The Industrial Internet is not a 'copy' of the consumer Internet
Text / Meng Yonghui
Undoubtedly, a new wave of development led by the Industrial Internet is underway. Under such a new wave, what we see is an upsurge of Internet players returning to the industry. No longer blindly expanding its own platform, no longer blindly acquiring traffic, it has become a trend and trend. It is foreseeable that how to deeply integrate with the industry and how to find the correct way and method of de-platforming will become the key to measuring the success or failure of players in the industrial Internet era.
In the past, players thought about the development of the Internet in the industry based on traffic. They tried to achieve the purpose of harvesting B-side traffic by empowering and transforming the industrial side. Facts have proved that compared with the scale of C-end traffic, B-end traffic is not huge. Therefore, if we simply apply the development model of the consumer Internet era, which is dominated by harvesting traffic, it will inevitably bring the development of the industrial Internet into the strange circle of the consumer Internet.
Finding a new way of development that is truly suitable for the era of the Industrial Internet, so that the development of the Industrial Internet can completely escape the traffic trap, is the key to ensuring that the Industrial Internet can make breakthroughs. Otherwise, the industrial Internet will always be under the cage and shackles of the consumer Internet, and it will be difficult to achieve breakthrough development.
Bridging the online-online divide
After experiencing the baptism of the consumer Internet era, what we have seen is the formation of two major “economy” represented by online and offline. When the information is asymmetric, the development model dominated by the online “economy” still has certain development potential. This is the key to the rapid development of many Internet platforms we have seen in the era of consumer Internet.
When the development of the consumer Internet gradually matures, especially when more and more resources begin to concentrate on online platforms, what we see is that online players begin to show more and more inefficiency in information connection . As a result, what we see is that players who have mastered abundant traffic in the era of consumer Internet began to continuously harvest traffic with their own advantages. Once, online “economies” that win with information docking began to move to the other side.
The online “economy” business model represented by big data and disorderly competition of capital has begun to bring online and offline into a situation of opposites, and in many cases, the online “economy” Development and prosperity come at the expense of the decline of the offline “economy”. In order to change the development model of the industrial Internet era, it is necessary to change such a development model dominated by online prosperity and offline decline, and achieve new development by bridging the gap between online and offline.
The author believes that both online “economy” and offline “economy” have their own functions and roles. What we need to do is how to maximize the functions and roles of the two, rather than favor one over the other. When we find the correct way and method to play the online and offline “economy”, we can be regarded as finding a new path to realize the development of the Industrial Internet.
In addition, when the digital economy era comes, the online “economy” and the offline “economy” are no longer two non-interfering existences, and no longer two unrelated existences. Online and offline can be integrated, and online and offline can be connected. Finding ways and means of integrating and connecting online and offline, and truly integrating online and offline, is the key to ensuring that the Industrial Internet truly enters its own development cycle.
Let go of the ties between the platform and the center
The era of industrial Internet is not an era dominated by platforms and centers, but an era dominated by de-platforming and decentralization. In such a new era, if we use the platform and the central logic of the industrial Internet, it will inevitably bring the development of the industrial Internet into a dead end.
In order to find a new development model for the Industrial Internet, we must abandon the platform- and center-led development model. From this perspective, let’s look at the empowerment and transformation-led development model we have seen in the past. It will be found that such a development model is still dominated by traffic harvesting, and still has not jumped out of the vicious circle of the platform and the center. It is not difficult to understand why there are so many industrial Internet players involved, but they have never found a way or method to solve the development dilemma of the industrial Internet.
The key to ensuring the sustainable development of the Industrial Internet is to abandon the platform- and center-led development model in the consumer Internet era, to truly transform the tangible into the intangible, to go deep into the end of industrial development, and to help the new development of the industry. According to such a logic, we can conclude that all players who can make a difference in the era of industrial Internet must be deeply integrated with the industry and integrated with the industry.
This is what we have seen so many leading Internet players regard the layout of new technologies as the key to new development breakthroughs. Compared with the superficiality of Internet technology, new technologies, especially new technologies dominated by basic research, focus more on the deep integration with the industry and the deep transformation of the industry. When such a development continues, the platform and the center will no longer be important, because the focus of players is no longer at the level of the platform and the center, but has gone deep into the end of the industry and into the marrow of the industry. From this point of view, the key to getting rid of the consumer Internet era, the most critical point is to get rid of the shackles of the platform and the center.
Realize the fusion of virtual and physical
If we regard the era of consumer Internet as an era of separation of virtual and physical, then the era of industrial Internet is an era of deep integration of virtual and physical. In such an era, what we will see is the elimination of the gap between the virtual economy and the real economy, what we will see is the deep integration of the virtual economy and the real economy, and what we will see is the gap between the virtual economy and the real economy No more barriers. Therefore, if we want to find a new development model in the industrial Internet era, it is undoubtedly a major aspect to realize the integration of virtual and physical, and to realize the substantiation of virtual economy and the virtualization of real economy.
The so-called substantiation of the virtual economy is more about the deep empowerment of the virtual economy to the real economy and the deep integration of the virtual economy into the real economy. This is what a lot of Internet players are doing right now. Some people call it “feedback” to the real economy. They believe that players in the virtual economy have gained huge resource advantages after experiencing the development of the consumer Internet era. They need to “feed back” the real economy to realize the virtual economy and The coordinated development of the real economy.
In this regard, the author does not think so. The so-called “feedback” to the real economy more represents that in the era of consumer Internet, the virtual economy has been nourished by the real economy. In essence, in the era of consumer Internet, the virtual economy has brought more benefits to the real economy. Changes in consumption methods, marketing methods and many other aspects have promoted the development of the real economy. Therefore, it is not comprehensive to use the virtual economy to “feed back” the real economy to interpret the development of the industrial Internet.
Different from using “feedback” to define the materialization of the virtual economy in the industrial Internet era, the author is more willing to use the virtual economy to deeply transform the elements, production and other links of the real economy to interpret it. After such a stage of development, the virtual economy will no longer be the platform and center we think, but become a part of the new economy, and the boundary between the virtual economy and the real economy will no longer be clear, but will become more blurred. .
The so-called virtualization of the real economy more represents the in-depth changes in the internal elements, processes and links of the real economy led by the implementation and application of new technologies. What it presents more is a deep and comprehensive change in the real economy. After such a change, the industry in the traditional sense can be deeply changed, and it is no longer just the end of the marketing and operation changes like the consumer Internet era, while the production and manufacturing in the front stage have not happened too much. Change more.
When we realize the substantiation of the virtual economy, the virtualization of the real economy, especially when we find the way and method for the integration of the virtual economy and the real economy, we can truly jump out of the era of consumer Internet, where the virtual economy is opposed to the real economy. The model has truly entered a new stage of development in which the virtual economy and the real economy are deeply integrated. Starting from this, the era of the industrial Internet in the true sense can truly come.
Epilogue
It is undeniable that a new wave of development led by the industrial Internet is underway. However, under such a new wave, we no longer see the figure of the consumer Internet all the time. Obviously, such an industrial Internet is still lingering in the shadow of the consumer Internet. In the long run, the development of the industrial Internet will inevitably fall into the vicious circle of the consumer Internet.
Only by finding a new development model that is truly suitable for the industrial Internet, especially a new development model that is different from the consumer Internet, can the industrial Internet truly jump out of the vicious circle of the consumer Internet and truly enter its own time zone. When the gap between online and offline is no longer, when the barriers between platforms and centers are no longer, and when the high walls of virtual and physical are torn down, the era of the industrial Internet in the true sense may really come. (Finish)