Chapter 16 Chapter 2 Constructing the Enterprise Nervous System

Whether a person's nervous system is developed affects and determines his IQ, wisdom and life destiny.Suning is committed to building the nervous system of the enterprise, hoping that Suning will become a corporate giant full of wisdom and well-developed limbs. Suning's information system construction is a magnificent history.Judging from the timeline, Suning has gone through four generations of systems. If you count the intelligence that will be realized in the future and realize the "combination of virtual and real" technology companies, it is already the fifth generation.From a logical point of view, Suning has realized the process from focusing on the process to management and then to specific applications.

Suning has accumulated a lot of experience in the process of information system construction. A simple summary is: clarify your own goals, truly start from actual needs, focus on yourself, and cultivate your own team. In the construction of information system, Suning embodies the spirit of enterprise.Under the condition that the conditions were not perfect, Suning resolutely launched the SAP system due to the urgent need of enterprise development, and relied on strong execution to overcome this hurdle.In the long-term process of informatization construction, Suning also showed strong perseverance and undivided attention.

In general, informatization has brought Suning deep-seated changes in its operating mechanism, organizational system, management logic, and corporate culture. Shaped Suning's industry attributes. It is hard for you to imagine that at a certain moment, Zhang Jindong almost turned Suning into an e-commerce company.If so, the following story will be completely rewritten.At that time, the surging Internet wave had not yet arrived.Zhang Chaoyang, Ding Lei, and Ma Huateng have not even started their own businesses that changed the lives of many people.In a word, the territory of the Internet has not yet begun to demarcate, and everything is unknown.During this period, there are many vague understandings and faint excitement.

"I still remember that in 1998, we went to Zhongguancun to investigate and discuss e-commerce, which is the B2C issue we are talking about today. In fact, in 1998 we were discussing whether to adopt B2C or physical stores." As a result, After the 10-day "Zunyi Conference", Zhang Jindong made a final decision and pulled Suning into the era of national large chains. That's the beauty of being a business.To change or not to change?To what place?how to change?No one can tell you directly, you have to make your own decision, you may go to heaven in one step, or you may go to hell in one step.

Recalling that at that time, where did the courage come from to cut off the wholesale business with a scale of billions with one blow, Zhang Jindong felt that this was actually a matter of confidence. "Market decisions can't be a little muddy, and we can't try blindly. We are full of confidence, and we will resolutely implement what we think is right. When we see the direction and clear the goal, no matter how high the price is, we will not hesitate. This is like fighting a war, to occupy a winning hill. Even if it is covered with bruises, limbs and arms, we have to take it down."

More importantly, Zhang Jindong felt the sudden change in the air-conditioning market at that time, and the game in the supply chain became complex and intense. In the face of changes in the external environment, in the industry, and in the face of undeniable pressure from manufacturers, Zhang Jindong also felt at a crossroads: what should Suning do? When there are many roads in front of you and you have to choose the right one, other roads become a dangerous temptation.But fortunately, Zhang Jindong still chose to be a chain and a solid terminal, and he plunged into the improvement of internal management capabilities, starting to work on the backstage, informatization, and talent reserve.Because, "What we are doing is Suning for a hundred years."

Although, because of Zhang Jindong's forward-looking vision, Suning has made some informatization attempts or, to be precise, it should be called computerization, but that cannot be counted as informatization in the true sense.Only when Suning enters the field of comprehensive electrical appliances from a single air-conditioning field due to the transformation of its development model, and develops from a local air-conditioning chain store to a comprehensive chain store, when Suning is forced by the situation and starts to implement the ERP system, can it be regarded as a real start. Informatization blueprint in the sense.

Zhang Jindong almost instinctively made a decision on informatization construction, which was later proved to be the correct path by practice.After going through ten days of "purgatory" focused discussions, Suning finally established a chain development strategy, but Zhang Jindong took a detour and started something that seemed to have nothing to do with the chain: First, the enterprise organization Reengineering of business processes; Second, based on this, an ERP system was implemented.With the support of organization, process and information system, Suning began to develop to the whole country, and gradually explored some management methods and operation means of chain development.

"In the early ten years, we crossed the river by feeling the stones, but in the later period, we definitely did not cross the river by feeling the stones. There may be many management plans and some specific plans, or specific management standards, and we have not yet achieved real perfection. There are still some ambiguities and uncertainties, but we are not wrong to follow this direction. The development of the enterprise itself is a process of continuous improvement, and it is impossible to formulate a system once and for all." Zhang Jindong said. Regarding that period of history, Zhang Jindong said: "We did not blindly expand on a large scale." At that time, Suning's main competitors had already started a rapid staking in the country, a "modern retail chain industry." "The Tortoise and the Hare" is happening.However, Suning remained calm.

When the dust settled and Suning was ahead of the industry through long-term development, Zhang Jindong concluded: "In the market, at a certain stage, our peers have done more than us, and even have more capital than us. We don’t care too much, we are always full of confidence. Suning’s biggest competitor is itself, and what needs to be solved most is the essential problem of the retail industry: information, logistics and service. We need to consolidate our backstage, our informatization, our Talent strategy, our store development model, our standards, these are the basis for our development. All these are key and tangible things, and they are things we can rely on."

——If Suning is regarded as a person, the information system should be the nervous system of the enterprise.The importance of nerves to people is self-evident, and Suning is well aware of this.But having a tough and sensitive "nervous system" is not easy, and Suning has worked hard for it.This is a magnificent construction history of an enterprise. Informatization is a big project.Looking back at the development process of Suning's informatization, it is full of hardships and ups and downs, but it is also full of exciting changes. The background of Suning's informatization process is the rapid advancement of information technology and the major changes it has caused to people's work and lifestyle.As a vocabulary invented by Japanese scholars and widely circulated after being translated into English, the word "informatization" was really accepted by China and developed into a trend, that is, at the end of the 20th century. The time for Suning to start the informatization process has to move forward.Suning's official records are: In 1993, Zhang Jindong configured more than a dozen computers for the company, and connected these computers to establish a stand-alone application based on the DOS system.Subsequently, in order to do a good job in the management of air-conditioning customer service, Suning took the lead in establishing the first complete after-sales service management system in the air-conditioning industry. Computerized process management.This is the earliest practice of Suning informatization. 1994 was a very special time point. On April 20 of this year, the China National Computer Network Project opened the 64K international special line connected to the Internet through the US Sprint Company, realizing a full-featured connection with the Internet.China has officially become an internationally recognized country with a fully functional Internet.This incident was rated as one of China's top ten science and technology news in 1994 at the time. Although the move to buy a computer, which was still a rarity at the time, was related to Zhang Jindong's willingness to try new things, but in the early days, Suning's awareness of informatization was completely forced by the situation.Zhang Jindong said that before customer service was managed by computer processes, all Suning customer information was basically in paper form.The transmission of internal information in the company is basically recorded manually by employees, and then the operation process of running orders is carried out to transmit the information.However, once these papers that recorded important customer information were lost, the work was all messed up at once. That experience made Zhang Jindong realize that if the coordination between various departments has been in a state of manual work without using the gradually developed information technology, the management efficiency of the enterprise will inevitably be very low.As a service-oriented retail enterprise, Suning cannot gain a competitive advantage in the market. According to Ren Jun, the vice president in charge of the group's informatization construction, in fact, there was no concept of informatization at that time, and information technology was still limited to the concept of computers, but Zhang Jindong had already vaguely felt that informatization should be a very important link . According to the information implementation principle of step-by-step implementation and gradual improvement, in 1996, Suning successively realized the layout of local area network systems such as shopping malls, logistics distribution, warehouses, and after-sales service centers, and incorporated these businesses into the information system. The information system conducts sales management, distribution management, warehouse management and after-sales service management to improve service efficiency and quality. What Suning is proud of is that in 1996, Suning developed a retail invoicing system and became the first commercial retail enterprise in the country to realize the integration of computer retail issuance of value-added tax invoices and financial sales.This functional design has been developed and perfected, and has been promoted and used in the retail industry across the country. In 1999, Suning proposed the concept of "E-chain" and spent 30 million yuan to implement the ERP management system. In the second half of 2000, Suning's ERP management system was successfully launched. In fact, hidden behind the decision on informatization construction is Zhang Jindong's consideration of Suning's development direction. Zhang Jindong's idea is very clear: "From a market perspective, there is a complete industry support and supply chain system from production to consumption. As the situation of oversupply becomes more and more obvious, everyone is paying more and more attention to the downstream of the supply chain. Whole machine manufacturers and wholesalers are increasingly dependent on retailers, and retailers are increasingly dependent on consumers. The focus of competition is no longer the procurement and supply link but the sales and service link. Because the price of home appliances continues to decline, the backlog of goods and unsalable goods are There will be huge risks, so the entire supply chain must strive for the terminal. The efficiency of the terminal directly determines the benefit of the manufacturer. The traditional forward logistics from the manufacturer to the consumer will be replaced by the reverse logistics from the consumer to the manufacturer. Instead, it's called 'terminal is king'." The best way to build this reverse logistics network is to establish a large-scale retail terminal system, and the method to establish a large-scale retail terminal system is to chain. "Only the high degree of unity of the chain can make this network unbreakable; only the high replicability of the chain can realize the rapid expansion of the network scale; only the uniqueness of the chain can ensure that no matter how large the network is, enterprises can control it Implement effective control and management." Generally speaking, Zhang Jindong changed his mind very quickly in those years, so that some capable generals around him couldn't keep up with his train of thought.After experiencing "cutting big households" and weakening the wholesale business of air conditioners and switching to comprehensive home appliance retailing, Zhang Jindong "tossed" a nationwide chain operation. However, there is always a big distance between ideal and reality.From wholesale to retail to chain, in the process of Suning's strategic transformation, the original management system is no longer suitable for Suning's development, and needs to be systematically rebuilt fundamentally. Suning's systematic reengineering of the enterprise around the national chain operation system includes the reengineering of organization and process, human resources, culture and many other aspects, and the reengineering of information system is a very important part of it. At that time, ERP had become a trend. Some enterprises rushed to launch ERP not out of their own needs, but out of fashion ideas, but finally found that they were "unacceptable".After spending a lot of money, I finally found that the system is a system, and the management is still the same as before. The ERP system has not been integrated with the company's own management system and management thinking, and has failed to play its true role. Suning's design and requirements for the ERP system were to be able to solve practical problems, and the most practical problem at that time was: the integration of purchase, sale and storage. "At that time, what Suning wanted to do most was the integration of purchase, sales and storage, plus distribution and security service systems. We believe that the information system should not be mystified. If there are any problems, we can ask them and solve them. Instead of blindly pursuing the most technologically advanced system." Sun Weimin said. In this regard, Sun Weimin introduced a lesson from his personal experience.Suning's ERP selection initially chose a company in Nanjing, which proposed to develop an application system with B/S structure based on the most advanced JAVA technology.Suning asked the company to take the service system as the starting point, design the form program according to the service process, and then test it between the store and the after-sales service center. According to the idea, after the system goes online, the store can directly input data on the computer, and then directly transmit it to the service center through the network, and then the service center will directly dispatch workers.This can change the previous situation where the sales department first fills in the original documents, and then collects the documents and sends a special person to drive to the after-sales service center, and then start the relevant installation and maintenance dispatch.Purchasing, inventory, sales, and even after-sales can be connected through the system. However, because the software company designed software based on the Internet, it needed to rely on the Internet to transmit information, and the communication technology at that time could not support fast network transmission at all, and the speed was astonishingly slow, so the experiment ended in failure. At the end of 1999, Sun Weimin found Wuhan Jinli Software Company (hereinafter referred to as Wuhan Jinli).As a software company engaged in the department store management system, Wuhan Jinli already has a very complete purchase, sales and inventory software system.Although there is still a big difference in the management of department stores and electrical appliances, when the other party said that they could tailor-made for Suning to avoid the problem of poor adaptability, Sun Weimin immediately decided to cooperate. Suning's ERP system connects the scattered computer terminals of various subsidiaries and stores, changing from decentralized to centralized. Instead of setting up servers in various places, they are all directly connected to the headquarters through the advanced ATM network (asynchronous transfer mode).According to Sun Weimin, this centralized approach was actually designed based on the models of banks and securities companies, while all retail companies in China at that time still adopted a decentralized system architecture. This ERP system includes chain purchase settlement system, invoicing management system, financial management system, logistics distribution system, after-sales service system and customer relationship management system, etc., so that all core business processes of Suning are fully online.At the same time, the centralized structure enables the headquarters to keep abreast of all purchases, sales, and inventories of the day. The chain is characterized by multi-store, multi-variety, cross-regional, and multi-system scale operations, which brings about a complex business operation process, which involves massive data processing behind it.Suning's consideration at the time was to establish a system that could support a nationwide, cross-regional, multi-system, multi-store, and multi-variety system in the future, so the benefits of a centralized ERP system became obvious. Ren Jun said bluntly: "The structure of the retail industry is basically decentralized, with stores and districts as the unit, but when we first came up, it was centralized. Branches are just computer terminals and must be controlled by the headquarters... The future network will As it becomes more developed, the cost will become lower and lower, and centralization is not a problem.” There is still a big episode about Suning's first-generation ERP system.Because of lack of experience at the time, Suning did not sign an exclusive agreement with Wuhan Jinli.In other words, Wuhan Jinli has every right to resell the system that Suning has put a lot of effort into to other similar companies.In fact, Wuhan Jinli did the same.The system was resold by Wuhan Jinli to Suning's competitors in the industry.Because it is very practical, the final result is that the information system designed by Suning has finally become a "universal system" in the industry.For this matter, Zhang Jindong once lost his temper, criticizing the person in charge for his ineffectiveness and lack of consideration, and inadvertently made a "wedding dress" for others. Until now, Suning's SAP/ERP system has been successfully completed, leaving its competitors far behind, but Zhang Jindong still feels quite rough when he mentions this matter.However, Suning's unintentional move also unexpectedly brought about an improvement in the level of informatization for the entire industry, which is a digression. After the ERP system was successfully launched and introduced into Suning's daily management, Suning's "E-chain" is being implemented steadily.Since then, multiple functional module systems have been launched one after another, making Suning's "IT neural network" more and more perfect. In March 2001, Suning Appliance Network (www.cnsuning.com) was opened, and Suning realized online office. In 2003, Suning established a nationwide VOIP voice communication (internal IP telephone) system through the information system center. In the same year, Suning's centralized office automation (OA) system was launched, realizing "paperless" office, which enabled the electronic circulation of official documents and information transmission between the headquarters, regions, and subsidiaries. In 2004, Suning remote multimedia monitoring system was put into use.In the second half of this year, Suning began to implement the "B2B-based supply chain system", and the B2C system and customer file management system were also launched one after another. In fact, since the successful launch of the information system when it transferred to the chain operation in 2000, in just four or five years, Suning's information management system has realized the nationwide computer networking.This integrated system structure requires that all computers distributed across the country must be "hung" on the terminal no matter how far apart they are or where they are.As long as it is business and management matters, you can "talk" through the computer.In this way, Suning's high-tech systems and actual management operations have been organically integrated. As of February 2005, Suning has preliminarily established a centralized information system network with independent intellectual property rights through the combination of independent development and secondary development.The import, sale, storage, delivery and installation of commodities are all connected, communicated and controlled through the ERP system.The internal management system has also launched a nationally networked office automation, personnel, and attendance system. In order to improve internal communication and information transmission, Suning built an internal IP telephone system, SMS platform and video conferencing system.At the same time, in order to implement e-commerce, Suning has started to run Suning.com (B2C) and China Electric Network (B2B).The implementation of the information system has saved Suning a lot of costs. The adoption of the internal IP telephone system alone can save more than 10 million yuan in telephone charges every year. Among them, it is particularly commendable that when the theoretical circles are still advocating the concept of CRM, Suning has quietly turned CRM into a reality.The customer service centers of Suning are all based on the CRM system.The customer service center has a huge information system including CRM system. The CRM system incorporates multiple functions such as automatic language response, intelligent queuing, online calling, voice mail, fax and language recording, email processing, automatic screen pop-up, report function, integrated Chinese voice conversion function, integrated short message service, etc. Established a management platform covering the whole country with unified external services and comprehensive internal intelligence. In addition, the national video conferencing system can not only hold meetings, upload and issue various instructions and policies, but also realize unified TV training for multi-site employees in different places through the video transmission system.On this basis, Suning has further established a national terminal monitoring system.All terminals are equipped with cameras, and the images are transmitted to the headquarters through a private network.The headquarters has a modern operation command and control center that integrates video, audio, and data to conduct comprehensive, real-time, and visual understanding and monitoring of the country's operating conditions. Through the direct monitoring of terminals across the country, the headquarters can skip many links, greatly improve management efficiency, and simplify departmental work procedures.At the same time, with the support of the nationwide information network, Suning has established an accurate and reliable external information system to regularly collect external information resources and provide timely feedback.The establishment of a one-step-ahead information management system has improved the management efficiency of Suning's modern enterprise, promoted the rapid development of Suning's chain business, and ensured that Suning will always be one step ahead in the national chain development competition. - "The greatest story is no story".Choosing SAP and IBM is a matter of course, although there will be some twists and turns in the process of searching. In general, from the first generation of service system informatization to the second generation of sales and financial system informatization, the third generation of JL/ERP system, the fourth generation of SAP/ERP system, and even the fifth generation of intelligent The concept of informatization, Suning's informatization is a gradual and in-depth process. Suning's informatization process has been deepening continuously, in order to adapt to the development of the enterprise and make the information system match the development of the enterprise.However, due to the rapid expansion and rapid development of Suning's business, Suning's JL/ERP information system, which has been optimizing and improving its functions, still cannot keep up with the speed of Suning's development. It's the same in people. If we just rely on the simple replacement of "clothes" instead of fundamentally changing to a larger size of clothes, then the original ERP system has become increasingly unable to adapt to the rapid development of Suning, especially the business of the original system Defects such as separation from finance, inability to share data information in a timely manner, insufficient decision support capabilities, and inability to quickly and accurately provide customers with needs have severely restricted Suning's development. The needs of enterprises have changed, and the things of the past must be overthrown and restarted.Everyone is very clear in their hearts that it is not that the original ERP system has fundamental errors, but that the information system built gradually and completely based on the needs of the enterprise and the stages of development must be reconstructed and upgraded. "In the past, we wore children's clothing. Now that we have grown up, we must disrupt the original structure and re-establish a management platform for a large enterprise. We need a brand-new management system." Sun Weimin said. At the beginning of 2005, after careful consideration, Suning decided to launch a new information system. In fact, before this, Suning had a detailed discussion. At the end of 2004, Suning had landed in the A-share market for several months. At that time, Suning raised more than 400 million yuan of funds by issuing 25 million shares at 16.33 yuan. It was originally planned to be mainly used for the construction of chain stores, logistics and information systems. .But the question is how should the information system be built? After Ren Jun entered Suning in 1998 and worked as Zhang Jindong's secretary for several years, he was appointed as the director of Suning Information Center at that time.How to strengthen informatization construction is his most important work content.According to his recollection, at that time, the company was always looking for and analyzing problems, hoping to find out where the management problems of the company were, what problems were there in the information system, and how to support and reform them. After looking around, they found that the original ERP system could no longer adapt to the scale of enterprise development. From 2004 to 2005, there were many deep-seated problems in the management structure of the enterprise itself, which could no longer be solved by the original ERP system that focused on process management.In other words, simply tinkering can no longer solve the problem. Specifically, the underlying structure of the system developed by Wuhan Jinli is not that of a group enterprise. Once the scale of the enterprise becomes larger, there will be problems with system operation and maintenance, and it will not be able to support the development of the enterprise.When Suning goes farther and farther on the chain road, involves more and more product categories, spans more and more regions, and has a larger and larger team, how can it be the largest nationwide or regionally? The integration of resources to the limit becomes a problem. In short, the primary issue is resource integration. The second problem is functional limitations.The original system process is mainly some basic purchase, sales and inventory, which is mainly based on the solidification of the basic process of information entry and transmission.When the enterprise developed to an in-depth stage, Suning found that there were still many business needs that could not be solved by the original system functions themselves, and they were all deep-seated problems.For example, I only knew how to place a purchase order, but I didn’t know how to manage it; I only knew how to recruit people, but I didn’t have a specific career plan.The original system does not support the in-depth development of each link of the basic process, which is a problem of process deepening. The third problem is that the original system is not flexible enough.The retail market is ever-changing, and chains need standards, which means that Suning needs an information system that not only has an organizational framework and principles, but also can flexibly respond to the market and optimize the organization according to the continuous development of the enterprise. Whose system to choose?What should this system look like?By the end of 2004, informatization had become familiar to many domestic enterprises, and the chief information officer had also become a common position in domestic enterprises.However, the degree of informatization and the success of informatization vary from company to company.The upgrade of the information system must be based on the needs of the enterprise. The information system is used to solve problems, not a "fairy".But to let others solve your problems for you, you need to know what the problem is. In fact, Suning's goal is very clear, that is, to find an international mature software.In Ren Jun's words, "First of all, this software should be applied and proven by many people, the architecture and technology should be advanced, and the system should be stable and safe; second, whether this software can achieve flexible integration of resources; Third, in terms of the most important functions, does this software have the ability to dig deep, such as procurement management, customer relationship management, business intelligence analysis, etc. " When Suning set his sights on Germany's SAP company, he immediately had the feeling of "it's it". First of all, SAP/ERP is the world's No. 1 ERP management software and has been widely used around the world.What Suning is particularly interested in is that it is a product based on the SOA concept. The overall structure is relatively advanced, and it is constantly being optimized and developed. A large number of companies are using it, so its security is guaranteed.In fact, 70% of the world's top 500 companies are using this software. Secondly, in the process of communicating with SAP, Suning found that the degree of rigor of this software is very high.On the premise of rich functions, the functional design is very rigorous. In Suning's view, this is exactly what enterprises need most at that time. "A lot of functions are required to support the development of the enterprise. At the same time, each function needs to be simplified individually, but the connection between functions is rigorous. This will facilitate the promotion across the country. Every link is a ring. They are closely related and suitable for our development across the country.” Again, the SAP system has achieved a large logical concentration, which is a huge improvement compared to the previous physical concentration.Based on such a system architecture, Suning can realize national and regional resource integration and information transmission through the flexible setting and process setting of the enterprise. In addition, Suning also found that the SAP system still has a lot to explore in a certain sense, such as how to choose categories and product planning.The system will use different analysis methods for an order for 5 air conditioners and an order for 10 air conditioners, including business intelligence, which can basically meet Suning's needs for functions. Ren Jun recalled that there was basically no serious negotiation process between Suning and SAP at that time, and the cooperation between the two can be described as "hit it off".Suning clearly knew what he wanted. After listening to SAP's introduction to its system and communicating with the other party, everyone felt that this was what they were looking for. "The chairman only took 5 minutes to make a decision." Ren Jun recalled, "I reported to the chairman, and he was very clear, because he hoped that we can manage the enterprise rigorously, standardizedly and transparently through informatization. He advocated. So when I told him the problems of the existing system and the satisfaction of the SAP system for us, he made a quick decision." "The biggest story is that there is no story," Ren Jun commented on this selection process, which seems quite mysterious to the outside world, and seems to be worthy of exaggeration. How did the two companies get together so easily, creating an informatization "lighthouse project" in the retail industry?There is demand, there is communication, and there is a basic fit, all of which have laid the foundation for the cooperation between Suning and SAP. For the other protagonist of the story, SAP, after more than ten years of promotion in China, there are only 1,500 users. In the retail industry, including Suning, which will be implemented, and the previous B&Q and Jinhaima, there are only three Businesses use their own systems.In order to open up the retail user market in China, SAP decided to use Suning as a model, which can be regarded as going all out. It changed the past practice of only selling finished software, regardless of implementation and user customization requirements, and adopted a solution specially designed for the retail industry. Five modules have been used in succession: financial and cost management system, supply and material management system, sales management system, customer service system, and warehouse management system. However, after all, SAP only sells software, and what it provides is only a modular thing.Suning handed over tens of millions of cash to SAP in exchange for a CD.Wisdom really is that valuable. This CD contains the materials Suning uses to build its own brand new information platform, just like having the basic materials such as cement and steel bars needed to build a house, but how to build a house on this basis and what kind of building it should be The house also needs a blueprint designer and a post-execution construction party. IBM Corporation became such a blueprint designer. Why did IBM come together with Suning? What did IBM see in Suning?What did Suning take a fancy to IBM? "In 2005, the issue we thought about most was the management of large enterprises. Of course, we didn't think about the issue of intelligent management at that time, but the management of large enterprises. What is the management of this large enterprise? The most troublesome problem we encountered before It is cross-regional operation, and the expansion of this region is becoming more and more decentralized. In the process of becoming more and more decentralized, we want to centralize management in terms of control. And if centralized management is not supported by technology and systems, the enterprise will eventually be Drag to death." Sun Weimin hopes that through the launch of the new system, the management of the enterprise can adapt to the scale of a large enterprise with a level of 100 billion. When first contacting IBM, Suning worried that IBM just wanted to sell their stuff.After half a year of communication, after seeing many implementation cases provided by IBM, Suning began to realize the value of IBM.So Suning made up his mind to cooperate with IBM to build the management of large enterprises. Before establishing cooperation with IBM, Suning had many detailed discussions with Feng Guohua, managing partner of IBM Greater China Global Business Consulting Services Department. At that time, the most discussed issue between the two sides was still the management issue of large enterprises.For example, Suning hopes to establish a core centralized processing background to solve the cross-regional and cross-departmental problems that chain retail will inevitably encounter in the operation, but when processing data, can the centralized processing background solve the problems often encountered by the retail industry? To a large number of centralized concurrent jobs? Suning threw this question to IBM, hoping that IBM can make a rough calculation first.Later, IBM provided Suning with a report showing that they could process 50 concurrent jobs per second. "It can support the sale of 50 pieces of the same thing in one second, which means that there is definitely no problem." In fact, IBM, like SAP, hopes to participate in Suning's informatization transformation.The "hand in hand" between the two parties also fully follows Suning's consistent principle of win-win cooperation.Suning needs to realize the excellent growth model in the past at a higher level, and needs to introduce some of the best information systems in the world, so that it can better go to the world.And IBM needs a very representative company to open up a larger market for it. For the cooperation with Suning, IBM also has a lot of feelings.At the Suning and IBM strategic cooperation seminar held on July 20, 2009, Feng Guohua lamented that time has passed quickly, and Suning, who moved him four years ago, still has the ambition to become the world's top 500. IBM regards the cooperation with Suning as a big opportunity, especially after failing to be a consultant to Huawei, another historic opportunity suddenly appeared in front of IBM.This opportunity is: "Let the magic weapon, experience, and various talents we have accumulated in the past be well displayed in this experimental field. Suning is a big company and a company that is constantly growing.一些好的管理体制和机制。我们能在这样一家企业的平台上作试验，是我们的幸运。我很庆幸我们能有这样好的机会，跟着一块儿做这样的事情。” IBM甚至从一开始参与竞标时就清楚地知道，自己所做的工作将成为零售行业的“一个标志性的、灯塔性的东西”。 对于为什么最终选择IBM，孙为民是这样解释的：“IBM实际上做的是系统规划工作，蓝图设计要跟客户进行沟通，然后再做流程设计，最后才到了上线和施工阶段。你一定要找懂得SAP语言开发工具的这些人，要找对行业有一定认识和了解的专家。同时项目经理也很重要，他就相当于施工队长，要组织整个过程。这也是一个专业的工作，而IBM在这方面具有一定的经验。当然国内还有一些其他的企业也能做这件事情，而且价格比IBM还要低。那为什么我们还是选择IBM呢？因为我们知道这个工作一旦开始就是没有止境的，在做的过程中还要靠顾问给我们提出更高的要求。如果请了别的'施工队'，他就那个水平，到最后再想作延伸，他就不一定行了。 “我们认为不是为了实施系统而实施系统，而是通过实施系统再一次面向全国扩张，面向一、二、三、四级市场进行组织整合、资源整合。同时我们还要通过这个平台实现企业管理流程的深化和优化，使得我们拥有一个具备国际竞争力的平台。”任峻说。 2005年，三个蓝色巨人走到了一起，开始了上线SAP的项目合作。而等到SAP上线成功时，三方均感到合作愉快而且收获良多。 2007年苏宁和IBM又确立了战略性合作关系，来共同打造智慧型企业，智慧型零售。Of course, this is all for later. 事实证明，苏宁当时的决断是很正确的。信息系统本身就在不断地升级和优化过程当中，如果不是请了IBM这样很有经验的公司来切合苏宁的需求做系统后期的实施工作，系统最终对苏宁的促进也许就没有那么大了。苏宁在企业高速发展的过程中不断提出需求，而IBM就在苏宁身边提供持续的服务。 家电连锁企业是典型的规模效益型行业。在开始做连锁的头几年，苏宁在门店数量的增长上与竞争对手相比不占优势。在“圈地运动”上，苏宁还是谨慎出击。但在大规模信息化的建设方面，苏宁始终争先抢位，这成为苏宁有信心取得长期作战胜利的独门秘籍。 苏宁在2000年与武汉金力合作上线的ERP系统，实际上也就是一个简单的商业管理信息系统，苏宁因此成为国内第一个使用信息化手段进行企业管理的家电连锁企业，做了一次先驱。而这个时间比竞争对手早了足足两年。 当2005 年7 月苏宁宣布会投入大笔资金升级ERP系统，并且还要在短时间内完成项目时，“大跃进”、“会死得很难看”等冷言冷语扑面而来。现在回头来看，信息化可能是苏宁改变力量对比的少有的机会之一，但是当时还是受到颇多质疑。甚至，在上线SAP/ERP系统之后，许多媒体都提出了一个同样的问题—SAP公司确实是世界级的软件集成方案供应商，但是它的系统只是精于制造，而苏宁却拿它来做连锁零售项目，这多少都是件让人感到不太安心的事情。 ——SAP系统上线是个高难度的大工程，但是苏宁经受住了考验。 总的来说，在2005年和2006年，苏宁很不平静。这个不平静不仅是指外部环境的风云变幻，也是指苏宁自身的迅猛发展所带来的诸多变数。 经历了2005年的跑马圈地，苏宁、国美、永乐、五星、大中五家公司共同构筑了“全国竞逐，区域分割”的家电连锁市场格局，但是这种格局并没有保持多久就被打破了。2006年5月29日，美国百思买公司收购了江苏五星电器公司51%的股份，成立了“百思买-五星”合资新公司。2006年7月25日，国美在北京召开新闻发布会，宣布以52.68亿港元的“股票+现金”的形式并购永乐。 在此之前的2006年4月21日，大中与永乐宣布了双方实施全面战略合作。当永乐被国美收购，陈晓当上了新国美的总裁之后，大中又宣布终止之前与永乐签署的战略合作协议，并一度要出售给苏宁。黄光裕在收购永乐后，志得意满地放话要收购苏宁，一度闹得业内人士还纷纷为苏宁担心…… 那两年，家电连锁江湖浪涛不断，大家合纵连横，你来我往，让人恍觉进入战国。就是在这样的大背景下，苏宁进入了自己的第二轮大发展，也踏上了自己的信息化新征程。 2005年7月，以武汉为收官城市，苏宁实现了在全国一级城市的布点。站在这个时间节点上，如何实现纵深发展，如何实现跨区域、跨业务的资源整合，更好地体现连锁的效益，成为苏宁考虑的重要问题。 作为第四代SAP/ERP系统建设实施的重要亲历者，时任苏宁信息中心总监的任峻记得很清楚，整个项目的启动是在2005年的7月20日。在此之前，苏宁经过接触已经敲定了方案提供商SAP公司以及后期负责帮助实施的顾问IBM公司。先不说新系统的上线对苏宁的未来发展具有的非凡意义，单是整个项目所支付的大笔费用，就让苏宁的上上下下不敢懈怠。 据粗略统计，包括软硬件以及实施费用在内，苏宁在SAP/ERP项目上的耗费就超过1亿元。这对于那个时候正处于快速扩张期的苏宁而言并不是个小数目。任峻记得，在2005年的下半年，几乎每周，在苏宁的内部都有SAP项目会议，有时候一周还有好多次。会议的主要内容是苏宁的中高层干部对相关方案进行研讨和培训，力求能够在思想上、方法上达到统一。 在SAP/ERP系统上线项目开始启动之前，苏宁做了一些准备的工作：先是在企业内部作了一个大的动员，让企业的上上下下都明确上一个全新的系统而不是在原有系统上进行修补的意义；接着，从全国各地各个部门所抽调出来的150名大学生员工组成了项目部。这些大学生基本上是以苏宁“1200工程”一期、二期的成员为主。 苏宁“1200工程”是从2003年开始的，到2005年准备上马SAP项目的时候，这些员工在各个岗位上已经有了两三年的工作经验，了解企业的基本工作流程以及文化，也了解运行当中出现的问题。 但是，抽调人不是件容易的事情，甚至需要张近东亲自去给他们开动员会，让他们参与到SAP的项目组当中来。为此，张近东还专门设立了一些奖励的措施。张近东知道要成功实施这个SAP的项目，人才是很关键的。这个工程的前期准备工作，比如组织上的准备、人员的准备、技术的准备都很关键。 一些分公司的老总不愿意放人，因为这些大学生员工实在是太好用了，特别是在一个岗位上用熟了之后，更是让老总们觉得很舍不得。但是SAP的工程需要他们，需要具有较好基础的员工参与进来。 “SAP项目的成功上线，没有IBM公司做顾问不行，没有这些大学生也不行。”张近东日后总结，“信息化不是简单独立的，每一次升级都跟我们这一批人才有很大的关系，我们对信息化的理解不是做一个简单的咨询顾问，是一个全面、系统、长期的过程。” 苏宁的准备，在人力资源上最直观的动作就是：从内部抽调400名开发人员、2000名培训讲师，再加上做实施顾问的IBM相关人员，SAP公司的软件人员，前台开发的富基旋风公司的工作人员，一共有2500人在工作。在实施过程中，苏宁更是调集了2400名员工来做SAP/ERP项目。以前，苏宁所有项目都是3～6个月上线，SAP/ERP项目比较复杂，可以再多加3个月时间，之后必须上线。 在系统上线推进的不同阶段，IBM先后动用了6名国外供应链领域专家，20名IBM资深实施顾问，协同苏宁从各大业务体系中精心挑选出来的100多人共同组成实施团队，再加上苏宁的400名开发人员、2000名培训讲师，最终保证24000个终端成功上线。在如此短的时间内，2500多人的协同工作，培训扶持24000个客户端应用，这在IBM全球的ERP实施案例中也是绝无仅有的。 2005年7月19日，IBM实施顾问一行12人进驻苏宁，与苏宁从各大业务体系中精心挑选出来的100多人共同组成了实施团队。7月20日，苏宁召开了正式的启动大会。 在SAP/ERP项目实施最紧张的时候，系统开发人员加班加点，经常是通宵达旦，凭着顽强的毅力和高度负责的精神，熬过了最艰难的时刻。有的实施人员长期在外，一干就是半年。特别是2006年春节过后，SAP/ERP系统即将在全国苏宁上线时，所有实施人员都到了指定岗位，投入到上线前的准备工作之中。他们连续十多天辛勤工作在第一线，最后取得了成功。 尤其是在ERP数据的迁移过程中，苏宁每年信息量相当庞大，既要保留原有信息的完整性，又要注意信息的有用性，对那些过期的、无用的信息进行淘汰，只保留对今后有用的数据。这个工作量是惊人的巨大，实施小组克服困难，从海量信息库中进行选择，使新的SAP/ERP系统的负担最小，信息最准，性能最佳。 在信息系统建设的过程中，苏宁涌现出了许多特别能吃苦的员工。他们爱岗敬业，忘我工作，为系统成功上线作出了保障。也是因为他们，苏宁的SAP/ERP项目创下了全球零售业SAP系统实施规模最大、实施周期最短两项纪录，在国内零售业处于绝对领先水平。整个工程只花了九个月的时间。 苏宁SAP项目的实施过程分为三个主要阶段： 一、项目准备阶段。由SAP项目的实施顾问对项目组的人员进行培训，让大家对SAP是什么，对有关功能和特点有一个初步的认识。在为期一个月的时间里，大家从对SAP一无所知的门外汉变得多少对SAP有了一些感性的认识。 二、蓝图设计阶段。项目组成员根据苏宁日常的业务运作，结合SAP系统的特点，进行业务流程的梳理和优化。蓝图设计大约经过了三个月的时间，先对现有的流程进行调研，根据调研结果讨论优化方案，再结合SAP的特点设计流程，规范管理。这一阶段主要是对苏宁的业务流程进行详细梳理，结合新系统的特点和先进的跨国企业的管理方式进行流程再造。 三、系统实现阶段。这一阶段主要是系统的配置、主数据的收集和整理并将主数据导入系统。项目组成员根据配置好的系统制作操作手册，作为上线培训和苏宁员工日常学习的教材。 为了验证系统的功能和稳定性，上线指挥部决定采取先试点、后在全国铺开的方式。最终苏宁选择了山东大区进行试点。试点实施历时约一个半月，实施对象为山东大区的四个城市。而实施的过程大体又可以分为三个阶段：实施准备、系统切换、上线后支持。 2005年12月24日，项目部各业务组的大多数人员前往试点大区四个城市。至此，试点大区系统切换的准备正式开始。经过了多个不眠之夜，系统于2006年1月9日准备就绪；1月10日和11日，新老ERP系统并行；12日正式切换到了新的ERP系统。1月24日，在系统稳定运行两个星期后，标志着试点大区上线工作的正式结束。 试点大区上线的成功，极大地鼓舞了苏宁上下对SAP项目实施的信心以及项目组成员的士气。但是，这只是局部的上线，落在整个项目部肩上的任务还很重，全国上线仍面临着很多困难。由于全国上线范围广、公司多，项目部的人不可能像试点上线一样全都投入到各地的上线工作当中。而且全国各地对系统的认识都比较浅，有很多人从未参加过培训，甚至不知道SAP究竟是什么。 2006年2月5日，经过了短暂的休息之后，项目部马上又投入到紧张的工作当中。系统还需要优化，前期来不及实现的功能还需要完善，调整后要重新整理培训手册，还要进行全国范围的培训。2月下旬，一轮一轮的培训在全国各地展开，系统上线环境准备、各类物料的准备同步开始。4月1日，全国进行系统切换，同时，将老的ERP系统的数据同步导入到SAP系统之中。 “我记得上线前一天晚上7点钟的时候，我们在进行切换前的最后准备，董事长特意到我们信息中心来给大家作了一个全面的动员。虽然那天至少有100个步骤要去做，但晚上还是很顺利的。切换系统就像发射卫星一样，最后我们是夜里切换成功的，第二天就开始销售了。所有的信息、数据、组织、人员、历史数据都是在那个时候切换过来的。”任峻说。 在访谈中，苏宁经历过这段上线工程的老员工都表达了同样一个意思，那就是很辛苦。但是他们往往也都觉得这段经历是宝贵的财富。“那个时候我们还有一个签名墙，每天早上一进办公区就可以看到宣誓词。每天开晨会时，所有人都会把誓词宣读一遍，并不是领导带着大家宣誓，而是每个人轮流上去带着大家宣誓。我们还有很多口号，说老实话，这些都不是形式化的，真的是发自内心的，那个时候，大家都感到热血沸腾。” 2006年4月11日，全国苏宁的信息系统彻底切换到新的SAP/ERP系统上进行操作。24000个终端、100多个地区公司、400个店面同时切换。4月25日，在苏宁全国五一促销动员会议上，张近东说：“SAP上线是目前工作的重中之重。各中心和地区要真正将集团的工作思路贯彻到各层人员，统一步调，加快步伐，为五一旺销作好充分准备，为企业的长远发展和飞跃打下扎实的基础。不允许任何人对上线工作提出质疑和持有怀疑的态度，要主动解决运作中存在的问题，客观地去面对问题。新的系统在运行初期存在一些问题是正常的，性能优化是一个在长期运作中不断完善的过程，所有人员都要有这个思想准备。” 5月1日开始的黄金周，对于新系统是一个巨大的考验。尤其是“销售井喷”的5月1日当天，最高峰达到20000多个终端同步运作。系统每小时需要处理10万笔销售订单，再加上与此相应的物流、售后、客服系统的同步操作，系统达到了每小时40万次的处理能力，相当于每秒钟处理100多次的交易请求。主机的负载一度达到90%以上，这让IBM公司和SAP公司的人担心得要命，害怕系统数据会随时宕机。 任峻回忆说：“早上10点钟、下午4点钟都是高峰，但系统非常稳定。那一天（5月1日）我们开了很多店，这就说明我们的员工对这个系统的操作也不存在问题。在那个时候，我们的系统上线工作才真正告一段落。” 经过五一黄金周，苏宁的ERP升级计划经受住了各种考验，算是真正实现了SAP系统的成功上线。不过SAP系统的实施是一个持续优化的过程，在今后很长的一段时间里，苏宁都需要不断地投入精力，逐步地完善新的ERP系统，支撑苏宁的持续化发展。 ——苏宁的信息化实施经验可以简单地归结为几条：明确自己的目的，真正从实际需求出发，以我为主，培养自己的团队。 张近东说：“信息化是企业发展的一个趋势，这个趋势谁也改变不了。如果将苏宁20年的发展历程划分成两段，前一个十年，做企业基本上是在实践中运用直觉和灵感帮助自己决断；而后一个十年，企业的发展脉络逐渐清晰，而且是越来越清晰，无论是连锁的发展模式还是信息化，都是企业发展到某一阶段的必然产物。” 但是，正如偶然中存在着必然一样，必然中也存在着偶然。这种偶然就是信息化中必然会存在一些错误。张近东甚至认为“这里边天天都有错误”。天天都在犯错误的苏宁最后居然成功了，不仅完成了看似不可能完成的任务，创下了全球零售业SAP系统实施规模最大、实施周期最短两项纪录，被SAP公司看做“灯塔工程”；更重要的是，整个系统完全契合到苏宁的日常管理当中，和之前的老ERP系统一样，为苏宁的发展奠定了深厚的基础。 SAP系统不仅提高了前台的销售工作效率，以往一笔成交需要花费2分钟，现在可以缩短到不到30秒。而且后台的服务响应速度也被大大提高了，苏宁的全国资源实现了整合和统一调配，从以往物理上的集中发展到了逻辑上的集中。苏宁实现了很多企业梦想的随意调配资源的状态。 苏宁的ERP系统实施取得了成功，信息化的手段大大增强了苏宁的内在活力，使得企业内部的各种数据在网络上得到了实时的传递、分析、处理，为苏宁的采购决策及大规模定制提供了及时、准确、权威的决策依据，企业内部的管理也更加顺畅。并且，系统将供应商、连锁企业、分销商以至终端用户联系成一个整体，建立起功能强大的网链结构，使得产业链条得到了紧密协作，从而产生了巨大的产业合力。 但是，在那个“上ERP找死，不上ERP等死”的警句还在四处流传的时候，一口气拿出3000万元来上马ERP系统，并且还不知道自己会否步那些ERP先烈们“后尘”，对于张近东来说，这并不是件容易的事情。要知道，3000万元对于当时的苏宁来说也并不是个小数目。而在2005年苏宁又花上亿元资金来上线SAP/ERP系统，进行信息系统大规模的升级。苏宁为什么必须要这么做？难道苏宁不怕失败吗？ “我很清楚，苏宁的发展在管理上碰到了天花板，只有信息化才能将之打开。事实上，我别无选择，除非苏宁的发展就此打住。因此，我们需要咬紧牙关，坚决挺住。” 张近东直言，在决策信息化的过程中并不是没有风险，实际上包括他自己也发生过动摇。信息化肯定很有用，但对实施信息化的难度要有足够的认识和准备。 事实上，将苏宁的JL/ERP系统和SAP/ERP系统这两代系统的成功运作放在各自当时的行业环境中来看，苏宁的成功殊为不易，也非常有研究和学习的价值。为什么国内的大多数零售企业在ERP系统的实施过程中都不同程度地出现问题，而苏宁能够非常快速地实现信息化，将系统与自己的管理思想、逻辑紧密贴合，成为日常工作的好帮手，并且为苏宁的发展衍生出了巨大的想象空间？从苏宁的信息化实践中能总结出一些什么来？ 如果要总结苏宁成功的经验，首要的一条就应该是苏宁的目标很明确，那些ERP系统实施失败的企业通常都是没有将自己的目标设定清楚。 事实上，连锁企业在发展中遇到的问题是相同的。苏宁在还没有电脑网络化管理支撑的时期，面临着部门间协调的问题。在当时，无论是前台的销售管理，还是后台的服务管理，都处于人工衔接状态。一旦出现高峰作业和并发作业，就会导致销售与库存、业务与财务、营销与服务的脱节。 在20世纪90年代中期以前，苏宁尚未建立电脑网络化管理体系，制约了服务的网络化发展，结果就出现整个南京的服务量都集中在南京的一个大方巷网点上。因此，常常会出现作业派单和销单集中拥挤的情况。 在零售开票系统没有开发之前，顾客买空调流程较长，原因是购买、安装空调要登记，而人工开票的速度又非常慢，这导致顾客的抱怨。显然，收银速度快将意味着货卖得更多，更容易抢到生意。同时，以前营业员看到顾客来就开票，其实不知道还有多少库存。信息的反馈不及时、不准确，成为当时苏宁最大的管理瓶颈。 切肤之痛，使苏宁开始意识到人工管理效率的低下。要想突破现状，就必须引入高效实用的高科技管理手段。这样，苏宁较早意识到信息化将是未来零售业高速发展的必要条件。同时，苏宁也意识到信息化的成功实施必须要建立在企业现实的管理需求之上，而不是为了跟随潮流盲目应用。企业管理没有最好的模式，只有合适不合适。软件供应商的优势、软件的性能必须适合苏宁的实际需要。正是出于这样先进而务实的意识和对于企业信息化的准确认识，苏宁在商业企业信息化技术应用方面一直走在行业前列，并且运行效果良好。 正如前文所提到的，苏宁想实施信息化的缘由很简单，就是在1994 年左右的时候，售后服务、配送、安装的客户资料都是采用的手工单子，先在店面里填好客户资料，再通过汽车送到物流和售后部门。有一次单子丢了，大家都很着急，不知道哪些人买了货，只好坐等客户来投诉，这严重影响了售后服务质量。就是因为这个小事件，苏宁建立了自己的一个简单的客户档案管理系统。 而随着企业的不断发展，需求越来越多，也越来越深入，于是苏宁在信息化的道路上越走越远。任何的信息系统都只是企业的管理工具，当企业发展了之后，管理工具当然也需要改进。也就是说，信息化是一个不间断的过程，可谓是永无止境。 谈到苏宁与IBM的合作，孙为民认为顾问和企业之间是一种类似医患的关系。“现在社会上医患关系不太好，医生和患者都有一定的问题。病人要做一个聪明的病人，医生要做一个善良的医生。因为医生不缺智慧，所以他只要做到善良就比较容易处理医患关系了。而作为病人来讲，不能病急乱投医，所以你只要稍微聪明一点就可以了。但是你聪明在哪儿呢？我觉得作为一个病人，最应该知道的是什么呢？你要知道自己到底需要什么，在不同的阶段需要什么。你别什么都要，药不能太多，多了就麻烦了。就苏宁跟IBM这么多年的合作来讲，我们作为一个'病人'并不是太笨。” 苏宁对信息系统的需求可谓是一直发自内心。从1