In April 2019 Sogeti and ChinaTalk collaborated on a China study tour for a group of Sogeti’s customers. The program aimed at discovering how digital innovations are developing in China and what could be the next steps and impacts. The trip took us to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing and included visits to Alibaba, Baidu, Vanke (all arranged with the help of Cap Gemini Shanghai) and live-streaming agency Redu.
ChinaTalk arranged the overall logistics for the study tour, a presentation on China’s social credit system and two New Retail city safari’s in which we visited unmanned stores and other innovative retail concepts.
After the trip Sogeti held a customer satisfaction survey in which participants were asked to rate the following aspects:
- Meals and logistics
- Visit to The Forbidden City
- Guidance by ChinaTalk’s Ed Sander
- Presentation about China’s Social Credit System by Ed Sander
- City Safaris in Beijing and Shanghai
- Company visits to Baidu, Redu, Alibaba and Vanke
- Presentations at Cap Gemini Shanghai
We were delighted to learn that all of these elements of the trip received an average rating between 4 and 5 out of 5 stars.
The overall trip received a 4,4 out of 5 stars and the probability that the participants would recommend the trip to others received 4,6 out of 5 stars.
Please find some feedback from the participants below.
What are your personal key take-aways or insights?
- “China’s main objectives for the coming years (securing trade routes, stimulating internal market), a land of contrasts (modernity vs tradition) and how to deal with it.”
- “China is big enough for the companies in China. There are some good innovation going on in China. Numbers are extremely big on everything they do!”
- “Data, data, data. The extreme use of data, but also impressed with how well they are using it. China is truly embracing data to target the right product to the right customers. The idea of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and the acceptance of a failing fast culture in China is impressive.”
- “I was well informed on the payment and commerce innovation we saw. Confirmation is good ;-). The scale and rapidness of the whole economy and the power of how thing are being done was the biggest insight.”
- “Strategy into action. Technology alive and kicking.”
- “The speed of scaling-up innovations is beyond imagination. Amazing how in online and offline retail are interconnected in a way that really makes sense in the customer experience.”
- “1) Agility is about “just try it and do it”, 2) Chinese companies are not just copy cats, 3) Use IT wherever you can to make things easier and 4) Do not underestimate China.”
Other thoughts:
- “Excellent to experience how China is entering the 21st century.”
- “Well organised trip with a good diversity of participants. Enjoyed the discussions within the group around all the learnings during the week. Valuable trip that gave me some strong take-away’s! Thanks!”
- “Great inspiration!”
- “One can read all about China, but seeing and feeling makes all the difference in understanding wha’ts going on there.”
For a collection of learnings from the study tour, please read this presentation on the Sogeti website.