*Beijing, China – April 26, 2013:* A “no-holds-barred” look at the impact of the digital economy has been published in China for the first time.
First published last year in Europe, the book, “Unzipping the Digital World“, was written by Keith Willetts, the founder and Chairman of the TM Forum – the global industry association that helps its members create, deliver and operate communications and cloud-based digital services.
Subtitled “How to Thrive and Survive,” the book examines the market drivers, opportunities and threats that the digital world is creating for many companies, especially in the communications and IT sectors and lays out a series of practical steps to show how today’s giants can exploit the digital world and avoid the fate of digital casualties like Kodak, MySpace and the music publishing industry.
The book was translated with the help of AsiaInfo-Linkage, China’s largest telecommunications operational software and services company. CEO Steve Zhang, who also wrote a foreword for this new edition, said the company was proud to have helped bring the book to a Chinese audience.
“This book has lessons for many industries and I am sure that both the current and the future generations of business leaders in China will find much to learn from the book and the experiences that are so clearly explained and analysed.”
Mr. Willetts is signing copies of the Mandarin edition of his book during an international executive summit in Beijing on 26th April, organized by AsiaInfo-Linkage and hosted by China Unicom. The summit addresses IT transformation for the telecommunications industry in the new digital economy, and Mr. Willetts will give a keynote speech at the event. All participants at the summit will receive a signed copy of the book.
In the book, Mr Willetts examines the digital explosion powered by the massive rise in global connectivity, the rapid evolution of cloud services, and the enormous advances in smart devices. He unzips the market to dissect the emerging digital ecosystem – a battleground he likens to a digital version of the American Wild West.
Mr Willetts also offers numerous tips and advice on what companies need to do to thrive and survive, and his thoughts on the fate of companies that don’t change quickly enough may make uncomfortable reading for some.
“Change brings opportunity but it often damages the established order,” said Mr Willetts. “With the digital world driving the most profound shift we’ve ever seen there will be a lot of both – and it will happen much faster than many people think.”
Unzipping the Digital World provides lessons for every industry, but particularly focuses on the communications sector which is simultaneously a key enabler of the digital world but also a sector under major threat.
Mr Willetts explains that in order to prosper in this digital world, companies need visionary leadership, speed, agility, innovation, and the ability to deliver outstanding customer experience and manage partnerships highly effectively. They must also learn how to “master” Big Data and turn it from worthless ‘lead’ into information ‘gold’ he writes.
“These are messages that resonate with AsiaInfo-Linkage,” added Mr Zhang, “and we certainly pride ourselves on the technology and support we can provide to our own customers for Big Data analytics. As we ourselves enter the European market for the first time, we are pleased to help launch this book in China.”
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About AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc. (http://www.asiainfo-linkage.com):
AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASIA) is a leading provider of high-quality software solutions and IT services to the telecommunications industry. Headquartered in Beijing, we employ more than 11,000 professionals worldwide.
AsiaInfo provides a full suite of business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS) and associated professional services. Our core Veris™ product suite includes billing and customer care systems that serve nearly a billion subscribers globally, plus business intelligence, network management and security solutions.
Our customers work with us to converge large scale pre- and post-paid mobile operations; improve time to market for new products and services; and develop cost-effective new business models. In China we have more than 50% market share in Billing, CRM and Business Intelligence through our longstanding partnerships with China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
Our aim is to be the leading IT solutions provider to the global telecommunications industry, enabling the Connected Digital Lifestyle, and helping our customers build, maintain, operate and constantly improve their network infrastructure and IT environment.
For more information about AsiaInfo-Linkage, please visit: AsiaInfo BSS Billing Telecommunications CRM (http://www.asiainfo-linkage.com).
*About TM Forum:*
With over 900 member companies, TM Forum is the largest global trade association focused on bringing together the digital ecosystem, including communication service providers, digital service providers and enterprises, with the goal of enabling an open digital world. The Forum delivers a wealth of knowledge and practical tools, including unique research, best practices and standards. Our members collaborate to rapidly solve business issues in critical areas, such as business process optimization, big data analytics, cloud management, customer experience management and security.
The Forum has four key roles—to Inform, Innovate, Accelerate and Optimize—and provides a neutral and open platform for collaboration between service providers, enterprises and their suppliers to overcome the barriers to an open digital economy.
For more information about TM Forum, visit: TM Forum is a global, non-profit industry association focused on enabling service provider agility and innovation - TM Forum (http://www.tmforum.org).
*For investor and media inquiries, please contact:*
In China:
Mr. Jimmy Xia
AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc.—Beijing, China
Tel: +86-10-8216-6039
Email: ir[at]asiainfo-linkage[dot]com
In EMEA:
Nicky Denovan/Kevin Taylor
Standing Tall PR
Email: nicky[at]standingtallcomms[dot]com; kevin[at]standingtallcomms[dot]com
Mobile: +44 (0)7747 017654; +44 (0)7850 858291
Distributed on behalf of Standing Tall by NeonDrum news distribution service (NeonDrum: press release distribution specialising in online news (http://www.neondrum.com))