In 2020, facing the huge challenge of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the Industrial Internet will provide important support for material security, supply and demand docking, and resumption of work and production. Statistics show that in 2019, the economic scale of my country's industrial Internet industry reached 2.1 trillion yuan, and more than 40 million industrial facilities have entered the industrial Internet platform. Industrial Internet has covered the main industrial sectors of the manufacturing industry, and has expanded to energy, transportation, medical and other fields. expand.
Due to the remarkable results of improving quality, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, the Industrial Internet is full of appeal to application companies. At the 2020 Zhongguancun Forum Future Youth Forum held in Beijing a few days ago, as an entrepreneur representative, Ronglianyun Communication CPO Xiong Xiegang accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China Economic Herald. This entrepreneur who has been exploring and practicing on the front line for a long time and has rich experience in the integration of communications and industrial applications analyzed the current situation and trend of the industrial Internet.
Ronglian Cloud Communications CPO Xiong Xiegang
The market is large and needs to be subdivided
Huang Qifan, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchange, said not long ago that if my country’s consumer Internet market is currently only able to accommodate a few trillion-level enterprises, then it is possible to accommodate dozens of hundreds of companies in the industrial Internet field. Large-scale innovative enterprise.
How big is the industrial Internet industry, including the industrial Internet? Xiong Xiegang told a reporter from China Economic Herald that the scale of China's industrial Internet market is large enough to accommodate enough innovative companies.
Under the overall huge judgment, "we still have to discuss the matter." Xiong Xiegang further stated that the industrial Internet covers a wide range of areas and needs to be subdivided during research.
Xiong Xiegang analyzed that the specific situations and entry points faced by industries undergoing digital transformation are different. For example, artificial intelligence emphasizes the application of computer vision technology in the manufacturing industry, while the financial industry emphasizes the understanding of natural language in the interaction with people.
"Differentiation", Xiong Xiegang uses this term to emphasize the application of technology in different scenarios in the digital process. He said that during the epidemic prevention and control period, in order to meet the requirements of safe production on site, real-time supervision of construction personnel's behavior, equipment operation process and equipment placement, etc., many companies including Ronglian used computer vision technology to achieve innovation. Similarly, such technology also plays a role in smart catering, fulfilling the need for safety supervision of bright kitchens and bright stoves.
Not only that, Xiong Xiegang believes that the same technology focuses on different applications in different fields and different business scenarios.
Xiong Xiegang told a reporter from the China Economic Herald that industry analysis should not be limited to observing technology, but should pay attention to the fragmentation and diversification of technological evolution. For example, 5G technology is not a single technological innovation, but will bring about the development of many related technologies, and will bring fundamental changes to the production process of manufacturing enterprises and other aspects.
Based on this analysis, Xiong Xiegang is very optimistic about the market prospects. "The key lies in the understanding of the status quo of the industry and the judgment of the future development trend of technology. Who can combine the two better and more landing, who can go faster in this market." He said.
Consumer Internet and Industrial Internet cannot be translated
"Consumer Internet and industrial Internet are difficult to translate. Good consumer Internet does not necessarily do well in industrial Internet ." Xiong Xiegang analyzed that China has many Internet giants in the consumer Internet field, relying on their funds, talents, etc. Resource advantage, already has a large number of user groups on their respective platforms. These Internet giants have first-mover advantages in the industrial Internet field.
However, Xiong Xiegang analyzes the Chinese market and believes that in many industries, regulatory policies and development processes have their own characteristics and have formed an industrial ecology. Companies that provide related services have been in it for many years and cannot be easily replaced by consumer Internet giants.
Xiong Xiegang said that the core driver of China's consumer Internet comes from e-commerce, and the background of its success stems from China's population base, urban structure, and housing patterns. Although China's industrial Internet started late, there is still a big gap between the level of technology application in agriculture and other fields and developed countries, but it can take advantage of the resource advantages of the consumer Internet, and the technologies and ideas accumulated over the long-term of the consumer Internet will also overlap in the industrial Internet field. Therefore, China’s industrial Internet is expected to surpass Germany, Japan and other major manufacturing countries in the fields of biology and medical treatment.
Xiong Xiegang has confidence and hope in innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises. He believes that the rapid development of any technology and the vigorous activity of any industry are difficult to achieve completely relying on the technical support of several giants, and can only rely on everyone to collect firewood.
At the same time, “from the development of finance, energy and other fields, it can be found that due to its professionalism and industry threshold, innovation often comes from within the industry or industry, rather than from outside.” Xiong Xiegang said.
A few years ago, Internet finance grew rapidly, and there was a view that financial companies might be eliminated by Internet companies, and there are endless debates about "financial Internet" and "Internet finance". Xiong Xiegang said that such disputes no longer exist. The essence of the development of the financial industry is to return to finance itself. Various technologies, as external scientific and technological forces, ultimately serve the core financial business . It is not difficult to find that the most advanced development of Internet is the financial enterprises represented by China Merchants Bank and Ping An Group, while it is almost impossible for Internet companies to become financial-led enterprises overnight.
The digital transformation process requires mutual understanding
The industrial Internet and the real economy are developing in a broader, deeper and higher level of integration. In the booming development, many application companies are also distressed by the industrial Internet transformation process-technology providers do not seem to really understand the characteristics of their industry or their own needs.
"What needs to be changed is the two parties. They cannot simply choose, but can only understand each other and cooperate in innovation." Xiong Xiegang believes that digital transformation is actually a process of adjusting original habits with external thinking. It is not scientific to simply judge whether a technology is appropriate or whether a process should be retained. In the digital transformation of enterprises, production and management methods need to be deeply integrated with Internet technology, and changes and sublimation are often achieved in a spiral manner.
"For enterprises to truly go digital, every link of the related industrial chain needs to be transformed in the direction of digitalization." Xiong Xiegang said, the more traditional industries should be like this.
Looking at it from another angle, Xiong Xiegang also put forward suggestions for service companies. If you simply use the logic from the consumer Internet 2C to transform traditional industries, then conflicts will inevitably arise due to different entry points and focuses. The consumer Internet is more accustomed to considering aspects such as marketing and customer acquisition, while traditional industries insist that production, manufacturing, research and development, logistics, and raw material procurement are the fundamentals. This also means that many industries with heavy production cannot copy Internet thinking.
In 2020, affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the downward pressure on my country's economy will increase, and many companies will also face challenges. At the same time, digital transformation has become a general trend, and the speed of transformation in all walks of life has accelerated. Should companies adopt a positive or wait-and-see attitude toward digital transformation? Xiong Xiegang's answer is: "A variety of factors in the enterprise must be considered."
Xiong Xiegang believes that, first of all, look at the scale of enterprises. Small and micro enterprises have weak anti-risk capabilities and are sensitive to changes in the external market environment. Therefore, they must first ensure their own survival. Large and medium enterprises have a solid foundation and have more funds and energy to invest in digital transformation. "In this incremental market, companies need to grasp the balance, on the one hand, aiming at future development and bold innovation, on the other hand, maintaining the current stability and healthy development." Secondly, look at the actual situation of the company. Previously, companies with a high level of informatization had the first-mover advantage in digital transformation, and the process was relatively easy.
For the future development of the industrial Internet, Xiong Xiegang emphasized the importance of talents. He said that the industrial Internet needs innovation and reform, and it needs a large number of talents who master technology and have a thorough and true understanding of the industry to integrate the essence of the Internet with the industry and finally land.