Feature: AT&T, Accenture reveal AI, private 5G challenges
During a session at MWC25 Barcelona, experts from Accenture, AT&T, and ServiceNow discussed the challenges of implementing AI and private 5G using an AltaGas deployment. The focus was on real-world obstacles faced in the process. The insights shared shed light on the complexities involved in deploying these technologies. The session aimed to provide practical knowledge for businesses looking to adopt AI and private 5G solutions. The event highlighted the importance of understanding and addressing challenges in order to successfully integrate these innovations.
AI alone cannot solve every business process problem, with the use of the technology in redefining operations requiring the right information, connections, and collaborations, experts from AT&T, Accenture, AltaGas, and ServiceNow explained during the GSMA’s Connected Industries sessions at MWC25 Barcelona last month.
Panel Discussion
The panel focused on how AI and private 5G could be employed to reinvent connectivity, with the discussion centering on the companies’ real-world experiences of overhauling the operations of an AltaGas natural liquid gas facility in North America.
Shawn Kroon, senior director of digital services at AltaGas, cautioned that AI is not necessarily a panacea if the underlying data employed is incorrect, explaining that this is the source of most problems when employing the technology. He emphasized, "If your data is wrong, the algorithm is going to give you a bad answer." Kroon added, "AI is not going to solve everything by itself."
Importance of Quality Data
Accessing quality data is why AltaGas embarked on an overhaul of its communications setup. This process provided an opportunity to work closely with AT&T and others to redefine connectivity and develop fresh innovations to help support critical infrastructure clients.
Accenture also teamed with Ericsson, Microsoft, ServiceNow, and others on the AltaGas project, working to develop paths to ultimately use AI and automation for monitoring, self-healing, and zero-touch infrastructure.
Collaboration and Transformation
The Accenture specialist emphasized collaboration as a key element and explained that any overhaul must begin with understanding its client’s pain points, the business case, and the value case to plan a large transformation. He noted that AltaGas’ staff were also a key consideration in terms of how AI and 5G were employed.
Accenture and AT&T discussed new options to deliver the coverage required to provide services ranging from simple voice calls to low-latency, high-bandwidth uses around connected workers and remote operations.
Role of AT&T
Margaret Rooney-McMillen, VP of ecosystem partner solutions at AT&T, highlighted the need for a broad ecosystem to make AI and private 5G viable means of redefining connectivity. AT&T role is to enable the ecosystem to work by providing mobile or fiber connectivity, which can act as the foundation for services to run on.
AT&T supplied AltaGas with a private 5G network that provides seamless wireless connectivity throughout the entire facility, allowing AltaGas to focus on use cases, including IoT sensors and devices, and creating a digital worker experience.
Business Transformation
Romit Ghose, head of product, industry products, telecom and media with ServiceNow, pointed to the need for commonality in collaborations, arguing that his company is the junction where various industries meet. ServiceNow provides an AI platform for business transformation that connects an organization’s staff, processes, data, and devices.
ServiceNow's experience shows that redefining connectivity goes beyond just deploying AI or private 5G and that business transformation is crucial for enterprise IT. Ghose emphasized that visibility and adaptability are key parts in combining elements of multi-company collaborations.
Deepened partnerships like the one with Nvidia announced during MWC25 Barcelona focus on agentic AI, which Ghose argued is inextricably linked to the world of data and workflows.