Hong Kong, 31 October 2024 – CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (“CITIC Telecom CPC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, China Enterprise ICT Solutions Limited (“China Entercom”), and China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company Limited (“CR Beer”) have successfully deployed two benchmark projects – “CR Beer’s Green Factory with Digital Intelligence” (華潤啤酒數智化綠色工廠) and “CR Beer’s One-Stop SD-WAN Hybrid Network” (華潤啤酒一站式混合組網). These initiatives have left a significant impact and were recognized at the 2024 IDC Future Enterprise Awards China and DX Summit (IDC中國未來企業大獎與數字化轉型年度盛典).

Both projects received notable accolades – “CR Beer’s Green Factory with Digital Intelligence” was honored with the prestigious “IDC’s Best in Future of Digital Industry Navigator Case” award (IDC未來數字工業領航者案例 – 優秀獎), while “CR Beer’s One-Stop SD-WAN Hybrid Network” was recognized with the “Best in Future of Connectedness of IDC Future Enterprise Awards China” (IDC中國未來企業大獎優秀獎 —未來聯接領軍者). Notably, the latter project has been selected by IDC China as a contender for the prestigious IDC Future Enterprise Awards Asia Pacific, where it competes alongside other world class top-tier companies. This recognition signifies the widespread acknowledgment of these two projects by esteemed consulting institutions, industry experts, and the business community at large.

According to the IDC panel of judges, CR Beer has established itself as a benchmark company in the industry for its outstanding performance in smart manufacturing and green production. By extensively and proactively integrating innovative technologies into business scenarios, such as Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), the company has developed various types of technology applications to enhance their productivity and resource utilization with smarter production processes. Coupled with digitization, the company has optimized the supply chain management, reduced wastes of resources and improved the transparency of the entire value chain. An environmentally-friendly production mode has also been created by technological innovations, thereby decreasing wastewater discharge, effectively recycling energy and limiting carbon footprints. The two award-winning projects of CR Beer that highlight digital intelligence have not only demonstrated a win-win situation for economic and environmental benefits through digital transformation, but have also highlighted its role as an enabler of social and digital economic development, showcasing its corporate responsibility.

“It is such an honor to receive these two valuable awards, and the recognition of our efforts in digital transformation. We are further convinced to uphold longtermism, and to accelerate all-round development in terms of globalization, premiumization, greening, cultural innovation and so on,” said Mr. Chen Xue Qiang, Deputy Director of Intelligence and Digitalization Department of CR Beer. “We would not have developed these two benchmark projects and outcompeted others without our critical partner, China Entercom, and its innovative ICT technologies and solutions. Our partnership dates back to 2019, and our teams have gained mutual trust in those five years so that we have achieved successful digitization regarding innovative technology and business innovation services. Far beyond being a provider of technologies, solutions and services, China Entercom is the trusted partner of CR Beer’s digital transformation journey.”

Mr. Tao Zhi Bin, Deputy Director of Intelligence and Digitalization Department of CR Beer, said, “ At the IDC conference, CR Beer’s green factory with digital intelligence was honored “Future of Digital Industry Navigator Case”. This acknowledgement not only affirms our achievements in constructing a green factory with digital intelligence, but also recognizes the potential for our company’s future development. As a critical partner of CR Beer, China Entercom has provided strong support in intelligent cloud network security services, laying a solid digital foundation for us to realize our green vision of low-carbon operations. The collaboration between the two parties has achieved technical complementarity and integration, sparking deep synergies across business models, market strategies and different aspects.”

Mr. Brook Wong, Chief Executive Officer of CITIC Telecom CPC and President of China Entercom, said, “It is a great pleasure and honor to work with CR Beer on digital transformation, which is both a leading, high-quality, all-rounded alcoholic beverage company and a very important corporate client. I believe that this award is undoubtedly a high recognition for the collaborative projects between the two parties, and it is also a strong affirmation of our motto “Innovation Never Stops” and dedication in the ICT industry for more than two decades. Our next step will be riding on the wave of the digital economy, while pursuing innovation in digital intelligence, boosting high-quality development in ‘AI+ Cloud, Network, Security’ solutions, and accelerating the advancement of the ICT industry. We are committed to making technology the ultimate business enabler, promoting high-quality development with innovation and intelligence.”

From the Present to the Future: China Entercom Customizes a Future-Proof “All-in-One Cloud, Network, Security” Platform for CR Beer to Realize Digital Intelligence

Headquartered in Beijing, CR Beer is one of the significant members of China Resources Group in terms of the consumer sector, and also a pioneer with a history spanning over 30 years in the domestic alcoholic beverage industry. In view of aggregate sales, CR Beer has been top-ranked in the Chinese beer market since 2006, however, the market competition has become fiercer with the change in market demands and consumption needs, notably the trends of premiumization and diversification among the leading enterprises in the past few years. CR Beer realized digitization and intelligentization are the keys to capture the market, so it implemented the “3+3+3” corporate development strategy for premiumization in 2017, moved towards technology productization in 2020, and recently launched a dual empowerment model of “Beer and Baijiu”.

To achieve digital transformation, CR Beer needs to generate higher values from technologies and foster business growth by addressing the preexisting challenges. More importantly, it needs a reliable partner with technological expertise, tailor-made solutions, exceptional service capabilities and global resources to flexibly support its future businesses and advance the three critical objectives: (1) enhance network continuity and scalability, (2) improve network efficiency, and (3) reinforce the security protection of the entire digital infrastructure.

“Having considered carefully and conducted rigorous technical tests, CR Beer decided to join hands with China Entercom. With its full-cycle support from customization, deployment and installation, implementation to operation and maintenance, we adopted its innovative suite of ‘All-in-One Cloud, Network, Security’ solutions (MPLS + SD-WAN + Security + SASE + Private Cloud). With this solution as a solid and secure foundation for digital transformation, CR Beer has experienced a seamless and highly efficient transformation journey, which is in line with the ultimate goals of our partnership,” said Mr. Chen Xue Qiang, Deputy Director of the Intelligence and Digitalization Department of CR Beer.

IDC commented on “CR Beer’s One-Stop SD-WAN Hybrid Network” project, said: “This project has excelled and outcompeted others in network optimization, service delivery, technology innovation and low-carbon development. Additionally, the one-stop service provided by China Entercom not only streamlines the network management, but also ensures network stability and security with its round-the-clock monitoring function. With the integration of multiple innovative technologies, the customized ‘All-in-One Cloud, Network, Security’ solutions have addressed the digital transformation requirements of CR Beer. In particular, deploying the private cloud in the low-carbon data center is apparently a proactive approach to environmental protection and low-carbon operation, providing an excellent paradigm of both economic benefits and social responsibility commitments, setting a benchmark for the industry.”

Rooted in China, Connecting Globally: China Entercom as the long-term partner of CR Beer’s Globalization Strategy

CR Beer is committed to fulfilling its responsibility as a subsidiary of China Resources Group, actively promoting the “Belt and Road” Initiative and global development. To connect globally, the company first established a global strategic partnership with Heineken Group in 2019 under the “Going Global” policy, making China the second largest market for Heineken. By leveraging the global resources of China Entercom and its parent company CITIC Telecom CPC, the next step of CR Beer is to promote a comprehensive digital transformation with network improvement as the basis, realizing automated workflow and intelligent decision support. Meanwhile, the company is looking forward to boosting operational efficiency and responsiveness to drive rapid business growth and expand its market presence along the “Belt and Road”, in Southeast Asia, Europe and the global market.

Mr. Henry Ko, General Manager of Enterprise Sales, China Entercom, said, “The cooperation between China Entercom and CR Beer started at the initial stage of its digital transformation journey. As an industry leader, CR Beer has more heightened requirements of digital transformation — cost reduction, higher efficiency, and most importantly, holistically solving current pain points and challenges for a better future. And this is where our strengths lie. Having worked with a variety of industries for more than 20 years, China Entercom is well aware that forward-looking technologies and services offered by solution providers are the keys to maximizing clients’ IT investment efficiency.”

“There are some prerequisites for new technology applications to attain cost reduction and efficiency enhancement during digital transformation. The first is to select the right technologies and solutions, and the second is to carry out customized implementation and deployment for better business development. In other words, choosing the right partner matters. It is a great pleasure to be the right partner for CR Beer, and to be working together since the very beginning of its digital transformation, which it has eventually achieved higher efficiency with technologies,” continued Mr. Ko.

Beer with ICT Innovations: CR Beer Adds a Hint of New Technology Flavor

The in-depth cooperation between CR Beer and China Entercom demonstrates the convergence of innovative ICT technologies with the traditional alcoholic beverage industry, resembling a brewer blending liquors delicately. The next stage of cooperation is reportedly in the direction of going globally, AI+ and SOC-as-a-Service (SOCaaS).

“Under the leadership of Mr. Guo Hua, Chief Digital Officer of CR Beer, the information technology team is actively promoted ‘Five Transformations, Three Concentrations, One Core, and Four Platforms (五化三集中，一核四平台2)’ as the transformation framework to comprehensively promote the implementation of the digital strategy, committed to aligning with top international standards.  As we strongly support the digitalization of our business systems, we consistently enhance infrastructure development and information security. In parallel, we are proactively delving into the implementation of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, aiming to propel our digital transformation efforts.  Our goal is to establish a globally competitive IT brand and highlight the distinctive value of CR Beer and its IT division through recognition at the IDC awards.  We anticipate our continued collaboration with China Entercom, strategically mapping out our long-term partnership to achieve a more robust digital transformation and sustainable development,” concluded Mr. Chen Xue Qiang, Deputy Director of the Intelligence and Digitalization Department of CR Beer.

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References

[1] 《华润啤酒CEO侯孝海独家访谈录：收购喜力中国只是华润啤酒国际化的第一步》; Source: CR Beer

[2] 五化三集中，一核四平台 – https://www.jnexpert.com/article/detail?id=4040