Skip to main content

Teach the world, feed the world, save the world: Use cases for social good

Advancing the social impact agenda with next-generation cloud, broadband, and 5G infrastructure

As organizations embrace next-generation technologies to drive their social impact strategies, this article explores three use cases for social good: virtual learning, precision agriculture, and mobility infrastructure.

Technology for social impact

Social impact is an increasingly important business measure as companies look to become social enterprises.1 Organizations have a unique opportunity to use technology for social impact when adopting strategies that create social and business value—be it the ability to expand access to education, enhance food production, or create safer and more equitable cities and communities. While it may apply tremendous pressure on businesses and engineers to meet these social expectations, technologies like the cloud could help with the challenge. Innovative new infrastructure combinations2 that combine 5G, the edge, satellites, and other technologies with the cloud are coming together for transformative potential. In fact, in one of Deloitte’s recent surveys, more than 80% of executives surveyed said advanced connectivity is important to capitalize on advanced technologies (artificial intelligence or AI, edge computing, and data analytics).3 The question is, how to unlock the technology’s potential?

Making an impact: Teach the world, feed the world, save the world

When combined with other new and emerging technologies, cloud could arguably help social enterprises with several government, business, and social challenges (figure 1). 

Addressing these pressing social challenges requires architects4 to innovate in the real world in areas such as virtual learning and work, precision agriculture, and transportation mobility where the stakes are high and the need is real.

  • Virtual learning, digital education, and remote work—5G/4G/LTE mobile hot spots and improved broadband access plus cloud could help improve bandwidth and quickly power software and services.
  • Precision agriculture—5G plus cloud, the edge, satellites, and other technologies could unlock real-time data streaming and power intelligent edge/cloud computing networks.
  • Transportation and urban mobility—5G plus cloud and edge computing could transmit and compute data at high speeds to advance the future of autonomous vehicles and support connected transportation infrastructures, such as those used for waste management and carbon-emissions reduction.

Instant infrastructure access: Teach the world 

Before the global pandemic, organizations were reimagining digital education. Analysts expected the e‑learning market to grow from US$200 billion in 2019 to US$375 billion in 2026.5 Learning institutions were exploring digital education and ed-tech strategies that connected parents, teachers, peers, administrators, and mentors with the student across integrated, personalized, and continuous learning experiences.6 Universities were embracing digital platforms for hybrid-learning models combining on‑campus and online learning to drive skills, mentorship, and intern opportunities.7 In adolescent and secondary education (K-12), institutions had embraced digital solutions to create smart classrooms and parental-engagement apps for the youngest students, but not digital and remote learning.

The pandemic changed all of that. People across the globe were forced to embrace virtual learning almost instantaneously and at scale. Beyond the technical challenges, this change—inflection point, really—highlighted existing inequities related to high-speed internet access and collaboration tools. Both are essential for K-12 virtual learning, an enabler for diverse and personalized digital learning strategies across higher education, and a lifeline to remote work for recent graduates.  

In response to the pandemic and its effects, the government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which included roughly US$30 billion in education relief for states, K-12 schools, and higher-education institutions (including student grants).8 Telecommunications and technology providers donated money, discounted mobile hot spots, enabled cloud video solutions, and provided physical devices to students9 to support distance-learning and to standardize digital classrooms.10

Organizations with existing cloud-based platforms had an advantage when ramping up remote learning.11 By combining the cloud with wireless and wireline solutions, education institutions can better expand K-12 access to the roughly 3 million US students without a home internet connection12 and the 16.9 million children who lack high-speed home internet to support online learning13 (figure 2).

The long-term stakes are high if children are left behind. Early research related to remote learning during the pandemic shows disenfranchisement comes at a tremendous cost—a third of math progress can be lost, and low-income students are disproportionately affected.14

Ultimately, cloud and other network technologies can unlock internet access and allow for the instant access to software and services needed to teach the world, and:  

  • Transform learning—allowing students to gain improved virtual learning access, to create more standardized and repeatable educational experiences and to tailor personalized coursework
  • Deepen engagement—allowing learning institutions to create automated processes that track and increase student engagement and involve parents  
  • Innovate education—creating a digital education foundation on which to build in new experiences, such as gamified learning through videos and virtual reality 

Expanding the operating model beyond technology

There is no easy answer to rethinking the student, educational institution, and technology relationship. As described in The future(s) of public higher education,15 there are five potential models that can be considered for the future of public higher education. These are the Entrepreneurial University, Sharing University, Experiential University, Subscription University, and Partner University. These models can contribute to a vibrant, innovative, and efficient public higher education system.

Show more

Distributed computing: Feed the world

When speaking of Land O’Lakes’ 150 million acres of productive cropland, Beth Ford, president and CEO, said, “ … unreliable or nonexistent high-speed internet in rural areas keeps these [data-based, precision agriculture] tools out of reach for many … we will work to address this need and help farmers remain profitable and sustainable.”16

This sets the stage for smart agriculture tools. Smart agriculture was a US$11.45 billion business in 2018 and is expected to expand to US$30 billion by 2027 with increased focus on livestock monitoring, disease recognition, farm resource consumption, efficiency, and productivity.17 Agricultural robots make up US$6.5 billion of that industry and are driving innovation in field mapping, aerial data collection, planting and seeding operations, and more.18 The rise in the use of satellite data, agricultural IoT,19 and edge computing is giving technology a life-or-death role to play in agriculture. These tools are being used for monitoring and optimizing food sources and water supply, given rising populations and the risk of climate change.20

The US government has set up a US$9 billion fund for rural 5G coverage. Of this, at least US$1 billion is expected to be reserved for 5G to quickly collect and process satellite data to support precision agriculture21 with a focus on making farmland output more bountiful and profitable,22 and enabling “smart farming” that has the potential to create more than US$10 billion in business value in the United States alone.23

Taking it to the next level, by teaming cloud-native 5G networks and edge solutions with cloud storage and computing, enterprises can advance to more distributed computing. As a result, farmers can move from using reactive networks able to analyze limited data to intelligent edge computing across IoT and artificial intelligence services as well as back-end data analytics.24

Ultimately, cloud, IoT, edge, satellites, drones, wireless, and wireline technologies can come together to enable more data processing across the network, allowing farming organizations to:

  • Increase crop production: Farmers can use drones for landscape and insect imaging. They can use cloud-enabled analysis to identify pests and then perform precision crop-dusting strikes to deliver the right chemical mix to kill insects but leave the crops unharmed. This can help early mitigation of plant stress and optimized seeding, fertilizing, growing, harvesting, distribution, and lower farm carbon footprint.25
  • Preserve water to manage scarcity: By analyzing weather, drone, satellite, and other data to understand the moisture level of the soil, and adjusting watering, farmers can apply the right amount of water to individual zones and save 15% of the water on average.26
  • Improve the downstream supply chain: In the United States, farms contribute more than US$130 billion to the economy.27 However, between 30% and 40%—equating to US$161 billion—of food produced is wasted every year. Cloud-enabled big farming has the potential to reduce waste and improve margins across the supply chain from the farm to the store and then to the table. Several startups are looking at analytics for retailers to manage ordering based on past consumption and adjusting it based on dramatic changes to product consumption due to the global pandemic.28

Readings to consider related to the business case

For additional resources on precision agriculture strategies and technologies, see:

Show more

The short-term promise, however, is limited and technology strategies for social good could be better served by focusing on mobility infrastructure more broadly.

High speed/high throughput/low latency: Save the world

Perhaps one of the most exciting, yet illusive, social impact technology use cases is the autonomous vehicle that could save thousands of lives29 by using location, health, vehicle, weather, similar data, 5G, the edge, and the cloud to create safer and smarter experiences. Yes, the long-term potential is exciting. The short-term promise, however, is limited, and technology strategies for social good could be better served by focusing on mobility infrastructure more broadly. Deloitte’s Future of Mobility research has estimated that data traffic associated with mobility and transportation could grow to 9.4 exabytes every month by 2030,30 likely making the cloud a critical component to manage this type of infrastructure.

Urban mobility and transportation infrastructure powered by a network of the cloud, IoT, the edge, and wireless/wireline technologies can help across safety, emissions, congestion, convenience, access, and equity.31 To begin to imagine the potential for carbon reduction, for example, look at what just one US city was able to accomplish by implementing “smart” traffic signals. Not only did commuter travel time reduce, but the vehicle idle time dropped by more than one-third.32 The reduced idle time is significant, given that the transportation industry is the greatest contributor to carbon emissions at 28% with light-duty vehicles (59%) and medium- and heavy-duty trucks (23%) as the biggest contributors.33 Another city implemented a cloud-based command center to analyze data and insights across mobility, construction waste, and public safety across city resources used by 1.2 million tourists annually. It reduced energy cost by 20% and operational costs by 40%. Additionally, it saved 900,000 euros (roughly US$1 million) annually for waste management and 10%–27% in terms of mobility through an electrical vehicle-charging network across bikes, kiosks, buses, etc.34

These technologies have the potential to take mobility initiatives related to sustainability and public safety to the next level. Imagine being able to:

  • Create a virtual twin for a city to measure and manage adverse environmental impacts before they happen    
  • Simulate real-time “gaming” scenarios to advance peacekeeping initiatives 
  • Run risk scenarios related to catastrophic events, including everything from a major oil spill to a nuclear reactor malfunction 
  • Create safer and greener traffic management systems with connected wearables, cars, and surrounding infrastructures that save lives and reduce carbon emissions 

Making an impact: The cloud-carbon equation

In deciding technology-for-social-impact strategies that tap into the cloud, one consideration should be the cloud’s carbon footprint. Data centers are massive consumers of electricity—thought to currently account for 2% of total global consumption with the potential to rise to 8% by 2030.35 The technology, media, and telecom sector is facing pressure on energy efficiency and sustainability; 72% of organizations are starting to feel the pressure to demonstrate how their energy-management measures address climate-related risks, and 74% have raised their reduction targets.36

When moving to the cloud, aim for a zero-sum game that reduces the organization’s existing data center footprint. Shared cloud hardware can achieve 80%–90% improvement in energy consumption,37 raising 5%–15% hardware utilization in a physical data center to up to 80%–100% utilization in the cloud.38 This is possible when all of the hyperscalers are investing in their carbon neutral/negative strategies related to their cloud-enabled data centers and computing infrastructure. These strategies include a focus on data center energy efficiency, clean energy credits, use of recycled plastics, and more.39 For example, one cloud provider was able to reduce energy use by 40% (15% overall energy use) by using artificial intelligence to predict computational load and better manage data center cooling and performance optimization.40

The 5G/cloud potential: Beyond broadband

5G brings with it the promise of peak data speed, ultra low-latency, improved reliability, greater network capacity, high-definition mobile video streaming, distributed information networks, and more.41 When combined with cloud, edge, and other technologies, it can provide distinct opportunities to tap into a powerful infrastructure for social good. At the heart of many of these challenges is reliable wireline and wireless internet access that is hampering, for example, the nearly 11 million people (approximately 3.3% of the US population) who live in rural and “less urban” areas42 in broadband dead zones.43 These pressing social challenges require architects44 to innovate in the real world in areas like virtual learning and work, precision agriculture, and mobility. To manage the access challenge, the US government has had several initiatives focused on rural broadband and wireless connectivity including a US$9 billion 5G fund for rural connectivity,45 a US$137 million investment to bring high-speed internet to homes and businesses over the next decade,46 and a $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Nonetheless, new technology innovations provide a range of opportunities to find the right solution for a given scenario.

The 5G and cloud combination in particular is an exciting one for its ability to deliver:

  • Instant access—broader connectivity optionality for network access and dynamic, spectrum sharing on low bandwidth or via mmWave to power cloud applications.
  • Distributed data—infrastructure that takes advantage of unfettered real-time data streaming powered by 5G, edge, and cloud technologies that increases the ability to offload data from endpoint devices (IoT, etc.) to the cloud for greater computing power and the spatial web’s47 promise.
  • High speed/high throughput—faster data streaming and faster computing power enabling advanced ultra low-latency use cases.

When moving to the cloud, aim for a zero-sum game that reduces the organization’s existing data center footprint.

Looking ahead

As organizations look ahead to new, sustainable growth opportunities; inside to reconfigure and transform their operations; and around to leverage their business ecosystem,48 they should consider measuring the business value of the social impact.49 With cloud strategies, that starts with creating the business case, continues on to defining the technology strategy, and ends, hopefully, with a more sustainable business and world.

Deloitte Cloud Consulting Services

Cloud is more than a place, a journey, or a technology. It’s an opportunity to reimagine everything. It is the power to transform. It is a catalyst for continuous reinvention—and the pathway to help organizations confidently discover their possible and make it actual. Cloud is your pathway to possible.

Learn more

  1. Erica Volini et al., Introduction: The social enterprise at work: Paradox as a path forward , Deloitte Insights, May 15, 2020.

    View in Article
  2. Jason Killmeyer and Brenna Sniderman, “Navigating a new industrial infrastructure ,” MIT Sloan Management Review , January 31, 2019.

    View in Article
  3. Dan Littmann et al., Enterprises building their future with 5G and Wi-Fi 6: Deloitte’s Study of Advanced Wireless Adoption , Deloitte Insights, June 1, 2020.

    View in Article
  4. Dan Bieler et al., The CIO’s guide to 5G connectivity and strategy , Forrester, April 12, 2019.

    View in Article
  5. John Moore, “Remote learning technology emerges as top ed market focus ,” TechTarget, July 31, 2020.

    View in Article
  6. Preeta Banerjee and Gerald Belson, “Digital education 2.0: From content to connections ,” Deloitte Review 16, January 27, 2015.

    View in Article
  7. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011); Tiffany Fishman and Linsey Sledge, Reimagining higher education: How colleges, universities, businesses, and governments can prepare for a new age of lifelong learning , Deloitte University Press, May 22, 2014.

    View in Article
  8. Department of Education, United States of America: Office of Elementary & Secondary Education, “Education Stabilization Fund ,” accessed October 5, 2020.

    View in Article
  9. Carolina Milanesi, “Spotty broadband is robbing students of their education during COVID-19 ,” Fast Company , April 22, 2020.

    View in Article
  10. Learning Undefeated and AT&T, “AT&T and Learning Undefeated debut new STEM distance learning program for teachers & students learning online this school year ,” press release, July 21, 2020.

    View in Article
  11. Moore, “Remote learning technology emerges as top ed market focus .”

    View in Article
  12. Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, “Rural families without internet face tough choice on school ,” US News & World Report , August 14, 2020.

    View in Article
  13. Alliance for Excellent Education, Students of color caught in the homework gap, August 2020. 

    View in Article
  14. Dana Goldstein, “Research shows students falling months behind during virus disruptions ,” New York Times , June 5, 2020.

    View in Article
  15. Jeffrey Selingo, Cole Clark, and Dave Noone, The future(s) of public higher education , Deloitte Insights, October 23, 2018. 

    View in Article
  16. Microsoft, “Land O’Lakes and Microsoft form strategic alliance to pioneer new innovations in agriculture and support rural communities ,” press release, July 15, 2020.

    View in Article
  17. Research and Markets, “Global Smart Agriculture Market Outlook (2018 to 2027)—Featuring DeLaval, Deere & Company and BouMatic among others ,” press release, July 15, 2020.

    View in Article
  18. Wired Release and Reports and Data, “Agricultural robots market growth—CAGR of 24.1% 2020–2027 | Latest statistical report by Reports And Data ,” press release, July 24, 2020.

    View in Article
  19. Heather Hall, “Purdue University to collaborate in NSF-funded Engineering Research Center to develop the IoT for precision agriculture ,” R&D World , August 11, 2020.

    View in Article
  20. Valuates Reports, “Agriculture IoT market size is projected to reach USD 48,714 million by 2025 ,” press release, July 17, 2020.

    View in Article
  21. Christine Fisher, “FCC rolls out a $9 billion fund for rural 5G connectivity ,” Engadget, December 4, 2019.

    View in Article
  22. Michael Robin, “How to profit from precision farming data ,” Western Producer , July 16, 2020.

    View in Article
  23. Joe Mariani and Junko Kaji, “From dirt to data: The second green revolution and the Internet of Things ,” Deloitte Review 18, January 25, 2016.

    View in Article
  24. Intel, “Top use cases for 5G technology ,” accessed October 10, 2020.

    View in Article
  25. Deloitte Press Room, “The Internet of Things in the real world: Exploring IoT in transportation, agriculture, industry and more ,” podcast, posted September 27, 2017; Hewlett Packard Enterprise News Advisory, “HPE Center of Excellence enables farmers to increase crop yield, nutritional value and revenue ,” press release, June 8, 2020,

    View in Article
  26. Deloitte, “The Internet of Things in the real world .”

    View in Article
  27. US Department of Agriculture: Economic Research Service (USDA ERS), “Ag and food sectors and the economy ,” December 16, 2020

    View in Article
  28. Luke Dormehl, “The US wastes $161B worth of food every year. AI is helping us fix that ,” Yahoo Finance , August 2, 2020.

    View in Article
  29. Hope Reese, “How a connected motorcycle could save thousands of lives ,” TechRepublic , February 24, 2020.

    View in Article
  30. David Smud et al., Connecting the future of mobility: Reimagining the role of telecommunications in the new transportation ecosystem , Deloitte University Press, February 28, 2017.

    View in Article
  31. Scott Corwin, “Self-driving cars may never dominate … and that’s OK ,” Forbes , January 10, 2020.

    View in Article
  32. Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, “Pittsburgh’s smart traffic signal’s started at CMU ,” Carnegie Mellon University, 2018.

    View in Article
  33. United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Fast facts on transportation greenhouse gas emissions ,” accessed October 5, 2020.

    View in Article
  34. Deloitte, “A city sees what’s possible for its citizens and visitors with a cloud-based command center ,” accessed October 5, 2020.

    View in Article
  35. Verdict, “Environmental sustainability—the new cloud computing battleground ,” January 27, 2020.

    View in Article
  36. Marlene Motyka et al., Energy management: Paused by pandemic, but poised to prevail —Deloitte Resources 2020 Study, Deloitte Insights, July 8, 2020.

    View in Article
  37. Rob Bernard and Christian Belady, “Microsoft Cloud delivers when it comes to energy efficiency and carbon-emission reductions, study finds ,” Microsoft Corporate Blogs, May 17, 2018; Nat Sahlstrom, “Reducing carbon by moving to AWS ,” Amazon, November 26, 2019.

    View in Article
  38. Daniel Bizo, The carbon reduction opportunity of moving to Amazon Web Services , 451 Research, October 2019; Robert Huang and Eric Masanet, Data center IT efficiency measures , National Renewable Energy Laboratory, January 2015.

    View in Article
  39. India Block, “Microsoft teams up with Nike, Mercedes-Benz and Unilever to launch Transform to Net Zero initiative ,” Dezeen, July 27, 2020; Ruth Porat  “Alphabet issues sustainability bonds to support environmental and social initiatives ,” Alphabet, August 3, 2020; Amazon, “Sustainability in the cloud ,” accessed October 10, 2020.

    View in Article
  40. Adam Vaughan, “Google uses AI to cut data centre energy use by 15% ,” Guardian , July 20, 2016.

    View in Article
  41. Gartner, “Gartner survey reveals two-thirds of organizations intend to deploy 5G by 2020 ,” press release, December 18, 2018.

    View in Article
  42. USDA ERS, “Rural poverty & well-being ,” December 17, 2020.

    View in Article
  43. Future Ready Schools, Students of color caught in the homework gap ; John Kahan, “It’s time for a new approach for mapping broadband data to better serve Americans ,” Microsoft, April 8, 2019.

    View in Article
  44. Bieler et al., The CIO’s guide to 5G connectivity and strategy . 

    View in Article
  45. Alex Wyglinski, “Coronavirus shows how important 5G networking is ,” Hartford Courant , April 11, 2020.

    View in Article
  46. Tara Lachapelle, “5G won’t help rural Americans shelter in place ,” Bloomberg, March 23, 2020.

    View in Article
  47. Allan V. Cook et al., The Spatial Web and Web 3.0: What business leaders should know about the next era of computing , Deloitte Insights, July 21, 202.

    View in Article
  48. Sarah Kerrigan and Duleesha Kulasooriya, The sustainability transformation: Look ahead, look inside, and look around , Deloitte Insights, July 31, 2020.

    View in Article
  49. Rhonda Evans and Tony Siesfeld, Measuring the business value of corporate social impact: Beyond social value to enterprise performance , Deloitte Insights, July 31, 2020.

    View in Article

The authors would like to thank the following individuals for contributing their thoughts and ideas to this article: Brenna Sniderman, David Noon, Derek Pankratz, Suzanna Sanborn, and Kavita Saini. A special thanks to Jay Parekh for his research and analysis contributions.

Cover art: L.J Davids

Did you find this useful?

Thanks for your feedback

If you would like to help improve Deloitte.com further, please complete a 3-minute survey