China's accelerating digital transformation gives chances to software industry -- insider

As business in China is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the accelerating digital transformation in the country is offering opportunities to the software industry, Mark Gibbs, global executive vice-president of German software giant SAP SE, has said.

Following the latest wave of digital acceleration across industries disrupted by the pandemic, SAP's sales in China have returned to normal, Gibbs, also president of SAP Greater China, told Xinhua recently.

The coronavirus has pushed companies to evaluate their role and responsibilities, measure their resilience and address weak points, Gibbs said, adding that Chinese customers are expecting to accelerate the growth of intelligent enterprises.

As cloud computing is increasingly applied in China, Gibbs has seen the great growth momentum of the cloud business, a major profit source for the largest European software company.

"Following rules and regulations, most of our cloud solutions are available in China," he said, adding that thousands of Chinese suppliers are actively using the SAP Ariba B2B network every day.

SAP has been expanding its businesses in China since it entered the market 25 years ago, currently with around 6,000 employees in 12 Chinese cities, Gibbs said, emphasizing the essential role of the Chinese market in providing growth potential for the Germany firm.

Meanwhile, for the Chinese market, "the acceleration of digital transformation is becoming imperative so that companies can have flexibility to adapt to evolving supply chain and demanding customers," he said, believing "this is potentially a strong growth area for the economy of China."

Although supply chains are complex and need years to be optimized, Gibbs said, they will become more flexible and resilient in the near future, since the pandemic has changed supply chains of several industries, such as e-commerce and remote working.

"It will be a 'new normal' that will drive and leverage digital technology much more than before," he added.