Fa Da Huang Xiang: Looking at the opportunities for the digital and intelligent upgrading of Chinese enterprises from the stones of other mountains

Huang Xiang

This article was submitted by Huang Xiang, founder and CEO of Fada, and participated in the list/award selection of "2024 Pioneers of China's Digital and Intelligent Transformation and Upgrading" jointly launched by Data Ape and Shanghai Big Data Alliance.

With the rapid development of AI, cloud computing, big data and other technologies, digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading has become the consensus of global enterprises. In the new era of competition, the degree of digital intelligence of enterprises has also become the key to enhance competitiveness and achieve sustainable development, and Chinese enterprises are standing on the cusp of this transformation.

As a service provider that provides digital intelligence products and solutions for enterprises, while serving customers, we are also exploring the digital and intelligent upgrade path of enterprise development, and have accumulated some superficial feelings.

Digital intelligence is the absolute "number one" project, which should start from strategic design

Looking at the trajectory of global enterprises exploring digital intelligence, it is not difficult to find many stones from other mountains that are worth learning from, and one of the special points that needs to be paid attention to is to plan for digital intelligence upgrading from the strategic design level. Enterprises that have successfully carried out digital transformation and upgrading abroad often have clear strategic goals and roadmaps. The digital strategy design of these enterprises not only focuses on the application of technology, but also includes the adjustment of organizational structure, the cultivation of corporate culture, the optimization of customer experience and the innovation of business processes, which are designed from the top-level strategy. Through the design and implementation of these strategic dimensions, companies can improve efficiency, reduce costs, enhance innovation capabilities, and maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In this process, the top management of the enterprise, especially the top decision-makers such as the CEO or chairman, need to be deeply involved in order to effectively allocate resources, guide organizational changes, achieve cross-departmental collaboration, and fully carry out risk management and control, so as to play a key role in leadership and promotion. Therefore, the digital intelligence project of the enterprise is an absolute "first-in-command" project. When we had an internal meeting, a colleague joked that the digital and intelligent upgrade of all companies is a "big problem", but as long as the boss pays attention, it is not difficult.

Taking Nestle, a customer of Fada, as an example, as a world-renowned food and beverage manufacturer, the digital and intelligent strategic design of this century-old enterprise has attracted much attention. Since Nestlé launched its "Vision2Life" strategy, it has developed four priorities for its transformation strategy, including: bringing value to those who embrace IT services; Operate as a single global IT team with local expertise; Connect product management with business stakeholders; and make IT a technology differentiator. The selection and implementation of these priorities all require the deep involvement of senior management and even the CEO or chairman of the board of directors to allow everyone in the purchasing, manufacturing, sales and marketing departments to participate in the company's transformation process, and ultimately achieve their upgrading goals of improving product innovation, production capacity and product availability, and reducing costs. Fada is also fortunate to participate in the transformation and upgrading process of Nestle, and through electronic signing, Nestlé has effectively improved the efficiency of contracting.

For the CEO or chairman, the digital and intelligent upgrade of the enterprise is a job that must not be faked by others, let alone hiring a well-known organization or professional team from the outside to make everything right. Many CEOs I know are "anxious" when talking about the process of upgrading their digital intelligence. However, only the top leaders are deeply involved, down into the details, and even to the extent of "dropping off a layer of skin", so that the digital and intelligent transformation of the enterprise can have visible output, rather than staying in the false prosperity state of concept, packaging, and PPT reporting results. To a certain extent, truly participating in the project of digital intelligence upgrading and transformation is also a "compulsory course" for CEOs.

Opportunities for Chinese enterprises to upgrade their digital intelligence

The wave of digital intelligence has swept in, and under the vigorous upgrading of the "revolution" momentum of large manufacturers, many enterprises even have "change anxiety", as if in the practice of digital intelligence, there is also a "chain of contempt": large companies compete in fancy competition, and small enterprises watch and applaud. Many small and medium-sized enterprises may feel that their resources are limited and they are afraid to try digital transformation lightly. However, digital and intelligent upgrading is by no means a "game" for large enterprises, but an inevitable choice for all enterprises to adapt to the digital economy, and it also provides many opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.

It is no exaggeration to say that all enterprises are already standing on the cusp of digital intelligence. "The wind rises at the end of Qingping, and the waves become between the waves", China's large number of small and medium-sized enterprises is precisely an important force for digital and intelligent upgrading. Thanks to the increasing maturity of technology, the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises to carry out digital intelligence construction is not as high as before, especially the launch of various SaaS products, so that enterprises can achieve "out-of-the-box" digital intelligence practice attempts. Like the electronic signature product provided by Fada, through the SaaS model, enterprises only need to register an account to complete the digital signing of scenarios including sales, procurement, personnel and so on. At present, Fada has also served tens of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, allowing more enterprises to use digital and intelligent tools efficiently and conveniently with lightweight applications.

In addition, the localization of software and the wave of "information innovation" have also brought great benefits to the digital and intelligent exploration of small and medium-sized enterprises. Domestic software vendors are more familiar with the business processes and needs of local enterprises, and can provide customized services and technical solutions that are more in line with the actual needs of enterprises. Moreover, domestic software is usually more cost-effective, which can effectively reduce the expenditure of enterprises on the procurement and maintenance of digital and intelligent products. Fada is also a new force that actively responds to the national information innovation strategy, and has realized the adaptation of full-stack products to the domestic information innovation ecology, contributing to the process of software localization.

When it comes to "digital intelligence", the application of new technologies is indispensable. It is foreseeable that the exploration journey of Chinese enterprises' digital and intelligent upgrading will be an important "test field" for the large-scale and in-depth application of new technologies such as AI. China is the world's second largest economy, with a vast territory and diversified business forms, which provides fertile soil for the application of new technologies. In this process, more talents will also be cultivated and reserved for Chinese enterprises. And along with Chinese enterprises going overseas, it will also send talents for digital and intelligent construction to Southeast Asia and other countries, so that the label of Chinese enterprises will be refreshed from "Made in China" to "Created in China".

Three thoughts on the "Pathfinder".

Fada has been focusing on e-signature SaaS services for nearly 10 years, and has witnessed the whole process of Chinese enterprises moving from embracing the mobile Internet to digital and intelligent upgrading. Like many of our peers, as a "pathfinder" in China's SaaS industry, we have agilely adjusted our product direction in response to the ever-changing market and customer needs in order to provide customers with better digital and intelligent tools and services. As mentioned earlier, there are many opportunities for Chinese enterprises to practice digital intelligence, but it is precisely because of these opportunities that it has brought more tests and challenges to service providers like us. The large number of Chinese enterprises, complex business formats, and diverse needs, and standardized products are difficult to meet the needs of different enterprises, which also makes SaaS products face severe customer mental education problems in the initial stage. Fada currently serves more than 4,000 industry benchmark customers, has built the industry's most extensive in-depth ecological cooperation network, and spares no effort to provide customers with safer and more reliable digital and intelligent contract management products and services. To summarize the experience of a service provider, there are mainly the following three points:

First of all, it is necessary to "know how to do it". As a product and solution service provider, we must understand the customer's industry and the business of the demand department, so that it is possible to "prescribe the right medicine" and make it possible to truly maximize the value of our products.

Secondly, abandoning all "flowers" and "packaging" and returning to the value of the product itself is the way out for China's SaaS industry. No matter how cool the concept is, no matter how grand the blueprint for the future is, it is not really enough to solve the problem. Especially in the current market environment, only when the product truly brings real and quantifiable value to customers is the foundation of the foothold.

Finally, focus on "quality growth" rather than "growth", and focus on "lining" rather than "false prosperity". Do not try to do a big and complete business for any product, make customer choices prudently, and strategically give up some customers, which is also an important category of strategy implementation.

In the tide of digitalization, we are ushering in a historic opportunity for transformation and upgrading. As a witness of the times, we are also the trendsetters of this change, and the revolutionary stage of digital intelligence will be more exciting because of Chinese enterprises.

Brief introduction of the declarant "Huang Xiang":

Huang Xiang, founder and CEO of Fada, EMBA of Xiamen University, serial entrepreneur in the legal and technology industry, has served as a partner of a well-known domestic law firm, founded Fada in 2014, focusing on SaaS model electronic signature services, through the innovative combination of Internet technology and legal business, to promote the application of electronic signatures in major domestic enterprises and institutions and government affairs scenarios, and has become a leader in the domestic electronic signature industry. In 2019, it received nearly RMB 400 million in Series C financing from Tencent and Tiger Global Fund, and in 2021, it received nearly RMB 900 million in Series D financing led by Tencent.

Fada

A safe and efficient electronic contract intelligent signing and management platform, committed to providing enterprises, governments and individuals with electronic contract and electronic document signing and management services based on legal digital signature technology. The main products and services include: contract template, contract editing, intelligent review, contract signing, evidence storage, certificate issuance, and online judicial appraisal and lawyer services are integrated.

★ The above opinion articles submitted by Huang Xiang will eventually compete for the list/award of "2024 Pioneers of China's Digital Intelligence Transformation and Upgrading" jointly launched by Data Ape and Shanghai Big Data Alliance.

The list will finally be announced for the first time at the "2024 Enterprise Digital Intelligence Transformation and Upgrading Development Forum - and AI Large Model Trend Forum" held in Beijing on July 24, and an award ceremony will be held