How to combine data applications, the latest data technologies with scenarios, and apply them to practical situations to bring long-term value to enterprises is the greatest value of digitalization, "said Zhang Chengkang, Chairman of SiE Information.
On December 18th, Southern Metropolis Daily reported that the main forum of the 2020 China Enterprise Digital Summit and SiE Information User Conference, with the theme of "scenario driven digital intelligent enterprises", was held in Shunde, Foshan. The conference featured keywords such as "scene" and "digitization", with over 800 corporate executives attending. On the same day, Zhang Chengkang shared the theme of "Building a Digitally Intelligent Enterprise Driven by Scenes".
Simple digital tools to evaluate new business opportunities
In Zhang Chengkang's view, digitization is not mysterious. Returning to its roots, using Schumpeter's perspective, it is a new combination, and changes are all new combinations. Data-driven resources will constantly permeate various industrial chains and every corner of traditional enterprises through various forms, generating countless new scenarios and combinations.
For example, during the pandemic, online education, online work, and so on have generated many "new combinations".
He gave several examples. The first one was a questionnaire, which used to be distributed to various road points for collection. However, a company did online research on children's sunscreen products in third to fifth tier cities, and used platforms such as Tiktok and Taobao to let users feedback their feelings, purchase intentions and other information. It took only one week to complete more than 3000 samples.
The second example involves user design, where a host interacts in real-time online with 100 store employees and consumers across the country to obtain ideas for different elements to combine and design product prototypes. In the past, many designs were created behind closed doors, and design and market were separated. Designers had to visit 10 stores, which took a very long time; Now, by designing the problem on the same day and targeting 100 employees, we can collide with the creativity of the product prototype.
A very simple digital tool has greatly changed the traditional way of market research. Through data-driven methods, it has achieved the evaluation of business opportunities, optimization of new product content, feedback on brand business, and even activated private domain traffic.
Informatization places more emphasis on processes, while digitization considers connectivity
As an industry veteran, Zhang Chengkang has also undergone a transformation from informatization to digitization.
Zhang Chengkang gave an example: an entrepreneur reported that ERP, which he had used for over 10 years before, was not very effective. As the boss, he couldn't see much data, and his role was nothing more than producing reports. But when building a digital factory, he purchased a lot of automation equipment. It was only when he had to connect the data and equipment that the entrepreneur realized that if he hadn't built an ERP system before, building a digital factory now would be just a matter of paper, Originally, this device could also be accessed from ERP, suppliers could also access data, and some equipment data could also be accessed from here. Warehouse data and procurement data could all be accessed from there, which was something he had never expected.
Zhang Chengkang analyzed that previously, when enterprises were using ERP systems, they talked about how to solve problems such as process, cost, and efficiency. However, in the digital age, more attention was paid to how to connect, how to connect, how to create new ways with user value, and how to achieve benefits in scenarios.
More than 20 years ago, Zhang Chengkang entered this industry and the enterprise information system mainly consists of two major systems: MRP2 (Manufacturing Resource Planning) and OA. Nowadays, the frontend may face user layers such as collaborative office, digital marketing, digital supply chain, and personalized customization.
He believes that many enterprises build information systems in a chimney like manner, and in the future, the central platform will become increasingly important. Currently, the integration of business and data into the central platform is an important means for large enterprises to build information and data in recent years, that is, how to utilize the power of middleware to provide a standardized technical platform for microservices.
There are also some technologies, such as ERP, HR, finance and other control systems, that will combine many new data technologies in their solutions, including big data, artificial intelligence, cloud services, the Internet of Things, etc., to drive the development of future intelligence and digital intelligence. This is also an investment opportunity for IT in the next five years.
From process transformation to the implementation of "unmanned factory" planning
How to help enterprises enhance the value of digitization? Zhang Chengkang believes that how to discover new scenarios, utilize new technologies, and integrate new organizational ecosystems.
SiE divides the scenes into "small scenes", "medium scenes", and "large scenes", and implements corresponding technologies and solutions by measuring the "scenes".
Accurately identify and understand the pain points and needs of core business scenarios such as enterprise production and decision-making in small scenarios, helping them quickly obtain digital transformation opportunities and backend solutions; The medium scenario fully utilizes new generation information technologies such as 5G, intelligent manufacturing, industrial internet, and big data, through business surveys, to gain insight and discover future business problems, improve enterprise operational and marketing decision-making efficiency, and make business decisions more scientific; The large-scale scenario represented by unmanned factories, through human-machine collaboration in manufacturing processes and the application of new technologies, forms a highly automated mass production based on "human-machine electrical software integration", compressing production costs and reducing personnel dependence.
SiE is moving towards the planning and implementation of a transformation from a single process to the entire 'unmanned factory'. Zhang Chengkang found that these customers are also very concerned about building unmanned chemical plants.
Among SiE's customers, there is a company called Mengna Socks Industry. The boss's ambition is to become the world's largest sock making enterprise, but due to the epidemic, many orders are about to be lost at first sight. Foreign customers came to inspect, and the original plan was not to purchase as much. However, seeing that Mengna Socks Industry has a very high level of automation and digitization, the foreign customers recognized that the boss of Mengna Socks Industry has ideas and immediately placed orders for 300 million pairs of socks.
Many customers are willing to collaborate with companies with ideas for the long term, "commented Zhang Chengkang.
The benefits that digitalization brings to enterprises go far beyond this. Zhang Chengkang introduced that this company is about to build a second factory in Jiangxi. Originally, a worker could only view 3 sets of equipment, but now they can simultaneously view 20 sets of equipment, saving 80 million yuan in annual labor costs per person.
From a cost perspective, Zhang Chengkang proposed a "scissors difference principle", which means that in the future, labor costs will become higher and lower, while automation and informatization costs will become lower.
Through the application of AI vision, problems can also be detected in a timely manner, and there have been changes in scheduling, efficiency, and other aspects. Now, this enterprise's efficiency has increased by 30%. "Zhang Chengkang said that digitization brings a dual effect of cost reduction and efficiency increase to the enterprise.
At present, SiE's customers in Chengdu are in the manufacturing industry, and Zhang Chengkang hopes that the manufacturing industry can also achieve rapid iteration. In the past two years, SiE's product upgrades have been very fast, and it is now version 8.0. Basically, there is an iteration every six months. "We hope that our productization will become stronger, reduce a lot of development, and become more product-based, customer-centric, scenario driven, and empower every data-driven transformation.
Reporter: Gao Xiaoping
