AI offers key to digital transformation

Adoption of advanced technologies will increase efficiency and productivity in a fast-changing environment

Editor's note: The Chinese government has adopted a series of measures to boost economic growth, including stimulating consumption, further opening up to foreign investment, supporting private enterprises and encouraging technology innovation. China Daily interviewed senior executives of well-known multinational companies to share their views on the country's economic development and their companies' business strategies in China.

Q1: China has rolled out a series of measures to stimulate consumer spending and boost economic growth. What opportunities are there for your business?

Q2: Overall Chinese economic growth has slowed, but the top-line numbers remain relatively robust. In what areas do you plan to increase investment or employment?

Q3: What business opportunities do you see as China continues to pursue higher-quality growth, which is increasingly driven by services and consumption?

Q4: What do you see as the most resilient part of the Chinese economy and how do you plan to align your business with it?

Q5: How has your company adjusted to the uncertainties brought by trade frictions between China and the United States?

Q6: China has adopted policies to further open the economy to foreign investment, to transform financial services and to promote private enterprises. How are you planning to take advantage of these policies?

Q7: How does your company plan to take advantage of the technology transformation opportunities in China over the next decade?

A1 The measures mentioned encourage the development of new business models based on advanced technologies such as big data, cloud computing and mobile internet, which we believe will bring digital transformation to traditional industries. Official government data showed that China's digital economy reached 31.3 trillion yuan ($4.4 trillion) in 2018, accounting for 34.8 percent of GDP. LinkedIn's data also revealed that the digital economy is promoting the quality improvement and transformation of China's entire society, especially in industries such as manufacturing as well as information and communication technology. But besides providing numerous new opportunities, the digital economy also brings various challenges, such as issues of data security and the development of different areas. Some emerging industries and occupations are faced with a talent shortage, while employees in traditional industries are now faced with job changes or skills gaps.

LinkedIn is particularly concerned about the challenges in the labor market, such as the adjustment of labor structures caused by digital transformation. Our Economic Graph is a digital representation of the global economy based on data generated from 645 million members, 35,000 skills, 30 million employers, more than 20 million open jobs, and 90,000 educational institutions around the world. With more than 48 million members in China, LinkedIn has teamed up with Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management to release a series of Economic Graph reports on China's digital economy and talent development, aiming to provide valuable insights for the government, enterprises and individuals.

A2 The rise of new technologies such as artificial intelligence has a huge impact on employment, which can also be seen in the shifting of occupations that have seen the largest growth and decreases in hiring. In the Future of Jobs Report released by the World Economic Forum in 2018, LinkedIn data showed that a number of highly automatable jobs fell into the 10 most declining occupations due to the impact of AI. In the meantime, according to Linked-In China's Emerging Jobs Report, the five jobs in China with the most growth from 2013 to 2017 were new media operations, front-end development engineer, algorithm engineer, user interface designer and data analyst, all of which are related to new technology.

New technologies can also make the job market more challenging for Chinese professionals, so it's necessary for professionals to understand the changes and trends of the job market and improve their skills accordingly. Leveraging the big data generated from 645 million members, which is global, granular, real-time and historical, LinkedIn has provided professionals, enterprises and governments with accurate and reliable insights with many data insights focusing on the job market.

A3 LinkedIn found that with the gradual improvement of network infrastructure and the regional economy, the digital economy is reshaping different industries in China through big data, Internet Plus, artificial intelligence, intelligent manufacturing and others. Taking advantage of this strategic opportunity, sectors including consumer goods and retail are also experiencing significant digital transformation. LinkedIn China's Economic Graph team joined hands with Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management last October to release a Digital Economy and Talent Development Report for China's Yangtze River Delta Region. The research showed that the number of able workers with digital skills in consumer goods and retail is above average.

The digital economy has a profound impact on retail and consumption across the world. LinkedIn's global data found that as retail goes digital, engineering jobs and skills are on the rise. The proportion of retail employees in engineering roles rose from 7 percent in 2013 to 9 percent in 2017. Software developer is now the third most common job in retail, rising from the eighth most common in 2013.

A4 The most dynamic part of China's economy is innovation, and building an innovative country is an important strategy of China. We have seen many remarkable achievements along those lines. For example, China's mobile payment, e-commerce and sharing economies are leading the world, and internet technologies have been introduced in the development of all traditional industries.

LinkedIn's co-founder Reid Hoffman pointed out that China is still a promising market that nurtures startups based on many unique advantages for entrepreneurship including fiercer market competition, faster business decisions and iterations, an abundant talent pool, stronger technology drive and digitization. Under these circumstances, Chinese entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to achieve rapid expansion and sustained prosperity more easily than ever before.

Talent is one of the most important impetuses to drive innovative development. LinkedIn has always been engaged in talent development, providing localized products and services for Chinese talent. In addition, LinkedIn provides guidance and suggestions for college students' cultivation. We also have LinkedIn Social Impact, through crossover cooperation and activities, to connect job seekers facing barriers with the resources and networks they need to build meaningful careers.

A5 We have noticed that Chinese enterprises are maintaining close international cooperation and exchanges. We are delighted to see this as it will bring us great opportunities. Against this backdrop, we could take advantage of our global network to help Chinese companies connect to more global opportunities and stand out in the international market by attracting talents with diversified backgrounds and enhancing the brand influence in global markets.

One of our research reports released in June found that Chinese companies are becoming more global. Almost all provinces have enterprises that are proactively expanding their business across the world, and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas are their desired destinations. Our LinkedIn Marketing Solutions business, based on the global network of the platform, provides highly developed and advanced services to help Chinese brands to go global.

A6 We've always believed that China is one of the best choices for global companies to develop their businesses, where there are more excellent competitors, faster decision-making and transformation in companies, richer talent reserves and lower human resource costs. As China continues to open up, it will definitely become more attractive to international companies. To better adapt to the Chinese market, these companies will need to recruit local talent and implement localized strategies, which will create more opportunities for LinkedIn to play a role in talent and marketing strategy.

A7 We see that a technological transformation is changing our society gradually. Taking AI as an example, our findings suggest that we are already seeing AI's impact across the global labor market. AI skills are among the fastest-growing skills among LinkedIn members and saw a 190 percent increase on the platform from 2015 to 2017. Industries with more AI skills present among their workforce are also the fastest-changing industries. We believe all occupations in the future will be empowered by AI to become more efficient and productive.

At LinkedIn, AI is everywhere and empowers everything we do. We continue investing in AI technologies to enhance users' experience of our products and services, so as to better connect LinkedIn members and companies and provide them with more opportunities. We use AI to deliver the most optimized experience for members such as recommending the right jobs, connections and content.

LinkedIn is also actively using AI to promote diversity in the workplace and build a trustworthy online community for its members. When helping companies to hire talent, LinkedIn's product can use AI technology to hide information related to gender and race, which better prevents unconscious bias during the hiring process and increases diversity in companies. AI technology also helps LinkedIn to effectively strengthen its network security check and fight against fake information to maintain its members' online security.

A2 International SOS has greatly benefited from China's rapid growth in the past 30 years since we entered the Chinese mainland in 1989. China is now one of our two fastest growing markets. Although China's economic growth has slowed down in recent years, the country remains the biggest engine of the global economy and we have great confidence in its growth potential and will continue our investments in the country.

Specifically, we have more than 100 customers that are Chinese-funded enterprises in China, including State-owned enterprises, central enterprises, government-related organizations, and private companies. Our customer base mainly covers industries such as energy, infrastructure, high-tech, communications, and finance, in which, demand for mitigating medical and security risks keeps growing. We will keep up our investments to accommodate this growing market demand. For example, we provide Chinese language alerts to better meet the needs of Chinese customers and we have also launched an online service platform for real-time communication with our Medical and Security professionals via WeChat.

Moreover, with an increasing number of local companies striving to go global, we will recruit more professionals with a combination of international backgrounds and global perspectives as well as local cultures to better support them.

A4 In recent years both Chinese and foreign enterprises are paying more and more attention to sustainability - achieving a perfect balance between economic growth, social progress, and environmental protection. An important part of this concept is about safety, health and well-being for their employees, which is the key mission of International SOS. We are glad to see laws and regulations in this regard being issued in recent years and organizations are obligated to have a duty of care to their employees, which includes ensuring their safety and health.

We believe we are well-positioned to embrace exciting opportunities in two areas.

The Belt and Road Initiative presents great opportunities for the entire world. International SOS has been operating in Belt and Road economies for about 30 years. With deep knowledge of the medical infrastructure and actionable insights with quality delivery, we can help Chinese enterprises successfully implement projects in those countries.

With more and more Chinese enterprises going global, the number of employees traveling overseas is rapidly growing. Also, more foreign companies are coming to China. These Chinese-and foreignfunded companies need to provide good medical and security support for their mobile employees and expatriates - International SOS plays an important role in helping these companies handle this important task.

We hosted the 2019 Duty of Care Summit and Awards Ceremony in China's leading economic powerhouse Shanghai on Oct 17 to showcase global best practice. This year there have been entries from 31 countries, across 28 sectors, including leading companies and judges from China. We are glad to see that China's best practices and experiences in duty of care and sustainable growth have become a model for worldwide organizations to learn and follow.

A6 We are glad to see the Chinese government's drive to further open the economy by initiating a series of policies and laws including the new Foreign Investment Law. This law will encourage more foreign companies to invest in China while improving the operating environment for those currently doing business in the country. This is a demonstration of China's strong confidence in its competitive advantages in the world arena with its increasingly important role in global economic growth.

International SOS will certainly benefit from a more open Chinese economy with comprehensive coverage of laws and regulations. Duty of care for employees is a priority and also a challenge for foreignfunded companies in China and they need to ensure workplace safety, health and well-being of their employees. We are their partner in this area - leveraging our deep expertise and rich experience in medical solutions and safety risk prevention and management, we can provide them with integrated solutions to help them meet the challenge.

A7 Each and every one of us is fortunate to be living in the current era - a great era where waves of disrupting technologies keep changing the way we work, live, and entertain. We, as individuals or organizations, should keep learning and adapting to survive or thrive in this changing environment. At International SOS we are doing our utmost to keep pace with the many changes.

For example, we are integrating our emerging technologies into our services. In 2018, our award-winning Assistance App and Travel Tracker allowed more than 1,800 customers to locate 11 million international travelers. We have launched an online service platform on WeChat for our customers so they have access to real-time communication with our medical and security professionals. Our e-learning and digital travel risk mitigation services act as a complement to our assistance offerings, providing our members with online tools to understand and prepare for medical, security, and travel risks.

(China Daily Global 10/18/2019 page9)