Opportunities & Challenges of China’s Digital Development under the Regular Epidemic Prevention and Control Measures
By Yanqi Xie，Vice President & Dr. Junsong Peng，Chief Digital Officer & Vice President of SAP Greater China
Since outbreak of COVID-19 in China，the efforts to fight the epidemic has gained worldwide attentions. Accordingly，many International organizations，including the World Health Organization（WHO），and political figures from many countries spoke highly of the firm determination and strong measures that Chinese government has taken to fight the epidemic. They also expressed their confidence in assuring early victory of the Chinese people. In China，Foreign-Invested Enterprises（FIEs）have been enthusiastically contributing to key epidemic areas and organizing the mobilization of resources to ensure steady production of anti-epidemic supplies.
In response to this unexpected social event，SAP has deeply practiced the good vision of “In China，For China” and actively fulfilled its corporate social responsibility. As a famous poem in Tang Dynasty described，“a thousand sails pass by the wrecked ship，ten thousand saplings shoot up beyond the withered tree.” We should envisage that the epidemic-created difficulties will eventually pass away and the wheel of history will roll forward. On 14th February 2020，President Xi Jinping once again put forward “the 15 systems，9 mechanisms and 4 policies” for the prevention and control of epidemic situation and strengthening social governance，which points out the overall direction for systemically coping with the similar emergent incidents. SAP also comprehensively combed after thinking deeply about this and then shared it with you.
1 Facilitating timely anti-epidemic actions and ensuring advanced technology go ahead
SAP is one of the world’s largest providers of enterprise application software，business solution and cloud service，which was founded in 1972 and headquartered in Germany. As the most valuable brand in Europe，77% of the worldwide transaction revenues touch SAP systems. SAP is not only the initiator and core-leader of German Industry 4.0，but also the main promoter of Sino-German cooperation. SAP entered China in 1992 and is headquartered in Jing’an District，Shanghai. The rapid development of SAP’s business in China thanks to China’s reform and opening up. Therefore，it is incumbent upon SAP to contribute in the fight against this epidemic.
（1）Positively participating in the fund donations to support frontline
On January 24th，Chinese New Year’s Eve，SAP global management convened Greater China executives to discuss countermeasures，and initiated emergency measures to support. In the first phase，SAP has donated 3 Million RMB¥ to Hubei Charity Federation，and 78k EUR for five critical hospitals in Wuhan，which are Tongji Hospital，Tongji Medical College，Huazhong University of Science & Technology；Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology；The central hospital of Wuhan；Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine；Jin Yintan Hospital of Wuhan. In the meantime，SAP is implementing a donation of 1 million EUR，and of management software tailored for the epidemic，which is worthy of 1 million EUR that includes talent training and post-maintenance services.
（2）Enhancing the city’s comprehensive immunity by adaptation to circumstances
Subsequently，SAP coordinated resources，leveraged its own high-tech advantages and experiences in participating in disease surveillance to fully support the fight against the epidemic outbreak and the restoration of urban production and living functions. Again，SAP urgently activated the genes in digitalization，cloud computing and intelligent applications to provide urban emergency prevention and control solutions and health personnel training long-term mechanism plan based on SAP’s software management system. The cores are：
① Establish a sound and well-rounded medical personnel archives and emergency prevention and control personnel training system，to build an efficient emergency response team by means of big data and intelligent matching；
② Implement dynamic tracking and assessment to ensure emergency prevention and control knowledge and skills are offered anytime online，and intelligently analyze emergency prevention and control talent reserves，staffing and related resource allocation；
③ Improve the information early-warning and monitoring mechanism for potential risks for public health，and intelligently assist in investigating hidden risks and reporting real-time trends in epidemic prevention and control.
At the same time，according to difficulties that appear to during the process of production recovery upon preliminary epidemic under control：such as restrictions of employee’s mobility，conditions of limited work resumption，and fracture of the upstream and downstream industrial chains，SAP developed “Optimized Configuration Solution of Regional Labor Forces”，which mainly utilize the Industrial Park as the management boundary to set up a platform for sharing and allocating labor resources. This platform solves many practical problems in course of returning to work through the information linkage of “government end”，“enterprise end” and “user end”. All these efforts have been carried out in the medium- and long-term implementation planning，and have accumulated useful experience for “digital governance” on future epidemic prevention and control and other social emergencies.
（3）Boosting corporate law-abiding consciousness and strengthening compliance awareness
In accordance with the relevant requirements of Legislative Work Committee of the National People’s Congress，to implement the unified deployment by Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology，SAP organized relevant departments and staffs to systematically study Infectious Disease Prevention Law，Emergency Response Law，Cybersecurity Law，Emergency Regulations on Public Health Emergencies，Central Cyber Security and Informatization Commission Office on the Protection of Personal Information and the Use of Big Data Support Notice of Joint Prevention and Control Work. Consequently，the concerned regulations are observed in the fields of employees’ quarantine and observation of returning to Beijing and Shanghai office after the Spring Festival，office epidemic prevention and control，business recovery，as well as supervision and management，all of which are for the purpose of enhancing the company’s awareness of law-biding and compliance. Meanwhile，by making full use of SAP’s own business advantages，and in comply with the requirements of the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism，SAP attempted to collect and analyze relevant data for epidemic prevention and control within the company in line with laws and regulations. In addition，SAP developed related software to meet the needs of the State Council’s health and epidemic prevention department and local governments. Furthermore，in the process of analyzing data，SAP strictly implements data security and personal information protection measures according to national laws and regulations in relation to protecting personal information.
2 Solving the problem by locating sources and being prepared for a rainy day
Before the breakout of the COVID-19 that is currently raiding the entire world，the economy of China was just going through a critical time—the general indicators of economic growth were going down，the transformation and upgrade were ongoing，along with the well-planned revolutionary change on the economic structure. Hence，this epidemic situation will undoubtedly lead consumer market，investment market，state’s financial incomes into an even darker place. This is not the SARS in early 2003，while China was still on the honeymoon with WTO and enjoying a rapidly growing population and all those benefits that come in with it. SARS was too little of an impact on China’s upraising economy. COVID-19 is spreading in a speed the world has never witnessed with the performance of affecting China in the worst possible way. It has rapidly spread over the entire country，with no province left behind. People get sick，quarantined and even killed，while factories，schools and office buildings were left empty. Needless to say，the chain effects triggered by COVID-19 is crushing all major economic activities in developed cities. More importantly，judging more its duration，scope，and destructiveness，the COVID-19 will have a much more significant influence on China than the SARS.
Between the SARS（2003）and the COVID-19（2020），the world has been through five other epidemics that were proclaimed as “Public Health Emergencies of International Concern”（PHEIC）by WHO. Chronologically，they are Pandemic H1N1（2009），Polio（2014），Ebola in West Africa（2014），Zika（2015-16），and Ebola in Congo（2018-19）. Plus the MERS outbreak in Korea（2015），it is fair to say that the world was never safe from highly contagious epidemics and has never stopped facing the challenges. It is clear that despite our best effort，the world simply can afford to sit aside and let one or two particular countries facing such disease all by themselves. International cooperation works better than wishful thinking. When facing challenges that are of such urgency，severity and complicacy，the world has no choice but to join hands with each other. For all of us，“Community of Shared Future for Mankind” is a vision that is far too precious to be missed. For now，the most crucial task is to control the outbreak and join all the powers we can to speed up the development and production of the vaccine. Secondly，it is more important than ever for all involved countries，regions and institutes to understand，support and help each other. And keep in mind，hatred and bullying are not only distractive but also counter-productive. As Doctor-General of WHO，Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus，has said，China put Wuhan on lockdown，and serval mega-provinces including Hubei，Beijing，Shanghai，Anhui，Guangdong，Tianjin，and Chongqing on the highest level of public health concern alert. The price is painfully huge，as it often is when you are making the right decision. China quarantined itself with no hesitation，not to protect the nation that was already plundered by the epidemic. But to close the door from the inside，in a room that caught on fire.
In conclusion，from the state government point of view，now it is time to look beyond this particular epidemic，reflect the past and take precautions for the future.
① Improve bottom line thinking and red line thinking. Build stronger resilience on the national level，particularly against epidemic and complex emergent situations caused by the epidemic outbreak. To accomplish that，we need positive thinking and preparations for the worst possible scenarios. In other words，we need emergency response plans for either epidemic outbreaks or natural disasters，economic crises，geopolitical conflicts，and even possible cases that they might overlap or interact with each other. Trust scientific prevention and rehabilitation as the primary guide to our action，avoid both over-positiveness and excessive pessimism.
② Take precautions and develop emergency response plans against both imported cases and domestic epidemic outbreaks. Keep taking the leading role as a major power in the international community. Reinforce China’s image as the living example of a modern state with advanced instruments of governing. Build stronger and more effective governance capabilities in all levels of local government，raise awareness of public health concerns among the general population. Put resilience theory into practice by establishing and implementing emergency response plans，to tackle worse possible epidemic outbreaks.
③ Establish long term plans for the next ten years or even longer by building a major national security risk assessment system and the response plan accordingly. Considering the significance of the next decade period for achieving the “Two Centenary Goals”，it is essential to push forward the related scientific researches，then develop and enforce prevention drills. We are looking into a critical time for China，and it is of paramount importance that China makes the best effort to improve its overall resilience capacity，especially in dealing with major public emergencies. Emergency acts such as disaster relief and strategic reserve should be refined and reinforced with great determination so that the society can quickly recognize，respond，stay resilient，and thrive from possible disasters in the future.
3 Based on improving digital governance and offering advice to ensure development
Combining with its own experience in enterprise application software R&D，sales and service，and considering deeply the beneficial policies issued by governments to support related enterprises during the epidemic，SAP makes suggestions to government and enterprises from the perspective of “digital social governance”.
（1）This outbreak has exposed many weak links in digital infrastructure
In the face of the epidemic，there is a lack of capacity reserve data for key materials such as masks. In the face of the economy，how many factories need to resume work，how many factories need capacity，and how can balance of supply and demand be achieved upstream and downstream in the supply chain？No data supports. The lack of these key and important data has brought great trouble to the country’s centralized deployment and rapid response. Governments around the world，including financial institutions，have successively issued policies for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. In the absence of both digital foundation and data support，it is difficult to achieve precise implementation. SAP hopes that government could further recognize the importance and necessity of digital infrastructure from this epidemic situation，and make up for the missing shortcomings.
（2）The early warning before the outbreak and the disposal process after the outbreak directly shows the insufficient equipment on the national emergency management system
There is a special system called “Crisis and Emergency Management Platform”（abbr. C/EMP）. Its main function is to support government to manage large public safety crisis. At present，more and more foreign companies have begun to apply this system，including fields of power，transportation，medical and financial industries. C/EMP is capable to manage tasks，resources，communications，collaboration，and data when an organization is facing a crisis. In addition，C/EMP could be used to analyze changing conditions during a crisis，to keep abreast of the status，and to ensure that the procedures adopted meet government emergency management standards. As the number，frequency，scope，impact，and types of crises continue to increase，government will take the lead to strengthen the coordination and communication of C/EMP systems in different places，regions，organizations，and enterprises. It is undoubtedly necessary to improve emergency response and handling. SAP believes that we should learn deeply from lessons of this epidemic. On the one hand，the construction of C/EMP should be carried out immediately. On the other hand，relevant standards should be designed to ensure that the C/EMP of different enterprises and organizations are connected.
（3）From a higher-level technical perspective，C/EMP is also one of the seven sub-items of the crisis management technology ecosystem
At present，the most relevant requirement for the majority of enterprises is business continuity management in the seven sub-items. A large number of enterprises are unable to resume normal operations and production in a timely manner due to constraints such as employees，transportation，site，and supply. Although many companies have made some investments in digitalization，they have always been new to the concept of “Business Continuity Management”（abbr. BCM），which has been developed abroad for more than 20 years. The early BCM was just IT disaster recovery，providing protection for critical IT equipment and data centers. However，with the development of business and new challenges，such as the 24×7 service commitments provided by some companies，the globalization of business process operations，natural disasters，and virus transmission，BCM has also expanded into business areas. In response to the prevention and control of this epidemic，many companies hope to reduce the risk of transmission through remote office work. At the same time，they also hope that the business can be quickly restored and the supply interrupted by suppliers can be restored. These are BCM’s management goals of.
（4）This epidemic will promote the development of “non-contact” and “low-contact” working models and business models，which will be a good opportunity for many enterprises
The traditional business model “Only Seeing Customers Can Sign Contracts” would be forced to make changes. This epidemic has driven everyone to think deeply about whether digital sales can be used to make sales operations more transparent，direct and efficient. By this way can businessmen no longer focus on meeting customers，but more focus on the resonance of value and philosophy. And for consumers，this epidemic is also equivalent to the popularization of consumption habits. SAP believes that in the future，e-commerce channels will be more grounded，target on practical results and flourish.
（5）The epidemic brings us not only “a danger” but also “an opportunity”，which also constitutes a touchstone to test the digital innovation ability of enterprises
Regarding some new products urgently needed and expedited by the epidemic，many links require organic coordination，which typically comprise demand response，R&D，trial production，testing，full operation and ramping-up of capacity. Regarding every new crisis，if enterprises can respond quickly and effectively through digital innovation capability，it will bring great help to themselves and society. During the specific time-span of anti-epidemic，the collaborative designs and site management capabilities of China Construction Industry are predominant to all. The delivery of products under extreme events must be guaranteed by digital means，otherwise the preliminary planning stage of Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital will not be able to finish within 78 minutes the architectural design scheme and construction drawings of Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital that happened 17 years ago，to complete the collaborative design within 24 hours，to finalize the construction plan within 60 hours. All aforesaid factors guarantee accomplishing the collaborative field construction containing many details within 6 days and eventually putting into use on time.
（6）The high-tech，which is represented by big data，artificial intelligence and cloud service platform，is the key direction for the government to encourage the development and application in the anti-epidemic process
Meanwhile，it also constitutes an important part of the development of national digital economy. In this professional field，FIEs have accumulated rich experiences in long-term technology development and business operation. Accordingly，they are eager to actively participate in with the aim of promoting the leapfrog development of China’s Information and Communication Industry（ICT）. We fully understand the importance and necessity of “Autonomous and Controllable” policy for safeguarding national economic security. However，the technology investment，management level and experience sharing of multinational companies make up an essential part of improving the overall development level of relevant industries in this great country，which is proven by the outstanding achievements of China’s reform and opening-up over the past 40 years. FIEs hope to get more opportunities for direct participation and make their own contributions.
We firmly believe that China will win the people’s war against epidemic prevention and control through in-depth implementation on President Xi Jinping’s important speeches and instructions in this realm and carrying out the decision-making of the Central Committee of CPC and deployment of China State Council. At the same time，we are confident that China can coordinate anti-epidemic and economic and social development by means of “Maintaining Six Stabilities”，i.e.，stabilizing employment，finance，foreign trade，foreign investment，domestic investment and expectation. All these endeavors are focused on minimizing negative impact of epidemic on national production and life. As a member of the vast number of FIEs，SAP will “Share the Same Breath and Destiny” with the Chinese market，adhere to his concept of “Boundless Thinking，Well Behaved”，make unremitting contributions to enhancing digital emergency response capabilities of anti-epidemic and providing high-tech means，as well as helping to promote the long-term development of China’s digital economy.