Arming Chinese firms with analytics

Six years on, chief of Teradata China reviews the company's results and his own performance

After being asked about his work over the past six years, Aaron Hsin, president of Teradata Greater China, thinks for a moment. And then some. It appears he has much to say about his work and his employer.

"I really appreciate Teradata's corporate culture and the company's atmosphere of cherishing talent," he says after a while.

During our interview in Beijing, he says he is leading a 1,000-plus team at the China unit of the international software company, which provides big data and analytic data platforms, marketing applications and related services.

The company's revenue has quadrupled in the Chinese market since he joined in 2010. He credits that partly to the university education he received in the United States about 30 years ago.

Hsin received two master's degrees, one in computer sciences from Stanford University and another in information management from the State University of New York. Both helped him to serve two US software companies - Microsoft and Teradata - well in Beijing for 14 years, he says.

"Of course, there is also a cooperative, talented, supportive team, and my passion for the tech work I do."

Working with Microsoft as a senior manager and now at Teradata has given him opportunities to use his knowledge for China's economic development, he says. "At the same time, I've built close links with many industrial experts and made many friends here."

He is now a member of the China Big Data Expert Committee and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' China Cloud Computing Technology and Industry Alliance.

Owing to downward pressure exerted by a feeble global economic recovery, Teradata's full-year global revenue for 2015 fell 7 percent to $2.53 billion yuan.

But Teradata's business in China has seen unprecedented growth, Hsin says, although he declined to disclose the China unit's financials.

"The decline in Teradata's global revenue had nothing to do with the slowdown in China's economic growth. On the contrary, I see greater market demand in the Chinese market for our data warehousing and analytical products."

He says he sees increasing business opportunities in China for analytical products of cross-industrial sectors. For example, Teradata's market research found a need for products that can monitor both manufacturing and marketing at the same time.

The company is studying its customers' plans in order to develop such products as soon as possible so that the enterprises can use them to innovate.

Tony Baer, a senior analyst with Ovum, a market-leading research and consulting business focused on convergence of IT, telecom and media markets, says the value of Teradata's products comes from 40 years of experimental experience. The products help customers deal with data management and see business values in these data, set in different environments.

"Teradata has proved its passion by doing only one thing, the data analytical product, for over 40 years," Hsin says. "My passion at Teradata encourages me to lead my team to achieve one business success after another in the Chinese market."

He says his staff once achieved double-digit revenue growth for three consecutive years. Positive growth over six consecutive years is another feather in its corporate cap.

Teradata's analytical products have helped its enterprise customers greatly improve their business, Hsin says.

For example, a leading Chinese telecom operator that is a client of Teradata's analytical products is providing a processed data service for a local banking institute to decide where and when it needs to set up new branches in China, explains Geoffrey Jiang, Greater China Area regional solutions director at Teradata Information Systems (Beijing) Ltd.

Many Chinese banks used to hire consulting businesses for feasibility studies before opening branches in remote areas. Typically, such studies took several months to complete. Now, with analytical data, the institute needs only two to three weeks before it gets the solution.

As for Teradata's future development in China, Hsin says: "We're not afraid of competition, but we prefer cooperation."

Before he joined the company, Teradata's customers were mainly from three sectors: communications, financial services and the internet. Now, it has built a customer base involving about 12 industrial sectors nationwide, with new clients coming from manufacturing, automotive, retail and insurance.

"Teradata has not only engaged its cooperation deeper with top-ranked state-owned companies, but it is also growing its customer base in the country's booming private business sector," Hsin says.

Along with China's fast-growing e-commerce sector, Teradata is cooperating with many business-to-customer and business-to-business websites, including eBay Shanghai and a local leading e-commerce company.

"We're working on introducing our advanced cloud computing technology to the Chinese market. Through cooperation with our software development partners, we're expecting to have a formal announcement in this development this year," he adds.

According to a recent Teradata report, the US contributes 60 percent of the company's annual revenue. Data analytical products make up 42 percent, while consulting and other services account for 58 percent of revenue.

Teradata now has more than 2,500 corporate customers worldwide. For example, it has been helping a growing number of utilities analyze the vast amount of data produced by their "smart" meters and power grids, which can help increase company efficiency and reduce customer costs, officials say.

Wuyunhe@chinadaily.com.cn

Bio

Aaron Hsin

President of Teradata Greater China Area

Born: Taiwan

Education:

Master of computer sciences, Stanford University. Master of information management, State University of New York

Career:

Hsin has about 30 years of work experience and is now a key member of the China Big Data Expert Committee and the China Cloud Computing Technology and Industry Alliance. He served as general manager of Microsoft Greater China before joining Teradata as president of its China unit in 2010.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/20/2016 page31)