In recent years, the new generation of information technology represented by big data and artificial intelligence has developed rapidly, and the digital economy has become an important engine leading the global economic and social changes and promoting the high-quality development of China's economy. The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan proposes to "accelerate the construction of the digital economy, digital society and digital government, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and build an internationally competitive digital industrial cluster".
When the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy accelerates, various new technologies emerge in an endless stream, and the business pattern changes rapidly, how can enterprises quickly improve their digital capabilities and business response capabilities, and continue to improve their core competitiveness? How can digital tools promote the high-quality development of enterprises and continue to create value for the industry ecosystem? And in the era of "digitalization of everything", how can enterprises make good use of digital tools and more actively practice social responsibility? In response to these problems, CBN interviewed Zhang Song, general manager of thoughtworks China, at the 2021 thoughtworks live conference.
Zhang Song, General Manager of Thoughtworks China
With more than 20 years of experience in the software and consulting industry, Song Zhang is a pioneer in thoughtworks' Business in China, and under his leadership, ThoughtWorks has grown rapidly in China, with team members growing to more than 2,000 people. Zhang Song told CBN that as a global software and technology consulting company, they bring together passionate software elites who are committed to making a positive impact on the technology community, global business and Chinese society, while accompanying customers to solve business challenges by learning, creating and disseminating knowledge and technology excellence.
Digital transformation, forging the core competitiveness of enterprises
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is reshaping the world and industrial form, and will have a profound impact on the economy, culture, society and ecosystem. Grasping the pulse of the times and recognizing the direction of progress is particularly important for enterprises.
In recent years, thoughtworks has cooperated with leading enterprises in many industries and gained a lot of valuable experience. Zhang Song said: "Through cross-border vision and insight, we help traditional enterprises find priorities on the road of digital transformation, and then combine the actual situations of different industries and different companies to create a differentiated and customized digital transformation solution."
Relying on long-term experience design and engineering capabilities, thoughtworks helps enterprises establish core teams, build a design collaboration platform covering the whole life cycle user experience, provide planning consulting services, and finely select benchmarking projects. It was then rolled out in the enterprise, ultimately achieving the success of the entire digital transformation.
Fan Yuanheng, co-president and chief experience officer of Fosun Intelligent Technology Business Group, shared at the 2021 thoughtworks live conference that digital experience has become the key to the success or failure of enterprises, and multi-industry groups like Fosun should establish core teams, build design collaboration platforms and consulting services covering the whole life cycle user experience, select benchmarking projects, quickly form a closed loop, achieve results, and then roll out in the enterprise, which is more conducive to the digital transformation success of the entire group. From 2020 to 2021, Fosun's budget investment in digitalization has increased by 25%. The goal for 2022 is to grow by another 30% on this year's base, which means that there will be about 5 billion yuan invested in digitalization.
"We believe that customers are the core of innovation, and customers' business is the fertile soil for innovation," Zhang Song told CBN that thoughtworks' digital experience gained in different customers and different industries helps more customers open their perspectives and enhance their capabilities.
Digital technology is "leapfrogging" with an eye to the sustainable growth of businesses
Xiao Ran, general manager of innovation at thoughtworks China, said at the 2021 thoughtworks live conference that the state strongly supports the digital economy from the policy level, and the digital aspirations of mankind are unprecedentedly strong. At the same time, because technological change is leapfrogging and infinitely continuous, businesses are anxious about how to achieve digital convergence.
ThoughtWorks global digital transformation expert Xiao Ran
For the phenomenon of "digital anxiety", Zhang Song said that enterprises should have a correct understanding of "digitalization", accurately choose the digital transformation direction that suits the characteristics of the enterprise, and firmly move forward to establish the concept of long-term sustainable development, so as to avoid anxiety.
"We've found that many companies always want to be big and complete when defining their digital strategies, and each dimension must meet a standard to do a good job of digitalization." In our eyes, each enterprise is in its historical stage and business context is unique", Zhang Song said, the company's own advantages and resources are the future differentiation characteristics, need to give priority to the design of digital product strategies.
In the operation of a truly digital product, the product is constantly feedback and iteration according to the response of the consumer and the market, not just a project. Zhang Song said: "How to create a work of art like a craftsman, to create the digital products of the enterprise is very important, and from the perspective of talent attraction, how to respect engineers, so that engineers in the organization's platform to maximize the wisdom and enthusiasm, is also a very important support for digitalization." Thoughtworks uses product thinking to build the digital team of traditional large-scale organizations, thereby changing the thinking and ability of the existing technical team of the enterprise, creating an internal and external ecology of the enterprise, so that the digital capabilities of the enterprise can be more active and smooth in the ecology, and generate greater value.
"We do these things with our customers for years," Zhang Song told CBN that digital convergence is a continuous, uninterrupted change, because the world is changing, so we must constantly update ourselves. Especially in the post-PANDEMIC era, digitalization plays a more important role in the field of sustainability. How to improve the efficiency of enterprise operation, while enhancing the emotional bond between people, enhancing the trust relationship between employees, enterprises, and even people and society, this is what our company is trying and innovating.
Pay attention to social issues and let science and technology fairly enter thousands of households
In order to solve some social issues and promote social progress with scientific and technological means and business models, 2021 thoughtworks live continues the tradition of arranging innovation workshops on specific topics, organizing "Information Empowerment, Walking with 'Obstacles'" workshops, focusing on the needs of "obstacle" people in the digital age.
The workshop invited business executives, public welfare people, visually impaired partners, etc. to collide their minds, and through barrier-free interactive mini-games, group exploration, etc., they worked together to provide barrier-free optimization suggestions to help visually impaired partners gradually bridge the digital divide, break the "barriers", and achieve a more equal and convenient future life. The guests who participated in the workshop deeply experienced the charm of "design thinking" and the convenience brought by the online collaboration tool beeart.
2021 Thoughtworks Live Workshop: Business executives experience the accessibility of mobile phones to take photos
When the principle of user-centricity and experience first in the digital age is highly respected, the needs of mainstream users are constantly being met, while the voices of "obstacle" crowds are almost drowned in the digital torrent. Zhang Song told First Finance: "We hope to arouse people's attention to social issues through the form of workshops, and then let everyone think about how to use scientific and technological means and business models to help solve social issues."
When technology and digitalization have penetrated every aspect of everyone's work and life, the feelings of relatively "technologically disadvantaged" people such as the disabled and the elderly are gradually ignored. How to let this part of the population enjoy the benefits and convenience brought by technological innovations such as digitization and mobile Internet is a better future that requires more enterprises, industries and the whole society to work hard.
epilogue
At present, the promotion of the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy has risen to the national strategy, the government is innovating formats and models through the application of IT technology, empowering many industries, and a good policy atmosphere and technical environment have brought new opportunities for enterprises. If we can actively embrace digitalization and grasp the new business ecology of information, strategy and win-win results, we can take the aircraft carrier of "digital integration" and sail into a wider ocean.