Recently, the China International Trade Promotion Committee's "China Foreign Trade" magazine published and distributed its 7th issue (No. 673) for 2022, with Li Jingze, the founder of China Big Trade Data Ltd, being honored as the cover figure of this issue.

    The "China Foreign Trade" magazine conducted a special interview with Li Jingze, titled "Coagulating Innovation Power, Focusing on Foreign Trade Big Data, Being the 'Sweeper Monk' in the Digital Field". Li Jingze shared his entrepreneurial experience, the unique advantages of Big Trade Data Ltd innovation and focus, talent development and team building, as well as the future of the big data industry, and how to digitally transform to respond to the pandemic, among other topics.

    [Cover Figure] Coagulating Innovation Power, Focusing on Foreign Trade Big Data, Being the "Sweeper Monk" in the Digital Field.

——Interview with Li Jingze, Chairman of China Big Trade Data  Ltd.

    Modern foreign trade enterprises cannot do without the support of digital technology, and foreign trade big data is one of the most crucial components.    

    As the leader of one of the top foreign trade big data companies in China, Chairman Li Jingze has a deep understanding of the importance of this field. "In the future, big data will become an important strategic resource that companies and society pay attention to, and data assets will be the core assets of enterprises. Companies will pay more attention to data quality, as data quality is the key to the success of business intelligence (BI). The next few years will be an important period of opportunity for China's big data development and transformation."

Mr. Li Jingze's Speech at the 2021 National Petrochemical Economic and Trade Development Conference - Tariff and Trade Coordination Forum.

    Determined to embark on the entrepreneurial path.

Li Jingze, who considers himself somewhat rebellious, had the idea of starting a business while studying. In order to achieve financial independence, he began tutoring in his first year at Xi'an Jiaotong University to earn money, and later had a part-time job tutoring every night. He came up with an idea to sell tutoring spots in order to expand his business, as he didn't want to neglect his studies but also didn't want to give up his extra income. He rode his bike all over the city of Xi'an to post flyers, which resulted in many tutoring opportunities. During the summer break, he even rented a classroom from the university to hold group classes. During his university years, Li Jingze didn't spend a penny of his family's money and even saved over 10,000 yuan by graduation, making him a "millionaire" in the eyes of his classmates.

    This experience was just a small attempt for Li Jingze, and although his classmates thought he was living a tough life, he found it enjoyable and it strengthened his entrepreneurial spirit. After graduation, he had a coveted job in the eyes of many, working at China Petroleum, but his entrepreneurial dream never died. He hoped to find a project with a high technical threshold, continuous innovation, constant technological updates, and good market prospects, a business that could lead his team to work hard.

    Years later, Li Jingze resigned from China Petroleum and joined a foreign company that specialized in industrial investment. His main task was to assess and evaluate technological projects. In his work, Li Jingze often received investment reports for various projects. However, many of these reports were not up to par, with qualitative analysis dominating and quantitative analysis lacking, unclear advantages and risks, a lack of persuasive power to attract investment, high communication costs between investors and project parties, and even if there was quantitative analysis, many reports lacked a data verification process and the data was severely outdated. Additionally, in calculating investment returns, little consideration was given to the results of multiple uncertainties combined.

Mr. Li Jingze was invited by Ningbo Port Group to visit Ningbo Zhoushan Port, which has the world's largest cargo throughput.

    In 2003, Mr. Li Jingze conducted in-depth research and found that the problems existed not only in the field of project financing, but also in international trade research, industry market research, industrial planning and other areas. He saw this as a huge business opportunity, but it was not easy to implement. At that time, there were no concepts of data technology and digitization in China, let alone a reserve of talent. However, Mr. Li decided to pursue this opportunity and first improve and enrich his own knowledge structure. He applied for the graduate program at the School of Management and Economics of Beijing Institute of Technology and was admitted.

    During his time at the university in 2004, Mr. Li developed a software for data analysis and investment return calculation with the knowledge and information he had just acquired. The software could automatically complete 60% of the work in project financing reports. He used the software to write a project financing report for the petrochemical industry and received high praise from two professionals after sending it to them. Then, Mr. Li developed a trade data analysis software specifically for the global international trade analysis section of project financing reports and founded China's first trade data website, the Import and Export Data Network. He then applied the trade software to the online trade database of the Import and Export Data Network, developing an online trade data query and analysis system. Unexpectedly, the Import and Export Data Network received a large number of inquiries, with many customers showing interest in purchasing the products. Even foreign clients approached him, and one client from Shanghai even flew to Beijing to meet with Mr. Li in person.

    Clearly, the timing was right for Mr. Li. On July 1, 2004, he founded BTD Information Technology Co., Ltd. in Beijing, which focused on foreign trade software, online trade data query and analysis systems, and project financing research. The company's software products and data network platform were well received by the market as soon as they were launched.

Demonstrate BTD Business Intelligence DaaS System to foreign guests from 16 Belt and Road countries.

Continuously iterate and upgrade.

    In 2009, when setting up an overseas company in Australia, Li Jingze met two "big shots" in the field of big data. They were surprised to see the huge foreign trade database of GTI (Global Trade Intelligence), but also felt regretful that the development and utilization of the "treasure mine" was seriously insufficient. Li Jingze carefully listened to the experts' suggestions and, under their guidance, began to introduce big data technology into the field of foreign trade.

    In fact, Li Jingze initially underestimated the difficulty of this project. He thought it could be completed in a year or two, but he faced several key technical bottlenecks. For example, how to use big data technology to solve the calculation of billions of records? How to help users select N fields from hundreds of fields and query the results in milliseconds, and generate various statistical analysis reports and visual reports at millimeter-level speed? He and his team tried their best, and several IT staff even chose to leave midway. There was an unusually large amount of financial pressure, and even Li Jingze considered giving up. But he was never satisfied, persevered, and continuously led the technical team to tackle difficulties.

    No pain, no gain. At the end of 2012, Li Jingze and his team finally solved the technical bottleneck. In early 2014, they fully upgraded the online query and analysis system for foreign trade data using big data technology and renamed it the GTI Big Data Business Intelligence DaaS System. The company name also changed from GTI Information Technology Co., Ltd. to GTI Big Data Co., Ltd., becoming the first company in China to truly engage in foreign trade big data.

The working environment of BTD Company.

    In 2015, Guomaitong experienced a surge in business growth, with performance increasing threefold. In 2016, Li Jingze returned to his hometown to invest and establish a subsidiary, Wuhan Big Trade Data Ltd., as a high-end introduction of talent in the Wuhan International Student Entrepreneurship Park. Afterwards, he successively established subsidiaries, branches or offices in Hong Kong, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Shenyang.

    After the exploration period, Li Jingze's goal became more clear - to focus on foreign trade big data, continuous innovation, long-term cultivation, and strive to become a "sweeping monk" in the field of global digitalization.

Focusing on "cultivating internal strength"

    According to Li Jingze, BTD's main business has three parts: the foreign trade big data analysis system (BTD), the foreign trade digital marketing platform (ymaobao), and the global enterprise big data business intelligence system (HST). It is reported that Guomaitong can help users conduct independent intelligent research on the global market. BTD is a DaaS system, with foreign trade data as a service. Through this system, users can independently and intelligently query and view various visual analysis reports and in-depth research reports in various ways, conduct 360-degree comprehensive research on the global market and international trade dynamics, gain insights into industries, supply chains, and industrial chains, dig deeply into potential customers, accurately locate target customers, and then find business opportunities, develop blue ocean markets, improve repurchase and purchase rates, develop marketing strategies and pricing plans. Users can discover their own advantages in the global industry, quickly seize the market, and also find the gap with foreign counterparts, strengthen research and development, produce competitive products as soon as possible, and replace imports.

Big Trade data Ltd attended the "Belt and Road" Conference.

    "BTD Company has provided products and services to over 100,000 global foreign trade enterprises and related companies, including central enterprises, multinational corporations, listed companies, and industry leaders. The unique advantage of BTD lies in innovation and focus. We broke through several major bottlenecks when we developed foreign trade big data technology as early as 2012, while other companies in the industry are still in the process of tackling these issues. Our foreign trade database has obvious advantages in both quantity and quality. Furthermore, BTD continues to invest in research and development and technological innovation, continuously upgrading products and expanding the product line. At present, it has multiple invention patents and dozens of scientific research achievements, and is a national high-tech enterprise, technology-based SME, double soft certification enterprise, and gazelle enterprise." Li Jingze said with pride.

     Li Jingze and his team at BTD have always adhered to the "craftsman spirit," focusing on refining technology and products, with the goal of deepening and penetrating foreign trade big data.

Digital response to the epidemic

    The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the global economy and the foreign trade industry. However, according to Li Jingze, BTD has been minimally affected by the pandemic. In order to achieve cross-platform and flat management, reduce company transaction costs and communication costs, increase customer response speed and operational efficiency, GMT introduced big data technology into its foreign trade analysis system as early as 2009, and also applied big data technology and digital technology to internal management, achieving digital operation and data-based assessment, and incorporating data culture into company culture.

    Li Jingze explained that even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, BTD's employees in various domestic platforms such as Beijing, Wuhan, Jinan, Dezhou, Wuxi, Ningbo, Shenyang, as well as overseas platforms in Australia, the United States, and other countries, often held sharing and exchange meetings, and were proficient in various digital office tools. During the pandemic period of working from home, they also applied digital office methods to their internal platforms.

    In addition, BTD conducts digital assessments of employees' hard evaluations (such as sales volume evaluation and new customer evaluation) and soft evaluations (such as values evaluation and altruistic behavior evaluation), and converts them into data according to weightings, achieving fairness, openness, and impartiality. Employee promotions and rewards are also determined by data. BTD strengthens training in employees' digital thinking, data awareness, and data culture, vigorously cultivating compound and innovative talents who understand both foreign trade and big data.

    In the early stages of the pandemic, due to tight logistics, canceled international exhibitions, and limited travel, foreign trade companies were greatly impacted. BTD was also affected to some extent. "However, foreign trade companies soon realized that actively and accurately marketing overseas markets online was a very good way during the pandemic period, and more and more foreign trade companies like to use our foreign trade big data analysis system and digital marketing platform," Li Jingze said.

    In addition, Li Jingze believes that BTD's values of "honesty, responsibility, passion, and hard work," its behavioral guidelines of "self-confidence, self-discipline, self-reflection, lifelong growth, and lifelong learning," and the strong driving force, cohesion, combativeness, and execution power of the GMT team have also been of great help in responding to the pandemic. "During the pandemic period of working from home, all employees were very disciplined and performed their duties as usual. They faced difficulties and challenges with resilience, rising to the occasion. In commemoration of the resumption of work and production in Wuhan on March 21, 2020, as well as the spirit of GMT's employees working together, overcoming difficulties, and striving during the pandemic period, BTD has designated March 21 as BTD Day."

BTD Marketing Department Office Area

    In Li Jingze's view, there are no signs that the pandemic is ending, and foreign trade companies should be prepared for a long battle. The era of big data has arrived, and Li suggests that foreign trade companies adopt a digital mindset to reconstruct traditional foreign trade, as well as the company's operational system and organizational structure, accelerate digital transformation and upgrade, and achieve digital operations. He also recommends that foreign trade companies have a strong sense of data and recognize that data is a new and important production factor and resource. Companies should incorporate data culture or digital culture into their corporate culture, and ensure that everyone in the company values data and digitalization.

    Li Jingze stated that, in addition to providing foreign trade big data analysis systems and digital marketing platforms for business intelligence analysis and active precision marketing, BTD also provides personalized and customized solutions for digital transformation and upgrading of foreign trade companies.

    Talent is the first resource for a company's development. Li Jingze places great emphasis on talent development and conducts strict evaluations at all levels, progressively increasing the standards. For grassroots employees, the focus is on ability and salary retention. For middle-level managers, the requirements are to lead the team as a good example, endorse the company's values, and possess good professional ethics. For senior executives, the emphasis is on career retention and the ability to recognize, use, and accommodate people, as well as having a global perspective.

    As the founder of the company, Li Jingze himself places great emphasis on improving his own abilities. He has invented multiple patents and has won numerous awards for technology research, scientific papers, and innovation. In the early stages of the company's development, he personally made sales calls and visited clients on business trips. To quickly enhance his knowledge, he learned a large amount of knowledge on business management and economics. He believes, "Only by having strong abilities can one attract outstanding talent to follow."

On July 1, 2019, BTD company celebrated its 15th anniversary and took a group photo from the air.

     Currently, the team of BTD has grown to nearly 300 members. The company does not require every team member to be outstanding, nor does it aim to have an all-star team. However, the leaders of each business department must be core members and "big names" who can set a good example and lead their teams. Other members should each do their own job and closely cooperate with each other in various aspects.

    The culture of BTD is "respect for people, dedication, and teamwork; innovation, excellence, and efficiency." Although the company does not have overtime rules, employees voluntarily working overtime is a common occurrence. In order to improve the working environment and release employee stress, BTD has purchased over 2,000 square meters of properties in Wuhan, Beijing, Shandong, and other places for employees to use as offices. During the epidemic period, as it was inconvenient for employees to go out, the company thoughtfully transformed the office area into a multi-functional area for employees to engage in team-building and leisure activities, allowing employees to have a greater sense of belonging. With the joint efforts of nearly 300 team members, BTD has gained a leading position and ability in the industry, and has been highly recognized by clients.

    Nowadays, "speaking with data" has become a common understanding. It takes ten years to sharpen a sword, and twenty years to sharpen it into the sword of the world. Determined to become a real "hidden champion" in the global foreign trade big data field by the 20th anniversary of the company's establishment in 2024, Li Jingze believes that he and BTD will continue to work hard towards that goal.