In this paper, Fulcrum network codes are introduced as a viable solution to cope with the heterogeneity of 5G communication and storage systems. Fulcrum network codes are an enhancement of random linear network codes (RLNC) offering high throughput performance at low overhead. This contrasts with state of the art solutions that only offer a trade-off between performance and overhead. Additionally, Fulcrum network codes allow any communication or storage node to choose its decoding parameters, e.g., field size, based on their individual computational power or available energy. This means that a system using Fulcrum network codes will be able to perform a fluid allocation of complexity. We introduce the basic concept of Fulcrum network codes as well as a performance evaluation for basic network topologies demonstrating the abilities and potential of this new class of codes.