23 hours Ago By Michael Carroll
AI alone cannot solve every business process problem, with 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.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 (pictured, second from left), cautioned AI is not necessarily a panacea if the underlying data employed is incorrect, explaining this is the source of most problems when employing the technology.
“If your data is wrong, the algorithm is going to give you a bad answer.”“AI is not going to solve everything by itself”.Accessing quality data is why AltaGas embarked on an overhaul of its communications set up: it is a process Accenture MD and critical networks lead for its 5G and networks practice Kevin Kapich (pictured, far left) said provided an opportunity to work closely with AT&T and others to redefine connectivity and develop fresh innovations to help “support our critical infrastructure clients”.
Kapich said 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.The Accenture specialist emphasised collaboration is a key element and explained any overhaul must begin with understanding its client’s “pain point, the business case, the value case”, elements he explained are necessary “to plan a large transformation”. Kapich noted AltaGas’ staff were also a key consideration in terms of how it employed AI and 5G, with communication between people an important element and one which requires connectivity to bridge public and private networks.
Mobile and fibre foundationsHe explained 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.Margaret Rooney-McMillen, VP of ecosystem partner solutions at AT&T (pictured, second from right), said the US operator believes a broad ecosystem is needed to make AI and private 5G viable means of redefining connectivity.In this context, AT&T sees its role as about how it enables the ecosystem to work by providing mobile or fibre connectivity which can act as the foundation for services to run on.
She explained AT&T supplied AltaGas with a private 5G network which provides “seamless wireless connectivity throughout the entire facility”.This broad connectivity essentially freed AltaGas up to focus on the use cases, which Rooney-McMillen said included using “IoT sensors and devices”, along with creating “a digital worker experience”, which AT&T fulfilled “with ruggedised devices”.AT&T helped to identify areas of AltaGas’ operations requiring more, or less, digitalisation and is now going further with converged products which include security, the executive said.
“We think all of that will enable the next round of conversations around what can we do to hit those pain points” and provide customers with a network which “continues to evolve over time”.Getting the basics rightRomit Ghose, head of product, industry products, telecom and media with ServiceNow (pictured, far right), pointed to the need for commonality in collaborations, arguing his company is the junction where various industries meet.ServiceNow provides an AI platform for business transformation which connects an organisation’s staff, processes, data and devices.
In addition to working with AT&T, Accenture and AltaGas, Ghose noted it is overseeing a project for the US operator “to model billions” of its network elements, virtual network functions which enable it to deliver its 5G services to the market.Ghose said ServiceNow is “turning out to be this cross-ecosystem fabric that connects an AltaGas to an AT&T, not only to run their individual operations, but for them to exchange information”.ServiceNow’s experience to date shows redefining connectivity goes beyond just deploying AI or private 5G: Ghose said the business transformation element goes beyond enterprise IT itself.
“Of the 450 telcos out there which use ServiceNow, 76 per cent...
use us outside the core enterprise IT domain”.These operators are employing the services in field and customer operations, “network management, strategic portfolio management”.Ghose argued such visibility and adaptability are key parts in combining the various elements of multi-company collaborations: “you have this bird’s-eye view”.
The ServiceNow expert highlighted a deepened partnership with Nvidia announced during MWC25 Barcelona which focuses on agentic AI, though he argued this element is another which “cannot exist in isolation”, because it is “inextricably linked to the world of data and workflows”.“Zero touch autonomous operations is something we’re all seeking as the north star but it’s not going to be possible to do without the data and the workflows”.The post Feature: AT&T, Accenture reveal AI, private 5G challenges appeared first on Mobile World Live.
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