Original title: "Analysis of the underlying business logic of AntChain under the general trend of business", author Sun Yulin

Today, more and more enterprises are beginning to discuss digital transformation, hoping to use new technologies to ensure sustainable development of enterprises and gain deeper insight into external business opportunities. And this wave of corporate digitalization began long before the global outbreak and has continued to this day.

A considerable number of business managers have begun to realize that: the slow response of enterprises to market changes, the overly complex organizational structure of enterprises, and the formation of information islands among enterprises may be the main factors affecting the sustainable development of enterprises. However, in today's ever-changing business environment, it is more important to build the underlying business logic based on the understanding of major trends.

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1. Three key trends in the post-pandemic era

In the post-epidemic era, companies need to understand business development trends to clarify their own positioning, think about how to operate better, and how to achieve sustainable business growth. Below are three key trends that we believe are becoming increasingly apparent.

Key Trend 1: More Emphasis on "Links"

In the past, the connection between people and between enterprises was more limited by physical space, and the subjects that this connection could reach were also very limited. The "link" allows more subjects to establish connections in real time and smoothly within a larger mesh network.

In the past, the centralized operation management system in order to ensure the smooth establishment of connections between the subjects will no longer exist, and will be replaced by a more efficient and lower-cost distributed operation system, that is, a new type of data center and network operation center consisting of data centers all over the world. Infrastructure to ensure the breadth and stability of the "link".

The global "link" guaranteed by blockchain, cloud computing and other technologies will bring significant improvements to the development of various industries. In addition to promoting the rational allocation and utilization of resources and increasing the benefits of all parties involved in the link, more importantly, the "link" "The new competitive and cooperative relationship promoted the free flow of information and increased the possibility of disruptive innovation.

Key Trend #2: Less "Friction"

In the past, for any new market players who wanted to enter a certain industry or field, it was possible to get rid of cost disadvantages only by forming economies of scale through mass production. With the development of the Internet and emerging information technologies, the cost disadvantages related or irrelevant to scale are gradually disappearing with the diversified development trend brought about by new technologies.

We can also say that this is the reduction of industry barriers or entry costs (friction) brought about by "links". More and more cutting-edge companies have joined the industry competition with unprecedented differentiated innovations through multiple online and offline channels.

At the same time, the frictional costs caused by incomplete information or information asymmetry in the future will gradually decrease with the deepening of "links", whether within or between enterprises.

Key trend three: higher level of intelligence

The rapid development of new technologies has made all aspects of people's lives more convenient than ever before. On the industrial side, we see that with the support of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, the level of industrial intelligence is constantly improving. For example, in the field of intelligent transportation, relying on intelligence can greatly improve the efficiency of transportation; in the field of manufacturing, improving production efficiency through intelligent technology can reduce labor costs.

In the future, with the construction of intelligent infrastructure brought about by the open source of technology, it will allow enterprises to obtain and use various resources related to intelligence as easily as building Lego blocks, and the level of economic and social intelligence will be further improved.

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2. A typical sample under the general trend of business: AntChain

How to make good use of new technologies to promote the internal and external "links" of enterprises will be a new theme for a long period of time in the future. Enterprises that can practice today are still rare. "AntChain" can be used as one of the typical samples Take it for some research.

AntChain initially focused on blockchain industrial applications, and its original brand name was "Ant Blockchain". July 23, 2021 is of great significance to AntChain, because it ushered in the first anniversary since the brand upgrade in 2020. In AntChain's own words, "The name is shorter, and the dream is bigger." The big dream of AntChain is to promote the application of blockchain technology in various industries and "slowly turn uncertainty into certainty".

On June 23, 2021, Jiang Guofei, vice president of Ant Group and president of the Intelligent Technology Business Group, explained the development concept of AntChain at the first developer conference of AntChain. Chain, the bigger connotation today is 'link'. If you look at the logo of Ant Chain, it is a little ant tirelessly building roads, linking industries, and linking trust."

Jiang Guofei described the development concept and positioning of AntChain very vividly. If we talk about this development concept, it can be "three always".

Always talk about development from an ecological perspective

Not all technology companies have the opportunity to talk about development from an ecological perspective, and companies that have such opportunities must first make it clear what kind of ecology they are committed to shaping or cultivating.

AntChain did not choose to talk too much about the ecology and development, but used specific and vivid application cases to slowly present a broad ecological picture of technology application to us. Therefore, the ecology of AntChain is concrete and sensible. In its ecology, there are small Chinese businesses in Yiwu, farmers in Dangshan, Anhui, hotels, elevator manufacturers, etc. In terms of the number of applications, the ecology of AntChain has solved more than 50 Trust problems in each industry scenario, providing more than 30 innovative industry applications and solutions. In terms of application scenarios, the application scenarios of AntChain have expanded from traceability, public welfare, bills, and judicial deposit to international trade, port and shipping logistics, copyright transactions, financial leasing, and industrial manufacturing.

According to Jiang Guofei's introduction, the development of AntChain does not stop at the establishment of the ecology. In the future, the greater imagination space lies in helping the industries in the ecology to optimize the relationship between supply and demand while helping more enterprises to collaborate efficiently in a digital way. "The digitization of a single industry is equivalent to building a building, while the digitization of inter-industry collaboration is more like building a road."

Always pay attention to the integration and application of new technologies

Some of the practical problems encountered in business activities can be solved through technology, but when we think about how to use technology to solve problems, we often do not focus on a single technology, but the comprehensive application of technology.

Jiang Guofei said in an interview, "In the past we talked more about blockchain technology, but today as we go into the industry, we find that we need to integrate many technologies together, because customers still have to solve specific problems in the end."

In the field of blockchain technology, AntChain has made quite a few innovations. The number of its blockchain patent applications has remained at the forefront of the world for four consecutive years. At the hardware level, AntChain has developed an all-in-one machine based on more than 300 patents, integrating the blockchain Several core technologies such as blockchain security computing hardware, blockchain password card, and blockchain network consensus accelerator simplify the on-chain process.

However, the understanding of AntChain does not stop at the blockchain. For example, the trusted on-chain module of AntChain to realize the trusted on-chain of IoT data is "blockchain + Internet of Things"; Blockchain + AI"; Antchain Morse Security Computing Platform (MORSE) is embodied as "blockchain + privacy computing". AntChain's "blockchain + X" strategy is to comprehensively use blockchain, privacy computing, Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies to build its own technical system.

Always keep the same original intention

The technical characteristics of the blockchain can ensure that the information and data on the chain cannot be tampered with and can be traced, which solves the problem of building trust in the digital economy era. Therefore, the blockchain is also called a "trust machine".

Ma Yun has called trust the most valuable thing in the world on many occasions. If we say that in China’s consumer Internet era, Alipay can help build trust in most transaction scenarios, then in the era of the industrial Internet and even the digital economy, AntChain is one of the important forces for building underlying trust.

In Jiang Guofei's view, the essence of a commercial society is transactions, and there must be two basic conditions behind transactions, one is the "link" at the system level, and the other is the establishment of a trust mechanism. Only after the establishment of a trust mechanism can transaction risks be resolved and the prosperity of ecology and supply guaranteed. "From this point of view, we came here for such an original intention."

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3. Understand AntChain better and listen to what "brother-in-law" said

Jiang Guofei, vice president of Ant Group and president of the Intelligent Technology Business Group, is affectionately called "brother-in-law" within the company, but to people outside the company, he is the soul of AntChain. If you want to better understand AntChain, you might as well listen to how he introduces AntChain’s values ​​and his thoughts on industrial development, entrepreneurship, and team management to the outside world.

What is the value realization path of AntChain?

Jiang Guofei: For AntChain, the most important issue at present is to solidly increase customer value in the industry, because the growth of AntChain must be driven by customer value. Only the prosperity of the entire industrial ecology can make us think about how to take every step in the future. To put it bluntly, AntChain’s efforts in the field of industrial blockchain over the years have made us the leader or at least one of the leaders. Leaders must find a lighthouse in no man's land, so what is the lighthouse that guides us? I tell all our classmates that we want to provide our customers with the ultimate and beautiful products, which also reflects our long-term values.

We have always been the "two-wheel drive" of the market and products. If only driven by products, a car may be built behind closed doors; only driven by the market, the products kidnapped by the market will only become thinner and thinner. The future-oriented growth should be driven by product value growth in essence. This is what we insist on very much. The core is to rely on products to help customers realize value, which will naturally lead to better market coverage.

Is the industrial blockchain a false proposition?

Jiang Guofei: Many people think that the industrial blockchain is a false proposition, but this is because of the inconsistency of everyone's related ideas. Under the public chain system, it is assumed that everyone cannot be trusted, and it starts with a zero-trust mechanism. Therefore, such a mechanism design is doomed that the public chain can only be limited to pure data processing and transaction speed, and there must be a lot of problems in the establishment of trust. Things built from the zero trust foundation have too many uncertain factors, which will inevitably make this thing heavy, and in many cases will cause transaction difficulties.

However, the industrial blockchain is not built from a zero-trust foundation. It actually takes into account multiple entities. These entities may already have 70% trust when they enter the blockchain network, because these entities can be trusted. Find and have legal protection. In the end, if we want to achieve 100% trust, we don’t actually start from scratch. What we have to do is to judge from which dimension to start the construction of the entire system. The industrial blockchain just explains the essence of today's business society, that is, business rarely starts on a zero-trust basis. Business itself is a process of gradually building trust, and finally locks business risks through contracts before starting to do business.

What is the pace of development of the blockchain industry?

Jiang Guofei: Most of the predictions on industrial development are wrong. In the past, the process of moving foreign business models and products to China was a process of imitation. In fact, imitation should emphasize execution. But today, various industries on the road to entrepreneurship have unprecedented uncertainties. The source of this uncertainty lies in the uncertainty of technology, product uncertainty and business model uncertainty. The whole process of innovation exploration is to slowly turn uncertainty into certainty. The development stage of today's blockchain is somewhat similar to the period of Internet e-mail in the early 1990s. Although some value has been seen in some places, if it is said that it is not ready for subversion, we still need to transform the industry. The value chain is made thicker.

Today has not yet reached a network that eats the world. It is not like this. He can connect if he has a demand, but he cannot connect without a demand. Some networks are isolated by themselves, and they don't need to connect with others. This is the state today. In the end, you can see such an industrial collaboration network, which is a sure thing, but we don't need to know its rhythm, because the rhythm is driven by its value. In fact, in many things, his rhythm is not something you can design. No matter how you do it, you need a huge variety of social forces to push forward development together.

Ideas for entrepreneurship and team management?

Jiang Guofei: Like many entrepreneurs, I am sometimes very excited because I can see good progress in some places. But sometimes I'm anxious because I also doubt something, and I think this is the mentality of all entrepreneurs. Because there are many uncertainties in the world, and there is no certainty, you are constantly looking further in the fog based on your own experience and judgment. In this process, there must be some things that you can see clearly, and some things that you can’t see clearly, so you will constantly reflect, think, and question.

I manage the team below, and I usually focus on four words. The first is direction and vision. Without direction, I think it is the least feasible, especially for a business like ours. What do you do without direction? The second is passion, because there is never an easy thing in this world. As an entrepreneur and a leader in the front, you must be trembling in the front to prevent falling into the pit. So there must be a strong passion in it. To put it bluntly, it requires a certain amount of faith. The third is executive power. We can’t just talk about it. I’m most afraid of talking about it. We must achieve the unity of knowledge and action. After having a vision, the most important thing is to return to a very solid execution ability. Only when every step is taken firmly will there be poetry and a distant future. I will discuss some things with the team every week, and more to create together. The creativity of the entrepreneurial team must come first, which is something that many companies and teams are relatively lacking. Because for the entrepreneurial team, there are not many references and imitations, so they have to create and think of new things, and the things they come up with must be sold, that is, they can solve customers' problems. The fourth is determination. Entrepreneurs need will. Whether it is a large company or a small company, we should respect all entrepreneurs, because they must be anxious and confused. Finding certainty in certainty requires a strong will.

What idea do you most want to express?

Jiang Guofei: Today I really want to thank my partners and those customers who are willing to try and make mistakes. They are the real fellow travelers who explore with us in the "no man's land". I am personally grateful. In a brand-new world, many things cannot be seen clearly, and there must always be a group of people to try. Some partners will surprise us, they will be very passionate and willing to come and run with us.