Think global, act local: Huawei’s digital transformation services

More than hardware and networking: Huawei does digital transformations

In the massive and confusing landscape of the digital transformation market, Huawei’s brand centers around hardware and telecommunications — essential, though unexciting, components. Beyond the brand, Huawei has been delivering digital services and engaging with enterprises on their digital transformations in the company’s home market of China and globally, steadily building experience and use cases to support a substantial services practice.

In a wide-ranging discussion with Hank Stokbroekx, Huawei’s VP for Enterprise Services, TBR learned the company has strategically partnered with vendors such as Accenture and EY on digital transformation engagements outside China while building its own reference use cases on the mainland. Stokbroekx highlighted two for TBR that indicate where Huawei is headed.

Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport

In Shenzhen, Huawei’s headquarters, the company has been piloting various digital transformation projects within Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, including passenger recognition, analytics and IoT solutions. In Stokbroekx’s view, profitability is not the No. 1 priority, as the heightened profile for Huawei of being integral to the airport’s transformation provides brand and marketing value on its own.

During the Huawei 2021 Global Analyst Summit in April, Stokbroekx introduced analysts to Industry Operations Assistance. The solution, based on a platform and ecosystem piloted in China, enables intelligent operation command center monitoring inside a company. Intelligent Operation & Maintenance was used in the Shenzhen airport, which previously had a complex operational system with multiple requirements for operation and maintenance services. As a result of the implementation, the airport experienced reduced time to locate a fault in its network from one day to 20 minutes and improved systems availability by 20%, leading to reduced flight delays.

The solution also enabled the airport to improve operation and maintenance efficiency by 30%. In TBR’s assessment, Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport offers Huawei two massive opportunities. First, every client from every different industry coming to Huawei’s headquarters will pass through the airport, providing the company a chance to demonstrate its digital transformation capabilities in a direct and experiential way. Second, successfully deploying solutions at one airport provides reference use cases for embarking on other digital transformation pilot programs at other airports around the region.