Abstract:Traditional enterprises improve production efficiency by making advanced machines, but in the future, how to improve service and operation efficiency structurally, how to get better products with lower cost, has become a problem of The Times. In the final analysis, the digital transformation is to solve the two major problems of the enterprise: cost and efficiency, and around the “more grain, increase the fertility of the land” and carry out. This paper focuses on the digital transformation of “Huawei” and elaborates from three aspects: the overall goal, data governance requirements and practices.

I. Overall goal of Huawei’s digital transformation

In 2016, Huawei’s strategic plan for reform clearly aims to realize the Roads experience for users (enterprise customers, consumers, employees, partners and suppliers), and continuously improve efficiency, efficiency and customer satisfaction. It is clear that it will take five years to complete the digital transformation of its business, and the digital transformation has become the only change for Huawei.

In 2017, Huawei set out a new vision for the company: “Bring the digital world into every person, every home and every organization, and build a smart world where everything is connected”. At the same time, Tao Jingwen, director and CIO of Huawei, put forward the digital transformation goal of “realizing a fully connected smart Huawei and becoming an industry benchmark” (as shown in Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1 Digital Transformation Goals

Internally, various business areas are digitized and serviceized to break through cross-field information breakpoints and achieve industry-leading operational efficiency. Gradually build an “end-to-end” digital management system with “customer-oriented business” and “market-based innovation” as the core of two business streams. Management mode from qualitative to quantitative, to achieve data-driven efficient operation.

Externally, we aim at the Roads experience of five types of users to make doing business with customers easier, more efficient and safer, and improve customer satisfaction. Huawei first expressed its latest judgment On the industry from the perspective of user experience, and summed it up as ROADS: Real-time, on-demand, all-online, DIY and Social.

II. “Huawei” Digital Transformation Blueprint and Data Governance Requirements

In 2017, Huawei determined the blueprint and framework of digital transformation based on the vision, unified planning and hierarchical implementation, and finally realized the transformation of customer interaction mode and the improvement of internal operation efficiency and benefits. Huawei’s digital transformation blueprint includes five initiatives (as shown in Figure 1-2).

Figure 1-2 Huawei’s blueprint for digital transformation

  • Action 1: Realize the transformation of “customer interaction mode”, make the customer interface thicker and deeper with digital means, make it simpler, more efficient and safer to do business with customers, improve customer satisfaction and help customers solve problems.
  • Action 2: Transform the “operational model” to focus on the two main business streams, focus on the project, focus on the frontline teams, lead the way to a Road-based experience, and achieve industry-leading operational efficiency.
  • Action 3: Transform the way Platform Capabilities are delivered, digitize and continuously aggregate data on key business objects, digitize processes and servitize capabilities, and support full connectivity between frontline warfighters and customers.
  • Action 4: Realize the transformation of “operation mode”. Based on the unified data base, realize digital operation and decision-making, simplify management, and increase the authorization of front-line personnel.
  • Move 5: Cloud-oriented and service-oriented IT infrastructure and IT applications to unify the company’s IT platform and build intelligent services at the same time.

Among them, Initiative 4 involves data governance and digital operation, which is the key to Huawei’s digital transformation. It covers the goals of breaking data silos, ensuring the accuracy of source data, promoting data sharing, and safeguarding data privacy and security. The requirements of Huawei’s digital transformation for data governance are as follows:

  1. Based on unified data management rules, to ensure the quality of data source and data entry into the lake, and to form a clean, complete and consistent data lake, this is the foundation of Huawei’s digital transformation.
  2. Dual drive of business and data, strengthen the construction of data connection, and can flexibly meet the demand of self-service data consumption of business by means of data service.
  3. For the gathering of massive internal and external data, can ensure data security and compliance.
  4. Constantly improve the digitization of business objects, processes and rules, improve the ability of automatic data collection and reduce manual input.

III. Huawei’s data governance practices

Huawei started data governance in 2007. After two stages of continuous reform, Huawei’s data management system was established systematically. Nearly a decade of sustained investment in the first phase has laid a solid foundation for Huawei’s digital transformation, which began in 2017. At the same time, under the new requirements of digital transformation on data governance, the data governance has officially entered the second stage, and the work of data governance has also faced new challenges and development.

1. Huawei’s data governance history

  • Phase I: 2007 ~ 2016

In this stage, Huawei established a professional organization for data management, established a data management framework, issued data management policies, appointed data owners, and achieved the following goals through unified information architecture and standards, unique and trusted data sources, and effective data quality measurement improvement mechanism.

  1. Continuously improve data quality and reduce error correction costs: Through data quality measurement and continuous improvement, ensure that data truly reflects the business and reduce operational risk.
  2. Data flow through the whole process, improve the efficiency of business operation: through business digitalization and standardization, with the help of IT technology, realize the fast transmission and sharing of upstream and downstream information of business.
  • Phase 2:2017 to present

At this stage, huawei data base construction, together enterprise whole domain data and the data connection, through the data service, data, maps, data security and privacy protection, the on-demand data sharing, agile self-help, safe and transparent targets, support the huawei digital transformation, realize the value of the following data.

  1. Business visibility enables rapid and accurate decision-making: through data aggregation, transparent and visible business status can be realized, and decision support based on “facts” can be provided.
  2. Artificial intelligence to achieve business automation: business rules are digitized and algorithmized, embedded in business flow, and gradually replace manual judgment.
  3. Data innovation becomes a differentiated competitive advantage: user insight based on data to discover new market opportunity points.

The development history of Huawei’s data governance is shown in Figure 1-3.

▲ Figure 1-3 Two stages of Huawei data governance

2. Vision and objectives of Huawei’s data work

Based on business strategy planning and digital transformation demands of multi-business, globalization and distributed management, Huawei has defined its vision of data work as “enabling business awareness, connectivity, intelligence and the Roads experience to support Huawei’s digital transformation.” The goal of Huawei’s data work is “clean, transparent and smart data that enables operational excellence and efficient growth”. In order to achieve the vision and goal of data work, automatic data collection, object/rule/process digitization, data cleaning, safe sharing and other features need to be realized (as shown in Figure 1-4).

Figure 1-4 Huawei’s vision and goals for data governance

3. Ideas and framework for the construction of “Huawei” data work

As a non-digital native, we believe that one of the key elements of digital transformation is to build a digital world that spans isolated systems and carries business as a “digital twin” on top of the real world. By aggregating, linking, and analyzing data in the digital world, it describes, diagnoses, and forecasts to ultimately guide business improvement.

On the implementation strategy, the digital world should make full use of the existing IT system’s stock data assets on the one hand, and on the other hand, build a channel to directly perceive, collect and gather data from the real world to the digital world, so as to continuously drive the digitization of business objects, processes and rules. The overall idea of Huawei’s data work construction is shown in Figure 1-5.

▲ Figure 1-5 The overall idea of Huawei’s data work construction

After years of practice, Huawei has formed a set of data working framework.

  1. Data source: Business digitization is the premise of data work. Through digitization of business objects, rules and processes, data quality can be continuously improved and clean and reliable data sources can be established.
  2. Data Lake: Based on the construction strategy of “promoting overall planning and promoting construction with application”, it gathers massive internal and external data of Huawei and forms a clean, complete and consistent data lake through physical and virtual access methods in strict accordance with six standards.
  3. Data subject connection: five data connection modes, driven by both planning and demand, establish data subject connection, and support data consumption through services.
  4. Data consumption: aiming at the data consumption scenario, it meets the demand of self-service data consumption by providing a unified data analysis platform.
  5. Data governance: In order to ensure the orderly development of data work in various business areas, it is necessary to establish unified data governance capabilities, such as data system, data classification, data perception, data quality, security and privacy, etc.

The overall framework of data system construction (as shown in Figure 1-6) is based on unified rules and platforms, on the premise of business digitalization, on the basis of data entry into the lake, and on the basis of connecting and providing services through data themes to support digital business operation.

▲ Figure 1-6 The overall framework of Huawei’s data work construction

This article is an excerpt from Huawei Cloud Community’s “Digital Transformation in 5 Years, How Did the Company Do It?” , the original author: Huawei Data Management Department.

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