Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, it’s too late if you don’t transform

Digital transformation has become a social consensus, and operators have also put forward their own goals, but the progress is not fast. There are many reasons for moving the whole body. Digitization requires a lot of basic work to be done, and it is relatively easy to build a new digital enterprise, and it is quite difficult for an old enterprise to transform. For old state-owned enterprises such as China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, which have hundreds of thousands of employees, transformation is even more difficult. On the contrary, companies like China Tower were established relatively late, and in many respects, they can refer to the most advanced companies, and the degree of digitalization will be higher. Due to the reorganization of China Unicom and Netcom that year, China Unicom has completed the unification of its internal system, which has already led the other two companies. No matter how difficult the transformation is, we must continue to do it, and we must do it as soon as possible, because time does not wait. It can be said that the epidemic has given operators the best time and opportunity for transformation, which is rare in a lifetime. During the epidemic, the pace of the entire society has slowed down, people's demand for the communications industry has increased, and it is rare for operators to have a relatively calm business environment. If the transition is not at this time, when will it be carried out again? What we can see is that the retail industry is undergoing rapid transformation, and non-transforming companies have been eliminated. The opening of Hema Xiansheng stores has entered a new climax period. RT-Mart has bucked the trend in the retail industry to gain a foothold, while Wal-Mart Yonghui, which has been slow in its transformation, has closed stores in many places. Facts have proved that pseudo-digitalization is not feasible and must be carried out in a real way. If operators cannot complete the digital innovation within two or three years, Internet companies will obviously have to catch their breath and fight backhand for the cake of operators. In foreign countries, Internet companies, IT manufacturers, and communication equipment vendors have eroded the cake of operators in cloud communications and so on. This situation will appear in China no later than next year. 5G is in progress, and 6G is also being developed. As far as China is concerned, radio and television have already joined the ranks of operators, and satellite communications will also rush in in the 6G era. How long will the situation of five operators last? I am afraid, we still need to reorganize, three, at most four, certainly not five Family at the same time. The clear state is that if operators do not transform to cross-border development, their boundaries will be broken by friendly forces. In the past, it was possible to make a dumb pipe, but in the future, it may not even be possible to make a pipe.

The digital transformation of operators must start from the following five aspects:

1. Thinking needs to be transformed
The thinking must be transformed, and the leadership must also be transformed. You must be brave to rush out and take the lead, instead of "brothers, give it to me." To change the KPI thinking, you must dare to win and you must dare to fail, just do it. The other is a win-win thinking, not only customers, partners, but also friends. Give up thinking of playing mahjong completely, otherwise there will be no winners.

2. The business model needs to be transformed
Operators should calculate less ARPU, less research on how to make users more contribution, and more research on how to make users make more money and make partners more profitable. Believe me, as long as you make your users earn more, you must earn more than your users, and users will not switch off the Internet.

3. The operating model needs to be transformed
Setting up stalls, speculating in stores, doing events, and live-streaming goods, these years, as long as they can sell cards, the operators have done it. As a result, the 985 Master’s selling cards on the street has become a social joke, but the grades are no better than Li Jiaqi, who has not graduated from university. In digital transformation, operations will be more important, no matter how important it is, it cannot be overstated. Of course, the operational capabilities of the three operators are very strong, and they also have strong organizational and control capabilities, which are beyond the reach of Internet companies. What's the difference? Insufficient centralized operation ability, insufficient online marketing ability, and insufficient gamification operation ability.

4. The organizational structure needs to be transformed
In recent years, the small CEO model has been promoted by operators, and the "war zone model" has also been used in government and corporate affairs. As for the effect, the benevolent sees the benevolent and the wise sees the wisdom, but it is always reform. In terms of the organizational model, operators must emphasize the unity of execution and flexibility, and must not be partial to disciplines. They must fully mobilize the initiative of grassroots employees, allow people who can hear the guns to participate in decision-making, and encourage employees to organize themselves.

5. Management ability needs to be transformed
With hundreds of thousands of employees scattered all over the country, the business is becoming more and more complicated. If you don't use the knowledge reuse and resource sharing brought about by digitalization, the efficiency can be imagined. Operators must start from the top-level design to strengthen digital management capabilities, and complete data governance from the highest level to the most basic level. They must not be afraid of troubles, resistance, and break the barriers of interest. This step must be pushed forward. To sum up, the digital transformation window period for operators is only two or three years. The tasks are huge, pressure is heavy, and there are too many clues, but only by going on firmly can there be a way out. Transformation may be death, but not transformation must be waiting for death. Fortunately, the operators have been replaced by a strong and capable new leadership team, who have the ability and time to do everything to their best.