How can small and medium-sized enterprises escape the vicious cycle of digital transformation?

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At 2:28 a.m. on March 14, a 4.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in the waters of Huidong County, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province. That night, the earthquake was felt in Shenzhen, dozens of kilometers away.

Wang Xingdong, who had not yet fallen asleep, also noticed it. After a brief surprise, a more worrying question came to his mind: Can employees be paid next month? The factory has already lost 4 months. Wang Xingdong is not an exception. The small and medium-sized enterprises they represent are a contradictory group. More than 50% of tax revenue, more than 60% of GDP, more than 70% of technological innovation, more than 80% of urban labor employment, and more than 90% of the number of enterprises. As the basic foundation of the national economy, small and medium-sized enterprises themselves are small in size, but they form an army with strong potential.

This plate is big enough, but also fragile. The violent wind of digitalization, repeated epidemics, and changes in the international situation. Any variable will leave this group in the wind and rain, wandering alone. In the past 2022 National Two Sessions and the "Government Work Report" in recent years, small and medium-sized enterprises are all One of the key points. Digitalization and intelligence are a must-go, but for small and medium-sized enterprises, this road is close at hand but far away.

1 The vicious cycle of small and medium-sized enterprises

in the world Under the wave of digital and intelligent transformation, most small and medium-sized enterprises are trapped in a vicious cycle. Let’s look at some data first. Data from the Fourth National Economic Census show that 89% of enterprises in China are in the exploration stage of digital transformation, and have only conducted digital exploration in core links such as design, production, logistics, sales, and services; 8% of enterprises are in the implementation stage of digital transformation. , digitally transform core equipment and business data; only 3% of small and medium-sized enterprises are in the in-depth application stage of digital transformation. In other words, there are very few small and medium-sized enterprises that truly embrace digitalization. If you really look down to thousands of companies, you will find that "few" is just an appearance. In terms of digitalization and intelligence, most small and medium-sized enterprises have the "four no's" problem: "unwilling, unable, unable, and afraid".

• Unwilling to transfer

##Firstly Lack of awareness. Tan Zhang, general manager of Lanzhuo, said that industrial digitalization has two cores: asset digitalization and data capitalization. Whether it is digital integration of assets or treating data as means of production, most small and medium-sized enterprises currently lack awareness, and the problem of not understanding data is particularly prominent. "Why should the equipment be equipped with sensors? Why is this solution now and the focus will be changed in the next stage? They may have no idea about the application of data." Wang Zijun said.

#The second is business inertia. It’s not that we don’t understand the benefits of transformation and upgrading, but right now, it’s not necessary. Chinese manufacturing companies have become accustomed to the extensive model of the past few decades. Do they want to grow? The first reaction of enterprises is mostly to increase investment, expand factories and recruit workers. Wang Zijun told Leifeng.com that many bosses of small and medium-sized enterprises are also sales, and sales thinking dominates, rather than manufacturing thinking. Compared to a major transformation, stacking people up is more straightforward and easier. The problem of transformation is actually a human problem.

• Can’t transfer, won’t transfer

Rather than saying "can't", it is more appropriate to say "feeling powerless". No funds, no technology, no talent, these problems have been talked about for a long time, but they are indeed the most prominent. "Small and medium-sized enterprises first face a problem when doing digital transformation. The foundation of enterprise automation is weak. According to traditional digital transformation practices, equipment needs to be transformed. The investment in these hardware transformations will be very large. . Transformation costs are high, the cycle is long, and the threshold is high. We are solving these problems now." Tan Zhang said.

In many factories today, the infrastructure such as IT systems and OT systems are old, and even the most basic informatization may not have been completed. In the most basic data collection process, there is no automation and standardization as a prerequisite. , it is extremely difficult to promote streamlined manufacturing and industrial management prediction with industrial big data. When the market environment goes down and the boat is swaying in the storm, there is not much to worry about. The first demand of small, medium and micro enterprises will be: to survive. The trend of the industrial Internet has indeed made some companies feel hot, and some with a slightly better foundation are eager to try.

#But some either follow the trend rashly out of anxiety, or are pushed forward. You must know that in all digital transformation, the enterprise itself is the main body, and without knowing why, it is like hitting cotton with a heavy punch. Fii Chief Data Officer Liu Zongchang mentioned that digitalization is not just an investment and introduction of technology, it is not just a pilot project to solve individual pain points, but more importantly Acquisition of abilities. But most businesses don’t realize this.

"Some companies invested money to connect to the industrial Internet, but after a year and a half, it was gone and it was useless, and the money invested was also lost. The result is that the value of data cannot be tapped, and the significance of platform optimization marginal benefits and cost savings cannot be reflected.

Don’t dare to transfer
Industrial Internet is still in its infancy in China, and both Party A and Party B are in a state of apprenticeship.

There are many successful cases of large enterprises in the industry, but even in the same industry, the basics are different, and the one used by large companies may not be suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. If you go into the pond first without any reference, no one knows whether it is a big fish or glass slag. This is probably the sentiment of many small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, digital transformation not only requires upfront investment, but it is also difficult to produce results in the short term. #Taking the value of data as an example, it is often a process of "hindsight".

The benefit cycle of industrial Internet projects ranges from 3 years to 5 years, which is difficult to match the 1-2 year business planning cycle of small and medium-sized enterprises. It can range from injuries to muscles and bones, with no recovery of particles; to severe injuries, the operation fails and the patient burps directly. The expected cost reduction and efficiency increase are too uncertain. Small businesses without money and technology are reluctant to do "waste work" and cannot withstand the hassle. In short, some companies are blocked by a certain link, and some companies are all blocked. Small and medium-sized enterprises have poor ability to resist risks, low technical level, shortage of funds and talents, rising labor prices and repeated epidemics. They are the first to be affected. The result of transformation is worse competitiveness, and the result is a vicious circle.

2

Why do small and medium-sized enterprises have to overcome the hurdles? ? In the early days of the industry, when the successful cases of transformation of leaders in various industries enjoyed public praise in public, small and medium-sized enterprises were rarely the focus.

There are 3.8 million industrial enterprises in China. Except for 380,000 regulated enterprises, the others are all small and medium-sized enterprises. The large-scale promotion of the industrial Internet must not be just a solo act of large enterprises. From a national level, small and medium-sized enterprises are an important dimension in stabilizing employment and people's livelihood. #From a market and technical perspective, the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises is definitely underestimated.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the hotbeds of innovation. Xu Shaoyong, the product manager of Black Lake Intelligent Manufacturing, summarized the characteristics of small, medium and micro enterprises:

1. Big changes and high requirements for flexibility. Most of them rely on large factories. As a supplier, they need to constantly meet upstream changes. The market they are in changes very rapidly and requires high requirements for the ability to respond quickly to demand. Small B companies do not transform once every six months. Rare. This is most evident in the field of clothing. Take Chinese cross-border e-commerce giant SHEIN as an example. Its supply chain enterprise is generally a factory with about a hundred people. It tests the market in small batches and becomes a mass production model after popular products. In this context, excellent capabilities may allow a small and micro enterprise to quickly grow from a factory with a dozen people to a medium-sized enterprise with hundreds of people in two years. Correspondingly, the management model, Business models and business scale will change.

#2. Emphasis on experience, simplicity and ease of use is the biggest appeal; emphasis on cost, more orders is the primary goal. Xu Shaoyong said that the implementation cycle of small and medium-sized enterprises is short and can basically be completed within 1-2 weeks. The first is full employee training (the cultural level of front-line operators is not high); the second is rapid training. It can be completed within 1-2 days, and has high requirements on the applicability of the product and the training system. Third, the training system should be simple, the platform functions should be clearly explained, and the system should be easy to use and easy to get started. Xu Shaoyong emphasized that Xiao B pays great attention to costs and benefits. "If there is no benefit, it will stop halfway."

3. The technical logic is the simplest and the threshold is relatively low. Small and medium-sized enterprises are not like the G-side, which is all-inclusive, unlike the big B-side, which has high technical barriers, and unlike the C-side, which can conquer the world with one move, but small and medium-sized enterprises The technical logic is the simplest. Small businesses do not need a large and comprehensive package, but a precise, standardized and menu-based transformation plan. What do these characteristics mean?

The Industrial Internet will reconstruct the industrial ecology, often starting from low-end manufacturing and regional economies. Innovation often occurs in areas with the lowest technical difficulty and greatest value. place.

#This opinion from industry expert Guo Zhaohui may be able to answer this question. Emphasis on experience and cost, the solution must be simple and easy to use, flexibly perceive user needs and iterate quickly, and the technical threshold is not high. To meet these characteristics at the same time, innovative technology implementation methods are needed , payment model, reduce implementation costs, improve customer experience, and the solution is simple and easy to use, which makes it easy to promote on a large scale, and countless innovations will be born from this.

# Small and medium-sized enterprises have a kind of inclusive effect of the times. Looking at the common characteristics of the first three industrial revolutions: machine labor replaced manual labor, and social productivity was greatly improved. Now that the fourth industrial revolution is about to usher in the era of intelligence, machines will replace physical strength, and machines will replace mental strength. Pay attention to a keyword: replace. What is replacement? Substitute one thing for another. To achieve this, it is inseparable from "widespread and large-scale" application.

The symbols of the first three industrial revolutions are:The widespread use of steam engines, the widespread use of electricity and internal combustion engines , the widespread application of information technology. To realize the real Industry 4.0 revolution, it is the "widespread" application of digitalization and intelligence in the entire industry. And this relies on 3.8 million industrial enterprises, especially small, medium and micro enterprises. The needs of small, medium and micro enterprises are fragmented, scattered, small in size and revenue, but large in number and wide in scope. The market is like a capillary and has a strong cumulative effect of scale. It is becoming an important weight for the industrial Internet to come to the forefront. More importantly, they represent market-driven forces other than national policies.

When market drive becomes dominant, various mobile industrial applications, endless innovations and services will also follow. The industry nature/characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises have the genes of the platform economy. The charm of the platform economy lies in condensing resources and restructuring the upstream, middle and downstream organizations of the traditional economic chain into a circular chain surrounding the platform. The platform bends the originally lengthy industrial chain into a ring. B-end users directly reach C-end users through the platform, and every link saved improves industrial efficiency. Industrial Internet companies need such a platform economy, and small, medium and micro enterprises also have this potential.

3 What is the logic behind small and medium-sized enterprises?

#The reason why there are large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises is the contradiction between standardization and customization, scale market and profit model. The leading large-scale enterprises focus on projects, with a high degree of customization. The projects are unique, one-time and irreversible. This 1 1 addition model of making money makes everyone Every project requires redoubled investment in human and financial development, and the cost has also risen sharply. The company can make money, but is tired of making money. Standardization, or replicability, is a basic feature of modern industry.

# If the solution is highly versatile, it is highly replicable and can adapt to the needs of different manufacturers at the same time, thereby diluting R&D costs and improving efficiency through economies of scale. , also represents to a certain extent how much profit space the supplier can have. At the same time, the high unity of product architecture is also conducive to strengthening the unified management of product quality and ensuring stability, reliability and controllability. The degree of fragmentation and customization in the industrial field is at the top of the pyramid. Each vertical field has a large number of sub-categories and a long industrial chain. The technical logic is the simplest. It favors ecological and business management systems, and most of them are general and scenario-based basic businesses.

Tan Zhang, general manager of Lanzhuo, told Leifeng.com that we must first distinguish the characteristics of large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. The number of leading companies in the industry is small, customized and fragmented, emphasizing the thickness and depth of platform functions and the completeness of covering business domains. There are a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the functions emphasize lightweight, standardization, breadth and rapid replicability. This determines that large enterprises are the main source of industry knowledge, and small and medium-sized enterprises are the core channel for standardization and scale.

#In other words, small and medium-sized enterprises are particularly suitable for the digital reconstruction of industrial clusters through the industrial Internet. Once the share of generalization becomes larger and larger, demand promotes ecology, and ecology promotes platforms, a platform economy can be born. Therefore, the model of reintegrating industries through the industrial Internet platform is particularly suitable for the upgrading of regional characteristic industrial clusters. The industrial product industry chain behind the small and medium-sized enterprise business involves non-standard links such as design, construction, and acceptance. It is not a transaction-based, circulation-based or social-based platform as commonly understood .

#The industrial Internet platform takes the strengths of the platform economy and makes up for the shortcomings of the industrial product industry chain. Platform enterprises have projects, tools, and funds. They need products and solutions from ISV ​​groups, as well as regional agents/service providers to meet the localization and community needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. oriented and grid-based operation services. Regional agents/service providers have fragmented coverage capabilities and localization advantages, fast response, wide network of resources, service efficiency and quality, but lack of digital capabilities and need underlying technical support .

If there is a form (ecology) of non-strong business connection, in which personalized needs are handed over to developers and service providers, and the service providers develop the market, 3. The four-level agents are sinking down to form low-cost, high-efficiency, and high-quality teams. Platform companies stand behind them to provide technology, tools, and marketing support, which is a win-win approach.

When supply and demand form a closed loop, linking the demand side and service providers, and then integrating into the platform to realize the procurement, purchase, sales, and pre-sales and after-sales one-stop services of the industry chain, it is formed It has solved the closed loop of the industrial Internet that we have in mind. It not only has the effect of integrating industry chain partners, but also has the effect of revitalizing and expanding the ecology.

4 How do industrial Internet companies do it?

#How can small and medium-sized enterprises form rapid templates using industrial Internet applications? Tan Zhang, general manager of Zhejiang Lanzhuo, has built three model platforms based on different market entities and characteristics. First, focus on leading enterprises to build a chain-owner networked manufacturing collaboration platform to drive the digitalization of upstream and downstream enterprises. The first is to focus on regions and build an industrial chain collaboration and sharing platform for the industrial brain/industrial brain model. For example, in a certain area in Zhejiang, which mainly produces fasteners, a quality inspection center and quality traceability system shared by small and medium-sized enterprises have been built around the district and county level.

#The first is to focus on vertical industries and build an industry cloud platform, government service provider model platform. In areas or industries where small and medium-sized enterprises gather, industrial software service providers have gradually grown into small vertical industrial Internet platforms. Most of these service providers have been deeply involved in a certain industry for 20 years. They can solve corporate problems in the early stage. They are small in scale and lack human and financial resources to invest in digital technology. "For some companies that are doing very well in vertical fields, the entire company may have less than 100 people including hardware, software, development, and engineering services." Lanzhuo provides a standardized large platform and an operating system base for small platforms in traditional industries to meet the problem of insufficient scalability and ultimately empower small and medium-sized enterprises.

# Small, medium and micro enterprises are the latter two. Lanzhuo reduces costs through regional industrial cluster coverage. "Only a few companies will definitely lose money, and the business model cannot be sustained. It must be oriented to a group of companies. For example, if hundreds or thousands of companies of the same type gather in one place, costs can be shared. Tan Zhang said. The reason why small and medium-sized enterprises can pass regional coverage is determined by the geographical distribution characteristics of China's industry. Leading enterprises in various industries are scattered across the country, but small and medium-sized enterprises have the characteristics of regional industrial aggregation. For example, the industries in a certain city's districts and counties may mostly be auto parts, cosmetics, luggage, etc. , producing the same products, their production processes and management processes are similar, and their digital needs are relatively similar.

Set an industry benchmark in the early stage, invest heavily in typical common functions of the industry, develop APPs for specific regions and industries in the mid-term, and implement standardization for enterprises in the later stage. "Small and medium-sized enterprises do not need the heavy and complete functions of leading enterprises. The management level is basically order-production planning-inventory-logistics. The process is relatively simplified, and the solutions of large enterprises can satisfy The digital needs of 70%-80%/core links of small and medium-sized enterprises."The functions required by small and medium-sized enterprises are relatively simple, with customized modules/optional menus through universal solutions.

Based on the area, we conducted a large number of thorough surveys and cross-examination to discover common needs and basic functions. "The commonality is similar to the base of a car, and the interior decoration is optional." Tan Zhang emphasized that the core of this model's true implementation The goal is to find out how to implement industry commonalities and rapid standardization. Of course, the industrial Internet platform technology, platform thickness, functional richness, low-code development capabilities, ecological richness, operational incubation capabilities, as well as business pricing strategies, service strategies, etc. are also very important. important. This model is actually the consensus in the industry. Huawei Cloud strives to reduce the time and cost required to achieve personalization on the basis of a standardized platform. Therefore, by making thick and solid standard components of the Industrial Internet, business developers from thousands of industries can Quickly develop the personalized industrial applications you need in a low-code or no-code Lego style.

There are also companies that do not seek to be big but comprehensive, but only strive for refinement and specialization. Based on technological genes, we take root in one place, take every step steadily, and keep pace with the invisible champions who specialize in new technologies. General industrial Internet companies have accumulated and accumulated, enriched solutions, and vertical industrial Internet companies have deepened and specialized, and developed unique skills. Subdivided application companies mainly use general-purpose SaaS products, which have a high degree of standardization and are easier to scale in terms of customer numbers and revenue scale. This type of product corresponds to the common needs of enterprises. The product is highly versatile, has a short deployment cycle, and can be quickly launched at customers. For example, Black Lake Intelligent Manufacturing directly benchmarks the MES system, directly provides customers with productized SaaS applications, and provides digital products for collaborative production in all aspects of the factory.

In view of the lack of understanding and poor foundation of small, medium and micro enterprises, Black Lake has adopted a phased transformation. The first step is to start from the work order and visualize the production execution. Little B is cost-sensitive and needs to see value as quickly as possible. Work orders serve as the main line, connecting important information about the entire production process from the consumption of manufacturing resources to the final output of finished products. By replacing offline paper document circulation with work orders, collecting on-site data in real time, and generating one-click production reports, factories can perceive immediate changes. and then continue to deepen into all aspects of the factory. For example, in view of the fact that most of the bosses of Little B are sales-oriented, Black Lake Work Order has a "mobile first" feature. The progress and prompts of all work orders can be checked on the mobile phone, and the system can also be used to know what employees are concerned about.

#The second step is to coordinate the upstream and downstream industries. According to the different needs of different industries, combine with the industrial Internet platform. Share through links or QR codes, allowing customers to grasp the production progress, quality inspection information and other work order execution status in real time, effectively avoiding information flow obstacles, saving communication costs, and increasing customer confidence in the company trust and enhance the efficiency of collaboration between manufacturers and upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain. XCMG Hanyun also agrees with the model of "large enterprises take the lead in innovation, and small and medium-sized enterprises follow the innovation".

Based on products and innovative technologies, XCMG Hanyun has set its sights on talent training that most companies ignore. They believe that the biggest restriction on the industrial Internet is currently One of the problems is the shortage of comprehensive talents. It is reported that XCMG Hanyun is the first domestic 1x training and evaluation organization unit in the field of industrial Internet. and other institutions to build industrial Internet industry colleges, such as "Industrial Internet Implementation and Operation and Maintenance" pilot colleges. There are currently 143 pilot colleges nationwide.

5 Conclusion Of course, the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises does not need to be so simple.

Cost factors, product standardization, and user experience are all important. It must be low-cost, easy to implement, low threshold, and suitable for large-scale promotion. Industry standards, common standards for industrial data interaction, platform standards, APP standards, and component microservices. The user side of industrial enterprises needs changes in consumption habits. From one-time buyouts of products and services to annual fees and subscription models, from insisting on privatized deployment to accepting online models, all are scale conditions required for transformation.

At the legislative level, the legal issues and technical means of data transactions, data sharing, data traceability, data security, and data confirmation are improved. Let the value of the industrial Internet truly benefit small and medium-sized enterprises, and this needs to be jointly promoted from the government level, enterprise level, and platform level. The “14th Five-Year Plan for Digital Economic Development” issued by the State Council proposes that the industrial Internet penetration rate will be 14.7% in 2020, and the document requires that it reach 45% by 2025. %, tripled.

This is the country’s expectation that “workers” will become successful, and it is also a forecast based on foreseeable economic planning. This is a signal from the country to start large-scale application, and it is ready to snowball.

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