Future enterprises will all be data-driven enterprises

Recently, Wang Wenjing, Chairman and CEO of Yonyou Company, was the first to publicly propose: the application of new technologies gives enterprises the opportunity to move towards an ideal development model—a "data-driven enterprise." Why has data become the new driving force for enterprises? What are the characteristics of data-driven enterprises? How will the computing model of data-driven enterprises change in the future? Sohu IT had an in-depth conversation with Wang Wenjing on these questions.

Question 1: Why "data-driven enterprises"?

In the past, a frequently mentioned phrase in enterprise management was "let the numbers speak." In contrast, "data-driven" reflects its driving value. Data is driving the present and directly influencing the future. When an enterprise's operations are based on data-driven principles, it gains speed in this era, as well as more precise and personalized customer satisfaction and more personalized care for employees. Therefore, the development of global enterprises has entered a brand-new development model—a "data-driven enterprise."

Sohu IT: Under the trend of information consumption, Yonyou proposed the enterprise development model of "data-driven enterprises." What do you think will be the position and role of data in enterprises in the future?

Wang Wenjing: The future socio-economic environment will enter the era of information consumption, and data will become the new driving force for enterprise development in this new era. Therefore, future enterprises will all be "data-driven enterprises."

In the past, enterprise managers and employees hoped that the operation and management status of the enterprise could be explained by numbers. Today, every enterprise already has a large amount of data reflecting past business conditions, but the impact of "letting data speak" on enterprise operation and development still remains at explaining the past stage. For enterprise managers, they expect to use data to predict the future and guide decision-making.

Now, emerging internet companies have already changed. They are using consumer behavior data to drive product combinations, pricing, and marketing. These data even directly influence and determine product design and functions. In advanced manufacturing enterprises, the large amount of data generated by their automated equipment is driving inventory, production, and allocation. In the financial industry, many innovative securities companies are using transaction data changes occurring within microsecond timeframes to decide investment plans and thereby generate revenue.

Moreover, employee behavior has also undergone significant changes under the new model. For example, at Haier Group, because Haier has organized more than 80,000 employees into over 2,000 "self-managed units," each "self-managed unit" must calculate its own performance, and performance can be detailed down to each employee within each unit. These detailed and precise data enable performance management of each "self-managed unit," each department, and the entire enterprise, directly determining employee compensation and development.

It can be seen that data has fundamentally changed enterprise operations and management. More and more emerging enterprises are not only using data to explain the past but also directly driving the present through data analysis: driving enterprise production, operations, and various management behaviors.

Today, the leading edge of the "data-driven enterprise" model is occupied by globally successful internet companies. Whether Amazon, Google, or China's Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, a notable feature of their operating models is data-driven. However, this model will not remain limited to internet companies but will spread to all enterprises, regardless of industry or size. Future companies will be companies of data only. In other words, data-driven enterprises will become widespread because they represent a trend and model for future enterprise development.

Precisely because of the driving force data exhibits, data is becoming a new type of asset for enterprises. Data assets will be the fourth type of enterprise asset after financial assets, human assets, and intellectual property assets. Moreover, the value of data assets within enterprise assets will become increasingly important in the future.

Sohu IT: Why does Yonyou so prominently propose the "data-driven enterprise" model? What is Yonyou's starting point?

Wang Wenjing: Since Yonyou was founded in 1988 until this year, it has served Chinese enterprises for 25 years. During this process, we have truly felt the development of Chinese enterprises at each stage and the significant changes and impacts technology has brought to their development. The topic of "data-driven enterprises" is a concept we began discussing internally two years ago and proposed, though it was not publicly communicated. However, the company's product development over the past two years has been based on this concept, including the new three-year strategy proposed at the beginning of this year for "platform development and industry chain win-win," which is also based on this concept.

In the past, local IT enterprises mainly focused on product function development, paying less attention to market concepts and product ideas. In this regard, European and American IT enterprises have always been at the forefront. We believe that local IT enterprises have now reached a stage where concepts and products should advance simultaneously. This also reflects a change in the development model of local IT enterprises: previously, advanced concepts were first proposed by European and American companies, with local companies following and then building specific products and services based on these concepts. Today, local companies can propose their own concepts based on their research results and then promote the development of their products and services.

Question 2: What are the characteristics of data-driven enterprises?

In data-driven enterprises, the time dimension, granularity, coverage, and value of data will all undergo new changes. These changes directly lead to the birth of "data-driven enterprises" and also determine the future business model of enterprises.

Sohu IT: In your opinion, compared with traditional enterprises, what are the differences in data characteristics of data-driven enterprises? What changes will these differences bring to enterprises?

Wang Wenjing: Overall, under the data-driven enterprise model, there are four levels of differences in data characteristics compared to traditional enterprises:

First, the time dimension is more real-time. Previously, enterprise computing data was measured in years, months, or at most weeks. Today, the smallest time unit may be a day, then seconds, and then real-time. This allows enterprise managers to grasp real-time data at any time, which is of great value to enterprise operations and management.

Second, the granularity is more detailed. Previously, the smallest unit in enterprise computing might have been a department or a team, but today it can be as detailed as every behavior of each employee. In the past, customer data could only be refined to a region, product customer, or industry customer. Today, it can be detailed to every consumer's consumption behavior.

Third, the coverage is more universal. Nowadays, even a power outlet in a meeting room can become a computing object for the enterprise. Its status, service life, and other factors can all become enterprise computing objects.

Fourth, it is smarter in terms of value. In data-driven enterprises, data is intelligent and can automatically trigger many business actions, directly driving the operation and management of the enterprise.

Three questions: What impact will it have on enterprise computing?

Whether it is enterprise computing or enterprise informatization, both have gone through decades of development. Under the trend of data-driven enterprises, enterprise computing will undergo significant changes, not only in architecture but also in terminals, processes, and computing scope.

Sohu IT: Under the data-driven enterprise model, what changes do you think it will bring to enterprise computing and enterprise informatization?

Wang Wenjing: Under the background of data-driven enterprises, enterprise computing, or enterprise informatization, will undergo significant changes, mainly reflected in four aspects:

First, the computing core shifts from process-centered to data-centered. In the past, enterprise computing was process-centered, focusing on product functions. In the future, the focus will shift to data because processes can be changed, but data directly impacts and changes enterprise operations, production, and management. Data both expresses processes and can influence enterprises to change processes.

Second, computing terminals shift from PC terminal interfaces to mobile terminal interfaces. Generally, the more data an enterprise can obtain, the better. However, due to the high cost of obtaining data, enterprises have limited data. Today, with the development of mobile internet technology, data acquisition and transmission are much more convenient, which also causes enterprise computing terminal interfaces to shift from PC to mobile terminals.

Third, computing architecture shifts from B/S architecture to cloud computing architecture. B/S architecture has achieved a certain degree of centralization, but its computing architecture and model differ from today's cloud computing architecture and model. Cloud computing architecture not only significantly reduces enterprise computing costs but also builds a processing architecture that supports massive data, making it more suitable for data-driven enterprises.

Fourth, the computing scope shifts from enterprise-level to social-level. Initially, enterprise computing scope was at the job level, then department level, later enterprise level, and then supply chain level. Today, the scope has expanded to the social level, thanks to the development of network technology. The expansion allows enterprises to allocate resources globally and socially. Today's global procurement and global recruitment are examples of social-level enterprise computing applications.

Four questions: How does Yonyou respond to this trend?

In the future, Yonyou will strengthen business development and operations based on new technologies such as mobile internet and cloud computing to adapt to the development trend of "data-driven enterprises."

Sohu IT: How will Yonyou practice this new enterprise development model of "data-driven enterprises" in the future?

Wang Wenjing: As an industry-leading management software company, to support "data-driven enterprises," Yonyou itself must become a "data-driven enterprise." Currently, the company has made corresponding adjustments and preparations internally.

At the beginning of this year, Yonyou launched a new three-year business strategy of "Platform Development and Industry Chain Win-Win."

Among them, in platform development, the company has made significant progress on two major platforms: the private cloud platform UAP for medium and large enterprises and the public cloud platform CSP for small and micro enterprises. The latest UAP platform has made great progress and breakthroughs in mobile applications, data management, and cloud computing, meeting user needs in these emerging technologies; the number of CSP platform customers is also increasing this year. The new CSP platform is under intensive development and will be released early next year. Meanwhile, in industry chain win-win, Yonyou has made great breakthroughs in high-end professional service partners this year, focused on developing a batch of value-added service partners with strong professional service capabilities among mid-level solution partners, and the proportion of distribution business partners has also increased significantly.

In 2014, Yonyou will continue to promote the strategy of "Platform Development and Industry Chain Win-Win." In addition, Yonyou will increase efforts in new business development based on mobile applications and cloud computing, especially in operations, as this is crucial and indispensable for advancing "data-driven enterprises."

We believe that data-driven enterprises are like the digital revolution of electronic consumer products from analog, representing a new global transformation for enterprises!

Today, internet companies are already at the forefront. In the future, all other traditional enterprises will join this process. Whoever moves fastest and best will win the future development advantage because it represents the future model of enterprise development.