Bureau Veritas Senior Vice President David Xun Wang: Embracing the Digitalization Wave, Helping Companies Operate under the Normalized Pandemic Prevention and Control Situation

"The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge that the whole world has never faced before. The Chinese market has rapid response ability and strong adaptability to emergencies. How to achieve breakthroughs in the new situation and how to discuss with relevant stakeholders to summarize the wholesome and sustainable development of ecological chain are what this crisis has brought us to think about." In a recent interview with China Daily, Mr David Xun Wang, Senior Vice President, Reginal Chief Executive Greater China of Commodities & Industry & Facilities Business, Bureau Veritas, shared his views on the opportunities and challenges under the pandemic.

Help to Prevent Pandemic and Promote Economic Development

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide this year, global economy has suffered serious impact and many companies have faced with great challenges in management. In the face of difficulties, China has made overall efforts to prevent and control the pandemic as well as promote economic development, striving to find new opportunities in the crisis and seek innovation in the changing situation. In the second quarter, China's main economic indicators revived and the economic development showed a steady turnaround, which brought confidence to the market continuously.

"At present, companies not only need to resume production, but also need to maintain the continuity and stability of production. Resuming production is an instinctive choice for the survival and development of companies as well as the return of society to normal order. To ensure pandemic prevention, what the companies need to strengthen are not only measures but also ideological attention. "When it comes to the enterprise management under the situation of normalized pandemic prevention and control, David replied to the journalist, "As a B2B2S (Business to Business to Society) company  Bureau Veritas pays more attention to helping enterprises in long-term preventive work about how to protect employees, promote employment, focus on people's livelihood and facilitate development. "

According to David, in February this year, Bureau Veritas developed a detailed Self-inspection List for Companies Work Resuming and Epidemic Prevention, which involves five major fields in management, administration, commuting, logistics, and production & quality inspection. Based on the list, companies could daily check to ensure the smooth resumption of work and production. In April, Bureau Veritas also launched the SafeGuard Hygiene Excellence and Safety Labelservice worldwide, which could provide compliance audit of protective precautions for specific industries.

"At present, the restaurant and hotel industries are gradually recovering, and our next step will be to help the cultural and sports industries, such as cinemas, stadiums and gyms, and we hope these measures can help the related industries regain confidence." David said.

Play a Positive Role and Help to Build a Security Barrier

What role can companies play in the process of actively assisting government departments to resume work, production, business and market? How can companies ensure that their pandemic prevention testing work possess credibility and effectiveness?

"In the progress of pandemic prevention and economic recovery, the government plays a key role, while companies need to actively cooperate and provide strong support to the government in their own areas of expertise." David said in response.

"During the process of economic recovery, health, safety and hygiene in the hotel, catering, retail and other industries have received unprecedented attention. Government departments have explicit laws and regulations, and strict daily inspection to make sure that these places meet the requirements of work and production resumption during the period of pandemic prevention and control. As an independent third-party organization, Bureau Veritas helps customers operate in accordance with the requirements. "  David said.

"Bureau Veritas timely launched the SafeGuard label service. Through remotely auditing of 10 key standards and more than 50 control points, and a mystery visit within 6 months, whether or not the preventive activities of these public places have achieved outstanding performance in terms of hygiene, health and safety could be verified." David told journalists, "The credibility and effectiveness of the service provided by enterprises are closely related to their own branding and reputation. We hope to serve society's new aspirations in terms of health and safety through label services similar to SafeGuard."

Embrace the Digitalization Wave and Continue to Increase Investment

China's digital economy has been developing vigorously in recent years.  According to the White Paper on the Development of China's Digital Economy (2020) released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the scale of China's digital economic added value reached 35.8 trillion RMB, with a nominal growth of 15.6%, accounting for 36.2% of GDP in 2019. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital economy, with the Internet as a representative, has risen to prominence, showing strong vitality and becoming an important force in hedging the impact of the pandemic and promoting economic stabilization and recovery.

When talking about the trend of digital economic development, David also said, at present, digital technology has become an important support for enterprise development. Many responsive companies have already realized this change and adjusted to the market in time.

"The outbreak of the pandemic has widened the physical distance between people and restricted many activities, but instead it accelerated the process of digital development as well as the maturity and improvement of digital market."  He said.

He also revealed that in recent years, Bureau Veritas has continued to invest in digital development and remote management, "Since the outbreak of pandemic, Bureau Veritas has conducted more than 60 online public training sessions, from how to take pandemic precautions safely, to assist companies to resume production and rebuild reliable business image, providing information support for customers to regain confidence. In addition to the already mature remote inspection and remote audit technologies, there is a large demand for inspection and certification in food safety, asset management, intelligent world and other fields. I believe that the further application of digital technology can improve accuracy and ensure safe production, 数字化while at the same time, transforming talents into management personnel, which will bring infinite possibilities to us traditional industry. "

"Today, the global pandemic situation is not yet fully under control, and China's experience is worth learning for the entire world. We believe that the demand for quality, health, safety and environment is bound to grow. We feel very fortunate to be able to apply our expertise and play a significant role in China's period of great growth." He talked confidently about his vision for the future towards the end of the interview.