An engineer operates intelligent robots while performing maintenance work on high-speed railway locomotives in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Feb 2, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
Chinese enterprises are accelerating their digitalization efforts in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and embracing new ways of doing business powered by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data, said entrepreneurs and experts.
After the huge disruptions caused by the pandemic, a growing number of companies are looking to embrace a new mindset to shape a better future in the digital age, according to a report released by global professional service firm Accenture.
"In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies across the globe made rapid digital transformations, accelerating their journeys to the future," the report said.
The report showed cloud spending in the first quarter of 2020 was nearly triple that of the previous year, and by November, 70 percent of companies using cloud services had plans to increase spending due to pandemic-related disruptions.
According to the report, 86 percent of executives agreed their organization must train staff to think like technicians－to use and customize technological solutions at the individual level, but without highly technical skills－a key move for companies to make their employees a core part of their digital transformation efforts.
"Embracing digital transformation, companies need to transform business models, people and operations," said Linda Zhang, partner-in-charge of Heidrick & Struggles' Shanghai office. "Powered by advanced digital technology solutions, it will help better analyze business data to produce innovations, have a better understanding of the market, increase productivity, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
"After the COVID-19 outbreak, people realize that digitalization is an irreversible trend. During the pandemic-stricken 2020, lots of companies were forced to press ahead. As most have their digital transformations underway, digitalization is being introduced not only at the customer-facing front-end, but also at the back-office internal management."
In fact, Zhang has found demand for IT and data talent has been increasing amid the coronavirus pandemic as a growing number of companies started building their own data teams and data centers.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is shaping new kinds of production, consumption and operating models. And people are more and more aware that emerging technologies such as the internet and cloud will help improve the overall business and work modes," Zhang said. "Looking ahead, I believe companies will continue to invest more in IT and digitalization."
Zhang added that the gap between supply and demand for top digital talent means companies need to have a better understanding of today's much-needed skills and qualities and then take appropriate steps.
"Top digital talent must have sharp market insight and forward-thinking states of mind. They should actively embrace changes and be able to handle coordination problems and have better cooperation with all sides. Moreover, they must be very sensitive to data and have the capabilities to analyze data and make decisions," Zhang said. "In the future, most Chinese corporate executives will be required to acquire data capabilities."
After years of development, China has made considerable progress in spurring the development of the digital economy.
With the booming internet, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other emerging technologies, the digital economy is gradually becoming the integral driving force for economic growth, said a white paper published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
According to the report, 86 percent of executives agreed their organization must train staff to think like technicians－to use and customize technological solutions at the individual level, but without highly technical skills－a key move for companies to make their employees a core part of their digital transformation efforts
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According to the paper, the added value of China's digital economy reached 35.8 trillion yuan (US$5.46 trillion) in 2019, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the country's GDP.
The country has pledged to further speed up digitalization to create new strengths for the digital economy, develop the digital industry, transform traditional industries with digital technologies and pursue the Digital China Initiative, according to the outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035.
By 2025, the added value of China's core industries in the digital economy is set to occupy 10 percent of the total GDP, up from 7.8 percent in 2020, according to the outline.
This year, the first of the current planning period, China has vowed to continue to use the Internet Plus model to promote integrated development of online and offline businesses in more fields and create new forms and models of business, Premier Li Keqiang said in March when delivering the 2021 Government Work Report at the opening of the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress.
More efforts will also be made to further develop the industrial internet, while the development of 5G networks and 1000M fiber optic networks will be stepped up and their application will be extended to more settings, according to the report.
Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of 360 Security Group, said digitalization will play a key role in China's post-pandemic reconstruction and economic recovery.
In fact, the coronavirus epidemic has made the world more digital, prompting a growing number of people to work and study from home, buy groceries online and stay in touch with others via video.
"After the pandemic, the digital economy will see a wide range of application scenarios. Governments and enterprises are taking digitalization as key strategy for the next five to 10 years," Zhou said.
Citing China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), Zhou said the digital economy has become an important driving force for high-quality and innovation-driven development.
"Looking ahead, I see huge growth potential in China's future digitalization. In the next five to 10 years, all enterprises may need to transform themselves into digital companies, or they may gradually phase out."
Lily Ma, head of Nutanix in China, said the company has witnessed business opportunities in the growing demand for digital transformation and new infrastructure construction in China.
"China has pledged fresh efforts in advancing the construction of new infrastructure projects, including next generation information networks and expanded 5G applications, which will offer new growth opportunities for us in the local market," Ma said.
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A new report released by US-based cloud computing company Nutanix showed Chinese enterprises are speeding up their digitalization efforts and actively shifting their IT systems to the cloud in the aftermath of COVID-19.
According to the report, 62 percent of Chinese respondents said they have increased their investment in hybrid clouds as a direct result of the pandemic, compared with 46 percent globally.
Only 11 percent of Chinese respondents reported using traditional non-cloud enabled data centers exclusively in 2020, compared with 55 percent in 2019. Nearly 90 percent agree that an integrated mix of public and private cloud data centers is the ideal architecture for their companies.
"China is leading the world in economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19. The government has made a strategic decision to foster a new dual-circulation development pattern, which focuses on the domestic market as the country's economic mainstay, with domestic and foreign markets complementing each other," Ma said.
Ma spoke highly of China's accelerated efforts to enhance and upgrade the national IT infrastructure, saying it will help provide a resilient and reliable modern platform that helps rebuild today and repel the threats of tomorrow.
"China has taken the bold step to fully embrace the cloud and cloud infrastructure," Ma added. "It's up to all of us now, to ensure we optimize it for China and its businesses."