Devott Perspectives: Enterprise-Service Platform Development Becomes Irresistible Trend
Source: Chnsourcing.com.cn View: 259 Date: 2015-09-25

No matter you admit it or not, various consumption service platforms and enterprise-service platforms have born and rapidly developed. Enterprise-service market also stands at the eve of explosion; it will become the next threshold after consumption service platform, and quietly becomes new key point focused by investment institutions. With further the deepening of emerging technologies into quantum-level market and implementation of applications, it will produce much more value for platforms in segmentation markets; therefore, platformization also will be one of important ways for enterprises themselves to transform and develop creatively.

- Chen Juan, the Senior Advisor of Devott

In information era, wide location and application of new generation of information technologies including big data, cloud computer, and mobile internet thoroughly subvert and rebuild modern social and economic structure; meanwhile, gathering, processing and transportation of information on cloud also shortens industrial chain and effectively accomplishes connection of demands and supply, which makes planned & higher efficient & strongly reusable production come true. Not only traditional industrial chain system and development model will be rebuilt and flat developed depending on information telecommunication technologies on internet, innovative business models formed by connection of social resources based on fragmentation with demands via emerging technologies need more potentials and wider market spaces to outbreak. In this change, professional third-party platforms have played leading and threshold functions of exploring users’ demands, cultivating consumption behaviors, integrating fragmented resources, constructing rules and standards. Devott believes that with emerging technologies further permeating into quantum-level market and implementation of applications, it will play much more value for segmentation market; therefore, platform development will become one of important ways for enterprises themselves to transform and to develop creatively.

The nature of platform means to integrate all sectors from multi-business value chains then to become the indispensable part or the best chosen part of these businesses. The value system made by partly sectors of value chain is a platform. The essence of platform is that more services will be grafted on one of core products that seen as platform. Therefore, under promotion of information technology and internet, internet platform or mobile internet platform are gradually becoming basic tool in people’s life and work.

In consumption market, people can call their own cars via Didi, Kuaidi, Dida, Uber or other taxi software platform when go to work on the morning, and never worry about delay because of traffic jam. During lunch time, people also can order lunch only via Ele.me, 3foodz.com, Meituan Waimai, Dianping.com, diaojia.com.cn to enjoy different foods from different places including Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and the northeast, Japan and even Europe and America. After work, people also can go happy with friends and easily accomplish AA change via Wechat Lucky Money, Wechat Transfer, Transfer of Zhifubao and etc.. If you don’t have time to go shopping when work overtime at weekend or meet customers or participate in team activity with children or even to enjoy nature and sunshine with parents, you also can achieve anything you need including pots and pans, daily necessaries, home appliance and furniture, clothes and books from some platforms such as JD, Taobao, Dangdang, Amazon, Suning and Guomei. Internet platform and mobile internet platform can be found anywhere in our lives just like sunshine. Therefore, the life way of whole society is changing “quality”.

Similar with above this, in enterprise-service market, platform development also accomplishes implementation in many functions including selling management, customer service, talent management, customer relationship management, fiscal affairs, data service, safety management, logistics management, office collaboration. Enterprise account of Wechat helps enterprises to accomplish lightweight mobile collaborated office via its own platform; service account of Wechat helps enterprises to promote and advertise brand, customer service and experiences via its own platform. Jingoal.com, the enterprise work platform based on SaaS model provides collaborated office service across platform for enterprises and employees; lagou.com subverts headhunters to accomplish timely communication between enterprises and job seekers via internet; JoinForce builds O2O production way of IT service via internet that provides better life for IT service personnel; WildDog with same goal of releasing programmers builds a service platform for hardware developers and provides timely application service for enterprises; yiyebang.com based on pain point “limited marketing resources & difficult achieve new users” of enterprises, helps brands of enterprises to find cross-over marketing cooperated partners via internet platform; Miaozhen system constructs an ecosystem of third-party digital marketing technologies and provides a platform service with the third-part marketing technology for enterprises. Liantuo finance provides “one-stop” internet financial services including collection, payment, loan, management, security, and profit for each new enterprise via “Zhangdaitong Fund Management Platform” and forms credit document for enterprises. Sobot builds the first one of intelligent customer service in global that will be online forever; as “the pioneer of information safety cloud delivery mode”, NSFOCUS with positioning of “enterprise-network safety solution providers” is accomplishing transformation from selling products, selling services to be a “platform”. The form of platform is changing enterprise-service market that makes enterprises to use external resources, technologies or talent to create abundant and multi products or service. With further overall popularization and upgrading development of internet and information telecommunication technologies, enterprises-services in China will enter into overall information era; and enterprises-service platform development will also become next threshold that will be one of core force to promote industrial upgrading and economic transformation development in China.

No matter you admit or not, each consumption service platform and enterprise-service platform have born and rapidly developed. Enterprise-service market also stands at the eve of exploration; enterprise-service will become the next threshold after consumption service platform that is quietly becoming new important point focused by investment institutions. According to the data from ITjuzi.com, in 2014 there were 230 investments of national enterprise-service; compared with 67 investments in 2013, the growth reached 243%. However, the average amount of each investment order in 2015 is higher than the amount in 2014. Until the end of July of 2015, there has been more than 10 SaaS entrepreneurship enterprises those achieved venture investment with B round or above; the financing amount exceeded 200 million USD. Among them, jingoal, Beisen, OneAPM, Xiaoshouyi, fxiaoke, easemob and other entrepreneurship enterprises have achieved financing with then million USD or more. According to data from MatrixPartners China, in 2014, there was one entrepreneurship enterprise with hundred million in field of ToB in China; however, the number has exceeded 10 in 2015. It can be expected that until 2018, enterprise-service market in China will appear the first batch of unicorn companies with valuation of more than 1 billion USD.

However, different from application for consumers, businesses in enterprise-service field are more complicated. Xie Zhihua, the senior vice president of Yongyou sees enterprise information and internet (enterprise-service platform) as a circle; ERP is a perfect half-circle, and another half one needs relatively high individual degree that only depends on opening platform to integrate ERP with other systems, and internet technologies then to form a perfect circle of enterprise-service. In this process, internet enterprises, information technological software enterprises and traditional enterprises will become main driving forces for platform of enterprise-services. Internet enterprises have advantages in aspects of flowing integration and information promotion that can rapidly gather enterprise-customers but lack of enterprise service experiences in developing platform. To build a professional platform is a big bottleneck, for example of enterprise account of Wechat and Baidu Zhitongche, they can rapidly touch enterprise service to gather enterprises’ users at certain size but still need to develop service content and depth. Information technological software enterprises and service outsourcing enterprises have abundant enterprise information service products and experiences, and can provide relatively accurate services to meet enterprises’ demands; however lack of power and propagation speed internet enterprises need and be platform with relatively low speed because of being restricted by traditional development thinking. For example, Yongyou, Oracle, SAP, Inspur and other big companies have built each enterprise-management software platform; however, the R & D of enterprise management software platform will be more difficult. Enterprise-transformation platform of traditional enterprises can make industrial resource accumulated for many years come true and increase their value; however, transformation platform also brings huge challenges for ability to control their own resources, operation ability of enterprises.

In a word, no matter C2C-consumption service platform or B2B-enterprise service platform, both of them need support from capital and resources as well as long-term accumulation. A successful platform needs integration from many aspects such as resources, technology, right of speech and etc.. The first of all needs to gather huge amount of customers that is only way to show using value of enterprises. Secondly, a successful platform should have first-class technological innovativeness that can provide supports for multi-business under situation of rapidly changing information. Thirdly, a successful platform should have right of speech in whole industry including leading competency for industrial trend, customers’ influences and relatively strong price right. Therefore, the development of enterprise service platform needs enterprises to keep good and healthy development whole platform via at high altitude of whole industry or developing core technologies or cultivating brands. That can always keep advantages when compete with other platform.

This post is a personal or group view of Research and Advisory members and don't necessarily represent Devott's positions, strategies or opinions.

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