Operators competing in the digital service market for SMEs are facing opportunities for transformation and development

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a "Small and Medium Enterprise Development Situation Press Conference". Liang Zhifeng, Director of the Small and Medium Enterprise Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that small and medium-sized enterprises are the main force in the development of the digital economy and the main battlefield for digital transformation. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to implement special actions to enable digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises. As the main force of digital infrastructure, operators have always been at the forefront of promoting the digital transformation and upgrading of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Small and medium-sized enterprises accelerate transformation and promote the digital economy

At present, the wave of digitalization is coming, and the new generation of digital technologies represented by artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud computing, and big data are changing with each passing day, giving birth to a new form of economic development, the digital economy. The iResearch Consulting report predicts that by 2022, the market size of digital transformation services for small and medium-sized enterprises will reach 330.1 billion yuan. It can be said that the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the future will be of great significance to promoting the development of China's digital economy.

As early as December last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a press conference and released the "14th Five-Year Plan to Promote the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises", stating that it would implement the "Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Digitalization Promotion Project" to give full play to the important role of small and medium-sized enterprises as the main force in the development of the digital economy, and continuously consolidate the important position of small and medium-sized enterprises as the vanguard force of digital industrialization.

This time, the "Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Situation Press Conference" held by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also proposed that it will moderately advance the construction of infrastructure, such as 5G, big data centers, etc., to promote the implementation of 102 major engineering projects in the "14th Five-Year Plan", and release a signal that in the future China will support small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve digital transformation at the level of building "new infrastructure" and inject new impetus into China's digital economy.

Operators empower SMEs to transform digitally

The purpose of digital transformation of SMEs is to deepen the application of digital technology in production, operation, management and marketing, and operators, as the main force of digital infrastructure, continue to enable the digital transformation of SMEs. In the past 2021, the three major operators completed the task of reducing broadband and dedicated line charges for SMEs by another 10% as proposed in the government work report of the Fourth Session of the 13th National People's Congress.

As for China Telecom, it implemented the Warm Spring Action as early as 2020 to help SMEs go to the cloud; in 2021, it leveraged the advantages of 5G customized private networks to help SMEs with their digital transformation. Shanghai Telecom launched the "Small and Medium Enterprises Digital Transformation Solution" at the "Infinite Wing Intelligence, Cloud Creation of the Future" SME Digital Transformation Solution Promotion Conference held in 2020.

China Unicom has partnered with Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud to launch the "Cloud Lighting Up China" campaign, focusing on the county market, and promoting the scale development and batch replication of lightweight, standardized, and simple delivery products to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with an integrated "cloud + network + X" solution.

China Mobile has launched a digital solution for small and medium-sized enterprises, namely "Mobile e-Enterprise", which provides cloud computing, marketing, management and other functions. In addition, China Mobile has recently helped more than 100 small and medium-sized enterprises in Suzhou City to successfully complete "cloud recruitment" by setting up a "5G live broadcast room".

The future is here, and operators continue to shoulder the heavy responsibility

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communication Industry" proposes that the function and positioning of the information and communication industry is to build a new national digital infrastructure, provide network and information services, and fully support the strategic, basic and leading industry of economic and social development. This shows that operators will play an indispensable role in the construction of digital infrastructure for the whole society and should continue to help small and medium-sized enterprises achieve digital transformation.

On the one hand, operators should assume the responsibilities of central enterprises and make contributions in increasing benefits to enterprises, from speeding up and reducing fees, helping to migrate to the cloud, and increasing financing support. In the past 2021, China Telecom has provided preferential policies for broadband and dedicated line services to small and medium-sized enterprises to increase speed and reduce fees, helping various types of enterprises to transform digitally.

On the other hand, operators need to provide integrated solutions for the digital transformation of SMEs, making it easier for them to "go to the cloud and use data to empower intelligence". For example, China Telecom provides a "package" of overall information services based on cloud, network, 5G, big data, and artificial intelligence to various SMEs such as retail, supermarkets, and restaurants, helping all types of enterprises to transform digitally.