2023 is a critical year for Huawei's survival and development. How can Huawei create growth opportunities, improve development resilience, and build differentiated advantages? On April 19, the annual Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS 2023) was held in Shenzhen. Sabrina Meng, Huawei's Deputy Chairwoman, Rotating Chairwoman, and CFO, delivered a speech at her first public appearance since she became rotating chairwoman.
Sabrina Meng on digitalization and AI challenges at 20th Huawei Analyst Summit
The 20th Huawei Analyst Summit was attended by more than 1,000 industry analysts, financial analysts, key opinion leaders, and media representatives from around the world. In a speech entitled ‘Thriving Together for a Digital Future', Ms. Meng said that digitalization presented a common opportunity for the industry, with over 170 countries having released their digital strategies. By 2026, global expenditure on digital transformation is projected at US$3.41 trillion.
To seize on this opportunity, Huawei will continue to invest in connectivity, computing, storage, and cloud services to build a robust digital foundation. The company will also focus on R&D in the basic software field and explore transformation scenarios in various industries to ensure that digital technologies are truly productive.
Sabrina Meng further emphasized Huawei's commitment to providing customers with digital infrastructure that features simple architecture, high quality, and a superior user-experience at minimal cost. Huawei aims to assist organizations in their digital journey through four stages: digitizing operations, building digital platforms, enabling platform-based intelligence, and leveraging intelligence in practical applications. Ms. Meng said that the time was ripe for all stakeholders to thrive together in this new and exciting digital future.
Driven by strategy, not technology
During the 2023 Huawei Analyst Summit (HAS), Huawei shared three major takeaways from nearly ten years of digital transformation experience:
Frist, strategy is essential – digital transformation is not just about technology, but also about strategic planning and choices. Any successful digital transformation journey must be driven by a well-defined strategy, with technology as an enabler.
Second, data is the foundation – data is key in digital transformation. Data creates value when it flows across an organization, and methodical data governance is crucial for successful digital transformation. Integrating data from different dimensions can unlock even greater value and insights.
Third, intelligence is the destination – data is redefining productivity. Digitizing operations and building digital platforms enables organizations to clean, visualize, and aggregate data, laying the foundation for digital transformation. Putting intelligence to use makes data-on-demand easier to understand and actionable, taking digital transformation to the next level.
These three key takeaways highlight the strategic, foundational, and transformative aspects of digital transformation, emphasizing the importance of strategy, data governance, and intelligence in driving successful digital transformation journeys.
Digital transformation is not a ‘one size fits all' solution
Huawei is actively developing application scenarios to leverage digital technology as a source of new productivity by providing industry-specific solutions. Huawei and partners have already developed and released over 100 digital transformation standards for various industries such as smart cities, finance, electric power, highways, aviation, and healthcare.
In 2022, Huawei was chosen as digital transformation partner by over 700 cities and 267 Fortune Global 500 companies worldwide, highlighting their global reach and expertise in supporting digital transformation initiatives.
In Thailand in 2022, Huawei was chosen as digital transformation partner by nine out of the top ten companies. In 2023, Huawei has prioritized improving partnerships and will reinforce policies that promote profitability, integrity, transparency, and sustainability with partners. The CEO of Huawei Thailand announced during Huawei Thailand's ‘2023 Partner Summit' that Huawei advocates working closely with partners to create a healthy business environment, fostering mutual growth and helping customers achieve business success.
These initiatives showcase Huawei's commitment to collaborating with partners and creating a favorable business environment to support digital transformation efforts globally and locally.
Healthy and thriving talent ecosystem essential to boosting digital economy
As digital transformation continues to accelerate, the need for exceptional talent in specific domains is paramount. Talent and openness have always been the foundation for survival and development. Huawei recognizes the importance of attracting top-notch talent to address industry challenges and drive development.
Sabrina Meng stated that Huawei was actively working to cultivate a broader digital talent ecosystem through initiatives such as ICT academies, competitions, and the ‘Seeds for the Future Program 2.0'. These efforts provide case studies for schools, offer students practical experience with digitalization, and help foster a digital talent pool for the industry.
Seeds for the Future, Huawei's global flagship CSR program, launched in 2008, is the company's most significant and longest-running CSR program. It aims to cultivate local talent, promote participation in digital community building, and enhance the digital skills of college students and young people.
In Thailand, Huawei established the Huawei ASEAN Academy and has developed a comprehensive framework focusing on leadership, training skills, and practical knowledge, aiming to cultivate digital talent in line with Thailand's 4.0 digital strategy. Huawei's goal is to train 100,000 individuals within five years and empower Thailand as an ASEAN talent ecosystem hub.
These efforts demonstrate Huawei's commitment to nurturing and developing digital talent, globally and locally, to meet the demands of the fast-paced digital transformation landscape and contribute to the growth of industry and local communities.
ICT industry, digitalization, and intelligent development face new technological challenges
Dr. Zhou Hong, President of Huawei's Institute of Strategic Research, said that in the process of moving towards an intelligent society, the demand for information may increase a hundred or even a thousand times. Many existing theories and technologies have encountered bottlenecks and cannot support future development. "Huawei actively promotes innovation driven by scientific assumptions and a business vision. In terms of communications, Huawei boldly explores prerequisites and application scenarios that differ from Shannon's theorem. In computing, Huawei further clarifies the goal definition of artificial intelligence and improves correctness, adaptability, and efficiency,” he said.
Ms. Meng concluded that the journey of digitalization would be magnificent – only with tenacity and boldness could we bring unprecedented color to this era. Huawei will work with customers and partners to promote digital transformation and a win-win digital future.
