• 15
  • April

Dejero Controls the 5G Conversation

5G is the fifth generation of cellular network technology and it holds tremendous promise to transform the role played by telecommunications technology in society.

Each and every vendor who participates in the telecom marketplace is getting asked about their plans regarding 5G and support for the new technologies and architectures it brings. Similarly, each and every vendor must deal with some combination of hype and misconceptions about what 5G will be able to do, and when.

Delivering Field Connectivity in a 5G World

Dejero’s solutions provide reliable connectivity anywhere, and providing reliable connectivity anywhere often requires using cellular networks. Consequently, 5G has a very real impact on Dejero’s solutions and equipment.

To take control of the conversation about 5G as it pertains to their market, Dejero needed an authoritative piece of educational thought leadership. Tactically, this piece would serve as a response to the majority of inquiries which had both “5G” and “Dejero” in the question. Strategically, it would show why the introduction of 5G does practically nothing to address obviate the problems Dejero solves.

As you may have surmised by now, Dejero reached out to Cromulent Marketing and we got to work.

The result of this engagement is Field Connectivity in a 5G World—Enabling tomorrow’s use cases with Dejero Smart Blending Technology.

Getting to Work

I won’t dwell too much here, but it’s worth pointing out that writing this paper required stitching together 5G market trends, 5G’s impact (and non-impact) on Dejero’s technology, and relating everything to Dejero’s target verticals and specific use cases.

The research component essentially meant meeting with Dejero’s CTO to better understand what 5G means for the company, synching with the marketing team for messaging goals and use case specifics, diving into the wealth of 5G documentation available from organizations including the GSMA and the ITU, and poking around for other notable 5G-related information.

Aside: This was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me, as I’d made quite a bit of 5G-related content back in my previous job—thankfully, this domain familiarity meant that I knew where to look for reliable info

Being Useful and Interesting

Like many thought leadership pieces, the main challenge was turning an abundance of information into something useful and interesting.

We started the document off with a very short (three paragraph) Executive Summary. The most important takeaway of this section—of this entire document, in fact—is this line: “For Dejero, 5G is simply a new ingredient in our blending recipe, joining 4G, satellite, Wi-Fi, and broadband connections.”

In other words, 5G doesn’t really change anything. Now it’s up to the rest of the document to prove that point.

Levelling-Up the Reader

As with many technology-related conversations, we couldn’t just jump straight into the technical explanations of why nothing really changes for Dejero, other than 5G being another connection to blend.

That’s because it’s very likely that the reader doesn’t understand 5G well enough to appreciate that deeper conversation. There’s so much hype (*cough* and conspiracy nonsense *cough*) around 5G that it was crucial we establish a common understanding of all the things that 5G is.

Aside: see Selling Technical Solutions in a World that Doesn’t Understand for more on this particular marketing challenge

So to create that common understanding, between the Introduction (background, light information, and a timeline of mobile network generations) and a section called Overview of 5G Technology, we provide a five-page crash course in 5G. It really is worth a few minutes of your time if you want a pretty straightforward explanation of 5G that doesn’t require telecom domain knowledge.

Importantly, within that section is a one-page feature showcasing a very cool real-world success story in which Dejero played a crucial role in a 5G first. This feature immediately establishes Dejero’s credibility because it shows the reader that we’re not just waxing philosophically here—Dejero is already out there in the wild doing very real, very cool things with 5G. And not everyone can say that.

Relating to the Problem Domain

The next section, Industry Applications, examines Dejero’s four main target markets—Broadcast and Media, Public Safety, Transit, and Enterprise—to show how 5G will or will not impact particular problems.

The point of this section is to show that, despite the extreme hype around 5G, the problems that Dejero solves will continue to exist. That is, we want to ensure that the “5G is amazing and will solve every wireless communications problem” crowd learns the truth—that despite 5G’s advances, it isn’t some miraculous cure-all.

Of course, our examination and explanation strongly implies that Dejero provides real solutions to important problems—but does so in an educational, non-salesy manner.

Getting Practical

Now that we’ve established a baseline understanding of what 5G is, and shown what it can and can’t do in relation to existing problems, we next examine some Practical Realities that are shaping—and will continue to shape—the rollout of 5G.

It’s a bit like, “OK, we’ve given you a technical primer, now let’s look at the real world and its complications.”

This section explores the many uncertainties around 5G, including dependencies and decisions yet to be made (including establishing technical standards), and gives Dejero a platform to explain what they think are the most likely scenarios.

The (Continued) Role of Dejero Smart Blending Technology

After equipping the reader with technical knowledge, market knowledge, and an appreciation of the surprising degree of uncertainty around 5G’s introduction, we’re now ready to clearly explain the continued role of Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology.

It’s kind’ve funny, because we’re essentially saying: “Here’s what Smart Blending does. It will continue to do that. Yes, even in 5G.”

But if that was all we’d said, no one would have listened: “Oh sure, just another vendor trying to stay relevant when 5G means they aren’t necessary.” By providing the necessary background, we’ve primed the reader to listen to and to understand our main thesis: that 5G doesn’t really change much for Dejero. As we said in the Executive Summary, “For Dejero, 5G is simply a new ingredient in our blending recipe, joining 4G, satellite, Wi-Fi, and broadband connections.”

Tying it Together

We close the paper with a one-page Conclusions section which wraps everything back together and restates the main point: “For Dejero, 5G is simply a new ingredient in our blending recipe.”

Making Things More Real and Accessible

To make the document more real and accessible to the non-expert—and to stand up to scrutiny—it contains:

  • A dozen footnotes citing technical publications, news articles, and other Dejero resources
  • A funny news feature from the BBC
  • A real 5G coverage map that shows the limitations of 5G’s reach in city centres
  • A comprehensive Glossary explaining 15 terms and concepts pertaining to 5G

Were these elements necessary? No, of course not. Do they make the paper more effective? I suppose it’s subjective, but I certainly think so.

Wrapping Up

Anyway, I hope this explanation has given you some ideas about what you can do to help provide education within your own industry.

My thanks to the team at Dejero, as always, for being such great collaborators and for bringing us fun and interesting projects!

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