The Undercurrent of the Industrial Internet

Text / Meng Yonghui

Every undercurrent contains enormous energy. This has not only appeared in the Internet era, but even in the industrial Internet era, the same script is still being played out. The so-called "undercurrent" more represents an existence that is not known to outsiders. Yes, it is not an exaggeration to use "a thousand miles in a day" to describe the current industrial Internet.

Some people may not agree with this. Because whether from the perspective of the capital market or from the perspective of entrepreneurs, the development of the industrial Internet is slow or even stagnant. Using "a thousand miles in a day" to describe its current state of development is obviously a bit overestimated. In fact, if you put the Industrial Internet from a larger perspective, if you look at the Industrial Internet from a new perspective, you will get a completely different answer.

In a sense, the popularity of the metaverse, the blooming of artificial intelligence, and the ecological improvement of the blockchain can basically be classified into the category of the industrial Internet. If we examine and look at the Industrial Internet from these perspectives, we will find that the development of the so-called Industrial Internet is indeed "a thousand miles in a day".

The most fundamental reason for people's two completely different perceptions of the Industrial Internet is the undercurrent of the Industrial Internet. The so-called undercurrent of the industrial Internet, that is, the development of the industrial Internet is not based on noise and fanaticism like the consumer Internet, but more of a kind of "sudden" derived from the maturity of new technologies. Like the spring breeze in one night, thousands of trees and ten thousand pears are in full bloom”.

One of the most fundamental reasons for the two completely different development states of the consumer Internet and the industrial Internet is the difference in the internal driving forces between the two. The driving force of the consumer Internet is outward-looking, and the capital and traffic we see are all like this, while the driving force of the industrial Internet is inward-looking, represented by artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data that we have seen. Technology is like that.

The extroverted driving force of the consumer Internet requires players to obtain their own development through extroverted publicity and marketing. This is why we see that in the era of consumer Internet, so many players focus on In terms of marketing, focus on market public relations and the root cause of capital docking. It can be said that players in the age of consumer Internet can achieve new development only by continuous outward development.

Unlike the consumer Internet, the driving force of the industrial Internet is inward-looking. What it shows more is the focus on internal technology research and development, the internal self-hematopoietic ability, and the internal business closed-loop. Therefore, what we see is that more and more players of the industrial Internet are not as concerned about the outside as players in the era of consumer Internet, but are starting to pay more attention to the inside.

When players of the Industrial Internet start to pay less attention to external publicity and marketing, what we see is that the volume of the Industrial Internet is obviously not as good as the consumer Internet era. This gives people the illusion that the industrial Internet seems to be stagnant, the industrial Internet seems to disappear, and some people even think that the development of the industrial Internet is not as good as that of the consumer Internet.

It is in such a situation that we need to recognize the existence of the undercurrent of the Industrial Internet. Only in this way can we put aside our prejudices about the Industrial Internet and truly look at the Industrial Internet in a correct way.

Specifically, we need to look at the "undercurrent of the industrial Internet" from the following aspects.

On the business model of the Industrial Internet

The business model in the era of consumer Internet is built on the basis of scale and efficiency. Therefore, all the players we see that are successful in consuming the Internet are all players who win with scale and efficiency. The center is the fundamental player. This is the fundamental reason why we see so many large platforms in the age of the consumer Internet.

Different from the business model in the consumer Internet era, the business model in the industrial Internet era is more of a decentralized and de-platformed existence. Players of the Industrial Internet do not pay attention to the size of their platforms, but rather the depth of their involvement in a certain industry. In other words, the deeper the involvement of an industrial Internet player in a certain industry, the more successful its business model will be. In the same way, when the players of the industrial Internet begin to penetrate into the industrial process, we cannot see its external performance.

Industrial Internet technology

The consumer Internet era is dominated by Internet technology, whether in the PC era or in the mobile Internet era. For Internet technology, its greatest function and role is to break down information barriers, reduce information asymmetry, and improve the efficiency of information connection. No matter what kind of information it is, it is already formed.

To improve the efficiency of the information that has already been formed, it is necessary to continuously expand the basic business and continue to expand the scale. Only by expanding the scale and basic business can we achieve scale development and the Internet-style business model can really run. Pass. Therefore, the matching and intermediary-led business model in the consumer Internet era is determined by the underlying Internet technology.

Different from the technology that focuses on the surface and downstream of the industrial chain in the consumer Internet era, the Internet technology focuses more on the deep, upstream technology in the industrial chain. Whether it is big data technology, artificial intelligence technology, or blockchain technology, the focus of their attention is almost always deep, the scene at the head of the industry chain. It is precisely because of this that we can see that the development of the Industrial Internet is surging, not superficial and impetuous.

In the form of industrial Internet

If one form is used to express the era of the consumer Internet, the platform and the center are undoubtedly the most appropriate. Such a form represented by platforms and centers formed in the age of consumer Internet eventually leads to the fact that players will become larger and larger, and more and more resources will begin to be concentrated together. . Under such circumstances, we will inevitably see the growth of platforms and centers, and we will inevitably see the opposition between the virtual economy and the real economy.

When the industrial Internet era comes, its form begins to undergo a profound and thorough change. Different from the form of the consumer Internet era, which is expressed as "platform" and "center", the form of the industrial Internet is more expressed as "infrastructure" and "underlying context". Such a brand-new industrial form dominated by "foundation" and "bottom layer" eventually leads to a direct result that more and more players in the industrial interconnection begin to change from tangible to intangible, and begin to change more and more. Visible is invisible, and more and more people begin to say goodbye to confrontation and achieve bridging.

When the players of the Industrial Internet continue to achieve in-depth integration with the industry, they are not dominant, but begin to exist more implicitly in different scenarios and industries. From such a perspective, to understand the undercurrent of the Industrial Internet may be the correct way and method to correctly view the Industrial Internet.

Epilogue

Every undercurrent contains enormous energy. This is reflected in the industrial Internet. It is from the huge energy of the undercurrent that we have seen the rapid development of the industrial Internet, and we have seen the industrial Internet blossom everywhere. Looking at the industrial Internet from the perspective of the undercurrent, perhaps we can see the most real side of the industrial Internet.

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Author: Meng Yonghui, a well-known industry researcher, writer, and strategic consultant. Long-term focus on industry research, providing in-depth thinking and industry observation information. Support the sharing of the author's source, please retain the author's copyright information for reprinting, and offenders will be held accountable.