Interview: Nathan McGregor, Cradlepoint

What is the major potential tech pain point that will face all organisations large and small in 2023?

The last two years have demonstrated that at least as a hybrid approach, working from the office and/or working from home is effective. But organisations now need to work out how to make it sustainable for workers long term. How can technology help businesses enable better, faster, more secure connectivity to workplaces from remote locations? In most cases, the availability of a secure, reliable wireless connection enables seamless working between home, the office and anywhere in between.

From the perspective of citizen services in the public sector, we expect to see a continued growth in the use of IoT and as a result, the sheer volume of IoT devices will be challenging for governments to manage. From smart water meters and climate-controlled buildings to security cameras and body temperature checking sensors — set-up, troubleshooting and upgrading of devices using people power alone will be a challenge. One way to overcome this is to centrally manage these devices via a cloud management platform. Being able to manage connected IoT devices from a single pane of glass allows IT teams to enforce consistent security policies, gain insights into data usage and carrier billing trends, and provide a consistent user experience.

What’s on your tech wish list from governments, innovators and the wider industry in 2023?

IoT and connected devices will drive improvement in citizens’ quality of life. From connected medical devices in healthcare and smart parking meters and traffic lights, to connected digital signage broadcasting UV levels at the beach and cattle monitoring on farms — the demand for connectivity in places we haven’t considered before will continue to grow. What Australia needs from government to enable this next wave of connectivity is support for 5G innovation.

A recent report from the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) titled, 5G Unleashed: Realising the Potential of the next Generation of Mobile Technology, Deloitte 2022 says that “Australia is a global leader in 5G mobile, but needs to accelerate uptake and investment to maintain its lead on other countries. If Australia can maintain its current position amongst global leaders, this creates an extra $27 billion in economic benefits to GDP by 2030 by lifting business productivity.” One of the key priorities for government as outlined in this report is improving 5G infrastructure in regional areas. The Government’s mini Budget allocated part of the $2 billion earmarked for its Better Connectivity for Regional and Rural Australia Plan towards supporting mobile coverage through new investments in regional and remote Australia, and finding innovative approaches to keeping communications running during natural disasters. The details of this allocation are unclear currently, but we hope that the new government will support developing 5G infrastructure in both urban and regional areas of Australia.

Which new technologies will reach critical mass and become dominant in 2023?

The growth of large-scale IoT applications will be enabled by wide availability of 5G. As the shutdown of 3G progresses, 4G and 5G connectivity will become increasingly ubiquitous. As smart cities grow and rely on live surveillance and AI, 5G connectivity will become more widespread.

How can the technology sector build resilience into supply chain management during times of global uncertainty?

Controlling our supply chain throughout the pandemic allowed us to continue meeting SLAs — and this became a clear competitive difference. We sell software-based solutions and are not tied to a single piece of hardware, which allows for agile deployments when needed. Our subscription-based model prohibits inventory consumption without activation, enabling teams to stick with rollout/installation schedules, while further increasing inventory efficiency.

Nathan McGregor is the Senior Vice President for the Asia Pacific region at Cradlepoint. He has over 20 years of leadership experience in the telecommunications and IT industry working for prominent companies, including Cisco Meraki, Hitachi, Juniper Networks, Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent.