee responsiveness

Resolved customer issues faster

Resolved internal IT issues faster

Improved customer satisfaction

Reduced sales cycle time

Reduced personnel costs

Reduced fuel, gas or fleet maintenance costs

Competitive differentiation

Increased sales revenue

Improved brand perception

Reduced inventory costs

Figure 1: What Benefit Has Your Firm Experienced as a Result of

Deploying Mobile Applications?

Base: 2,247 network and telecom decision-makers Source: Forrester, Enterprise and SMB Networks and Telecommunications Survey, North America and Europe, Q1 2010

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 3

By leveraging these high performance mobile-based

applications, organisations will be well-placed to

maximise the value of emerging technologies and take

full advantage of the following benefits:

Maximising sales and achieving higher levels of

customer service. Accelerate the sales process with

improved access to sophisticated media and

applications, improve the productivity and

motivation of a flexible sales force, and deliver a

more attentive and customer-focused after-sales

service.

Improving operational efficiency and service

delivery. Integrating enterprise-level mobile

applications utilising cloud-based content and

services enables faster and greater access to

information across the value chain.

Developing organisational efficiency and

workforce productivity. By minimising wasted time

and enabling more effective flexible working,

organisations can transform productivity and

efficiency together with management effectiveness.

Supporting the implementation of cost

management initiatives. Utilising emerging

technologies and incorporating mobile technology

can deliver direct cost reductions by enabling

remote working and teleworking and controlling

investment in telecoms equipment.

Improving decision-making and flexibility.

Enabling faster and great access to information

improves communication and collaboration which

results in greater flexibility and improved decision-

making,

This paper draws on Smith Bellerby project experience

working with senior executives from leading

organisations across a diverse range of industries and

sectors, in addition to survey data from markets where

4G LTE has already been implemented.

In this paper, we outline the practical benefits that

emerging technologies such as 4G LTE can deliver for

UK organisations, including the best applications of 4G

LTE, and how organisations can utilise these

technologies to improve their performance.

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 4

What is 4G LTE?

4G LTE is the fourth generation of data technology for

cellular networks. This development in mobile

network technology delivers higher bandwidth,

reduced latency and greater overall network capacity

which enables organisations to fully utilise high

performance enterprise-level mobile applications.

Organisations operating in overseas markets where

4G LTE has already been deployed report improved

workforce productivity and higher levels of

operational efficiency – with externally-focused

functional areas seeing the best results.

4G LTE represents a significant development in data

technology, delivering improved technical performance

compared to previous generations, which translates to

several practical advantages that contribute significantly to

improved organisational performance.

The most significant developments include:

Higher bandwidth

Reduced latency

Increased capacity

The developed information architecture and improved

efficiency of LTE also delivers direct cost savings for

organisations resulting in a more cost-effective mobile

network. Improved management capabilities also allow

greater control over cellular networks, resulting in a

uniquely tailored solutions that adds significant value

throughout the value chain.

Figure 2 provides an outline of the technical improvements

that 4G LTE offers, and the practical benefits that

implementing 4G LTE could deliver.

Figure 2: 4G LTE’s technical performance and practical benefits compared to previous generations of LTE

Technical performance

Practical benefits of 4G LTE

Higher bandwidth (speed of data transfer)

Reduced latency, faster transition from idle to

active mode

Greater network capacity and higher spectrum

efficiency (improved efficiency)

Improved management capabilities and enhances

Quality of Service

Ease of integration due to all IP network (improved

cost-efficiency)

Higher speed of data transfer enables greater

access to sophisticated data streams

Improved network responsiveness facilitates real-

time communication, enabling greater

communication and collaboration

Increased levels of security, reliability and

consistency improves user experience

Improved application performance and greater

mobility and flexibility of the workforce

Source: Smith Bellerby analysis

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 5

The Applicability of 4G LTE

When compared to previous generations of LTE, 4G

delivers technical improvements that enable

workforces to become truly mobile, increasing the

accessibility of information whilst improving

performance for latency-sensitive applications. As

opposed to Wi-Fi networks, Long-Term Evolution

offers high levels of security, reliability and mobility

by delivering secure connectivity at high

bandwidths.

Characteristics of 4G LTE application

By using project experience from markets where 4G LTE

has been successfully implemented, we can understand

a range of use-cases that illustrate the value of 4G LTE.

When evaluating the applicability of 4G LTE it is

important to consider the following characteristics:

‘Application breadth’ – how many of the

applications used in the office environment need to

be accessible to a mobile workforce?

‘Mobility’ – how mobile is the workforce? Is

mobile application use limited to a single site, is it

spread across multiple sites, or is it fully mobile?

‘Data intensity’ – what type and scale of data is

needed for mobile applications?

‘Responsiveness’ – what Quality of Service and

network latency is required for mobile applications?

‘Application criticality’ – what are the implications

of application failure?

Suitability of different wireless technologies

Generally, Wi-Fi offers higher bandwidth at the expense

of mobility, and is better suited to office environments.

3G, on the other hand, is well-suited to fully-mobile

workforces, although there may be issues with the

reliability and security of a 3G connection for high

performance applications.

Figure 3 provides an overview of the fundamental

differences between a wide range of mobile

technologies and their applicability based on typical

performance measures.

Figure 3: Applicability and performance of mobile technologies

2G

(GSM/GPRS)

3G (HSPA,

HSPA+)

Wi-Fi (with fibre) 4G LTE

Applicability Device type Feature phone,

smartphone

Tablet,

smartphone

PC/laptop, tablet,

smartphone

PC/laptop, tablet,

smartphone

Performance

(typical

measured)

Download speed (Mbps) 0.01-0.13 1-5 20-30 10-40

Upload speed (Mbps) 0.008-0.13 0.2-0.5 2-10 1-15

Latency (ms) 300-700 (GPRS) 100-200 10-20 50-150

Sources: PCMag.com, LTEworld.org, mobile-phones-uk.org.uk, ISPreview, 3G Americas/RYSAVY Research, Agilent technologies, Telia Sonera, Verizon,

AT&T, EE, Smith Bellerby analysis. Note: performance statistics are typical measured figures.

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 6

Based on these performance measures, it is clear that 4G LTE could be the ‘best of both worlds’, by combining the

mobility and flexibility of fully-mobile working with true broadband speeds and enhanced security.

Figure 4: Practical advantages of 4G LTE compared to previous wireless technologies

Compared with 3G

Compared with Wi-Fi

Greater access to a diverse range of high

performance mobile applications

Faster file sharing, media streaming and real-time

communication

Greater mobility and flexibility whilst maintaining,

or even exceeding, true broadband speeds

Improved convenience, security and reliability,

resulting in a more powerful, consistent user

experience

Relevance of LTE to business-specific applications

In broad terms, LTE’s practical benefits are most useful

when using data-intensive and mobile-centric

applications for personal communication and

collaboration, customer relationship management, and

project management.

Businesses can reap the benefits of 4G LTE for a diverse

range of applications, some of which are specific to a

particular industry sector, whereas others are purely

horizontal applications, such as email or sales force

automation.

Use cases that benefit from 4G LTE

1. Large file transfer – with the increasing

popularity of cloud-based content and

services, mobile workforces are downloading

and uploading large files on-the-go. This trend

means that the higher bandwidth offered by

4G LTE is absolutely critical to productive

mobile workforces.

2. Rapid workplace set-up – the rising trend in

the flexibility of the workforce requires

investment in appropriate technologies that

will enable organisations to set-up temporary

workplaces by utilising LTE-connected Wi-Fi

hubs. 4G LTE delivers true broadband speeds

on a fully-mobile network.

3. Sophisticated machine-to-machine and

remote monitoring applications – a diverse

range of M2M applications require

transmission of rich media via an always-on

data dream. 4G LTE can transform many

machine-to-machine applications by enabling

large file transfer at high bandwidth without

being connected to a fixed line.

4. Videoconferencing, tele-presence and rich

media collaboration – in terms of employee

communication and collaboration, LTE offers

tremendous value by enabling mobile

workforces to communicate more effectively

via video-based conferencing over mobile

networks.

5. Remote access and teleworking – the

continuing mobility and flexibility of the

workforce requires appropriate technologies

that will enable remote access to business

applications through cloud-based platforms.

Understanding 4G LTE for Business

www.smithbellerby.co.uk 7

The Future of Telecommunications

This paper has presented the opportunities that 4G LTE

offers UK organisations as the latest development in

mobile communications. In addition to enabling greater

access to high performance applications, LTE will also

improve the performance of applications that already

function well on mobile devices, increasing their

responsiveness and enhancing the user experience.

Businesses in the UK are well-placed to take advantage

of the wide range of benefits that LTE has to offer:

increased sales and enhanced customer service;

improved workforce productivity; substantial cost

savings; higher employee motivation; greater

operational efficiency; and greater communication and

collaboration throughout the value chain.

UK organisations now need to consider how to best

exploit the opportunities that this crucial development

in mobile communications presents. Organisations

much understand the evolving nature of

communications and how 4G LTE can support them in

continuously improving organisational performance and

capitalising on the competitive advantage of an

increasingly flexible and mobile workforce.

We are led to believe that by 2020 some parts of the

UK, typically the larger metropolitan areas, could have

5G, which may deliver bandwidth giving 100 times the

data speeds of 4G. This would be a major "game

changer", completely removing the need for the 150

year old, copper-based, wired infrastructure in cities. As

with most things broadband, don't expect it anytime

soon in the more rural areas...

4G LTE is the next logical step in the evolution of

business communications – the time to act is now.

If you would like more information or to arrange an

informal discussion on the issues raised in this

paper, please contact:

Steve Bellerby

Managing Director

s.bellerby@smithbellerby.co.uk

Jenny Smith

Operations Director

j.smith@smithbellerby.co.uk

Smith Bellerby

Smith Bellerby, founded in 1997, is the UK’s leading cost

management consultancy. We deliver sustainable profitable

growth and major cost reductions for our clients using a

strategic approach to utility management.

For over 15 years, we’ve been helping leading organisations

across a diverse range of industries and sectors to overcome

their key cost management challenges.

We have built our business upon a reputation for outstanding

customer service, saving clients in excess of £7 million and still

counting.

For further information, please visit www.smithbellerby.co.uk

Copyright © 2015 Smith Bellerby Ltd. All rights reserved.