There is a joke recently: The first batch of people who made a lot of money from generative AI were neither R&D personnel nor major domestic manufacturers, but sellers of courses.
Everyone joked that in every new round of new technology, the first to get rich are those who deliver water and sell shovels.
This actually hides a general law of the information technology industry: a new type of new technology is like the upstream water flow, which is difficult to be directly applied to the downstream plains. Release technology dividends. Of course, this process is inseparable from the "water delivery man".
Today, I believe that no matter which line or industry you are in, you understand the value of digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading. The public's expectations and calls for the use of new technologies are getting higher and higher, and digital investment continues to usher in accelerated growth.
Among them, large-scale government enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises have relatively sufficient accumulation, actively explore digital experience, and can build canals and divert water by themselves, and have reached the deep-water area of digital transformation. In China, there are still a large number of small and micro enterprises such as restaurants, convenience stores, small clinics, hotels, and start-up companies. Limited by scale and talents, they urgently need to be nourished by digital capabilities. What should they do?
The distribution partner for the SME market is the digital "water delivery man".
During the Huawei China Partner Conference 2023, Huawei shared the latest partner cooperation policies and partner development plans, among which the distribution market was specifically mentioned.
In order to better meet the needs of the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises and support the business expansion of distribution partners, Huawei officially released a sub-brand for the distribution market - "Huawei Kunling", which provides easy-to-buy, easy-to-install, easy-to-maintain, easy-to-learn and easy-to-use Digital products, solutions, tools and services.
When the "water delivery man" grows up, what will happen to small and medium-sized enterprises, and what changes will they bring to digital transformation? It is worth thinking about at the critical moment of digital economic transformation.
Digital irrigation for SMEs
Where is the difficulty?
The topic of digital transformation should be no stranger to Chinese companies. But at many industry summits or solution conferences, we will see typical representatives of digital transformation, always a small number of industries in big cities, or leading companies.
If it is said that large-scale government and enterprises are the mountains of the digital world that carry the country's most important weapon; then the distribution market, facing tens of millions of small and medium-sized enterprises, is a digital wilderness.
Today, small and medium-sized enterprises have a strong demand for digital integration, but they lack the ability and energy to build canals and store water. The core demands of digital products and solutions are like tap water:
It is simple enough that you can use it by turning on the tap; it is easy enough that you don’t need to dig a well for maintenance; it is fresh enough that you can only use fresh and fresh water to be fresh and sweet.
However, for distribution partners, it is easy to encounter many obstacles in order to introduce digital water flow into the plains of the enterprise market:
1. Complicated to use. Many end users in the enterprise market are non-IT professionals. They may be the front desk of the hotel, the administrator of the office, the cashier of the convenience store, the finance of the start-up company, and the salesman who runs the market... What they hope most is that the product is easy to use and does not require too much effort. More learning costs, do not add too much burden to the work, easy to use. Many digital products on the market are cumbersome to operate and difficult to use, making it difficult to facilitate transactions.
2. Inefficient service. Many small and medium-sized enterprises do not have their own IT personnel, so equipment installation, maintenance, etc. generally need to be handled by engineering companies. However, there are a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and they are fragmented, so the corresponding service tasks are many and the pressure is high. Some engineering companies have limited manpower, and the service efficiency cannot keep up, which may cause complaints and affect word-of-mouth and income.
3. Overstock. There is an unspoken rule in the IT field: buy new and not old. Now ordinary users can also learn about new technologies and products from the Internet in a timely manner, and mention new functions such as AR/VR, AI painting, and intelligent voice dialogue. These new technologies have created new opportunities and market space, and also provided distributors posed no small challenge. Old products cannot keep up with market changes and cannot meet the needs of users, resulting in a backlog of inventory and a low turnover rate; when selling new products, how high is the market awareness, whether they are good to sell, how much inventory should be taken, and whether sales can keep up Demand, variable and large. Only by providing products that meet the latest needs of users can business be done easily.
Can the digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises only rely on distribution partners to "carry the shoulders" to "deliver water"?
A better way is to build a "pipeline" like a city's tap water network to transport digital water sources to distribution partners unimpeded to meet the digital needs of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Building industrial water conservancy infrastructure is a strenuous task, and Huawei is obliged to do so.
"Distribution River Network"
Huawei builds water conservancy facilities
In this partner meeting, we saw that Huawei attaches great importance to the distribution market, and has launched corresponding changes in the face of fragmented and complicated distribution business.
This change can be consistent with the image of the urban water network, and has the temperament of industrial infrastructure:
1. Easy.
The urban water network makes it easier for residents to use water. Can digitalization be as simple and easy as turning on the faucet? Huawei has created and distributed marketable "6 Easy" products to provide partners with convenient and easy-to-use digital products, solutions, tools, and services.
The so-called "6 Easy" refers to making distributors "easy to buy and sell". Huawei builds products for key scenarios in terms of appearance, function, and performance, and has the ability to quickly respond to the needs of the distribution market. With convincing products, it helps Distributors make good deals.
Let engineering companies "easy to install and easy to maintain", through simple hardware installation, convenient software debugging, intelligent operation and maintenance, etc., to reduce engineering service costs and improve service efficiency. For example, in the past, to help small and micro enterprises open office networks, engineering companies needed to purchase switches, gateways and other equipment in batches and multiple times, and then configure them one by one. Now there is an "all-in-one" gateway in the "6Easy" product And the Hummingbird suit can be purchased in one-stop at "Huawei Kunling". After scanning the code, it only takes six minutes to complete the distribution network, which improves the efficiency several times.
Let end users "easy to learn and use", reduce learning costs, improve user experience, and use digitization to speed up the development of enterprise business. In 2023, "Huawei Kunling" will release more than 70 competitive distribution proprietary products for SOHO office, hotel catering, commercial real estate, retail store, office security and other scenarios, including collaboration tablets, AI cameras and other smart terminals , IP and optical technology integration of wired and wireless connections, computing and storage IT platform, etc., to meet the various needs of the digitalization of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.
2. Efficient.
In 2023, there are more than 70 types of Luyi’s special distribution and marketable new products that will be launched in 2023. How to coordinate the purchase and management? Huawei has launched a one-stop platform for distribution business, Huawei Kunling.
On the one hand, distribution partners can use the unified "Huawei Kunling" brand to open up customer awareness and efficiently expand business in scenarios such as SOHO offices, hotels and restaurants, retail stores, and commercial real estate.
At the same time, Huawei Kunling integrates "transaction, empowerment, marketing, service, and partner operation" into one . Distribution partners can view all the information of Huawei's distributed products in one stop, avoiding the trouble of searching for various documents and documents, and Grasp new updates and inventory dynamics. In addition, the mobile terminal capability of Huawei Kunling APP has also become a good helper for distribution partners to attract customers, such as partner salons, marketing boards, scene-based distribution orders and other tools. Distributors can host meetings by themselves; mobile terminals are online anytime, anywhere, Configuration quotation and delivery operation and maintenance can be completed quickly.
3. Vitality.
Ask the canal how clear it is, because there is a source of flowing water. A dynamic distribution market must develop in an orderly manner. To this end, Huawei has done two things:
One is specification. In this partner conference, Huawei restructured the distribution transaction chain and partner system, developed gold medal and elite partners with real distribution capabilities, and built a solid downstream partner system. At the same time, build a complete distribution management system to ensure the order of the distribution market through clear rules and technical means; maintain a reasonable inventory level of distribution partners through visual purchase, sales and inventory management; stabilize the distribution price system by improving partner policies and digital platforms , to ensure the healthy and orderly development of business, and to ensure the rights and interests of distribution partners and market fairness.
The second is to promote vitality. Huawei previously released Distribution Policy 2.0, which introduced a more targeted incentive policy to drive orderly shipments of gold medals, increase the willingness of elites to place orders, and expand market coverage.
Simple, efficient, and dynamic, the distribution infrastructure built by Huawei pours out the water source of digital technology capabilities, products, and solutions. After the distribution partners and small and medium-sized enterprises draw water, what kind of digital future can they irrigate?
Digital fertile field
A new stage for partners and Huawei
There are no gaps, no obstacles, and the digital water source is continuously delivered to distribution partners and to tens of millions of small and medium-sized enterprises. What can we see? It can be inferred from several angles:
1. Breadth. Distribution partners are located in a large number of cities, counties, districts and towns, and penetrate into second- and third-tier cities and more cities. Huawei's technological integrity and advantages in the entire industry chain enable advanced, rich, and multi-level product needs to be met. This means that a wider range of Digitalization is happening.
2. Depth. The tens of millions of enterprise market is the "shortest distance" to reach users. Distribution partners introduce digitalization to small and medium-sized enterprises, just like tap water enters every home, which means that digitalization has reached the depths and seamlessly integrated into life.
3. Strength. If the potential of digital transformation is insufficient, the follow-up will be weak, resulting in waste of initial investment. Potential energy not only comes from the height of Huawei's technology, which has great value and scene penetration; it is also inseparable from the "secondary pressure" of distribution partners to push the digital water flow forward. Together with the distribution partners and Huawei's "6Easy" products, they have jointly strengthened the potential for digital transformation and provided small and medium-sized enterprises with momentum for advancement.
Through the "distribution river network" to irrigate the fertile soil of digitalization and moisten the vast enterprise wilderness, perhaps we will see digital flowers growing on every inch of land in the not-too-distant future.
There are majestic mountains, great rivers, fertile fields and thousands of miles of grass, all of which are intertwined into a beautiful digital China.
