China is a spending powerhouse with a population of 1.1 billion, but everyone in the software industry knows that China's software market is "pathetically small". Despite the country continuously calling for vigorous development of the software industry, the entire software market is only one-quarter of the size of the U.S. market, half the size of Japan's, and equivalent to South Korea’s market capacity. Against this backdrop, going global has become an unshakable aspiration for software tycoons. "Participating in the formulation of international standards, as well as establishing our first overseas R&D center in Singapore, both signify JinDi's 'preparation for internationalization'. At home entrepreneurship," said Zeng Liang, Senior Vice President of JinDi Group, in an exclusive interview with our newspaper during the recently held "Pearl River Delta CIO Forum."
"I spend most of my time abroad throughout the year," said this vice president responsible for JinDi's international business, who feels a heavy sense of responsibility. According to him, "young leader" Xu Shaochun has tasked him with achieving "the number one position in Asia's ERP market within three years."
Setting up the first overseas R&D center: According to Zeng Liang, Chinese management software vendors have always found it difficult to go global. Management software centered on finance often differs across countries' financial systems, sometimes requiring improvements from the lower architecture level to adapt to local conditions. "For example, the accounting cycle issue—China uses 12 months, but some neighboring countries can freely choose between 12 to 15 months. The difference in currency units leads to product incompatibility. Calculations in currencies like the Thai Baht or Indonesian Rupiah often involve transactions worth billions, whereas the previously designed number of digits for Renminbi was insufficient."
In the past few years, Chinese software companies venturing overseas were merely testing the waters, engaging with local dealers and creating model customers, without making significant breakthroughs in volume. However, Zeng Liang believes that the internationalization of management software companies is entering a preparatory phase. "Observing our customers, we find that fewer large manufacturing clients are not considering setting up overseas branches, whether by transferring production or establishing subsidiaries, necessitating software support for the entire business chain."
Another condition for preparing for internationalization is that most Southeast Asian countries are learning from China's rise model, and Chinese corporate management models are beginning to be studied by local enterprises. "Establishing the first R&D center in Singapore aims to address this issue technically."
Participating in the formulation of international standards: Another identity of Zeng Liang is the President of the TOG China Branch. In February, he officially became a platinum member of the Open Group, leading the promotion of the Open Group in the Chinese market, and promoting the application of TOGAF enterprise architecture in China.
"This is a landmark event in JinDi's history of internationalization, allowing Chinese software companies to stand alongside international giants such as HP, IBM, and SAP for the first time, assisting global, especially Asia-Pacific region enterprises, to fully utilize integrated information within and between enterprises based on open standards and global cooperation, enhancing the level of informatization construction."
For a long time, China's high-end software market has been constrained by international vendors, partly due to the lack of standards. Undoubtedly, future competitiveness will largely depend on domestic vendors' ability to keep up with the trends of the times and participate in the formulation and promotion of international standards.
Zeng Liang introduced that EAS7.0 based on the TOGAF architecture can achieve boundaryless information flow, enabling interconnectivity, providing a clearer understanding of what businesses need, and having rapid response capabilities.
By reporter Gao Lingyun and intern Huang Dan
(Source: Southern Metropolis Daily)
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