George Zhang, CEO Huawei Romania: “The resilience and performance of telecom networks in Romania was fully demonstrated this year”

“Although it is difficult to see the benefits of the pandemic, it has accelerated the digitalisation process in Romania and all around the world. For the first time, we are realising how important digitalisation is to us and how much attention we need to pay to the development and safety of each citizen when they are online,” George Zhang, CEO Huawei Romania told The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“The resilience and performance of telecom networks in Romania was fully demonstrated this year. Against the background of a significant increase in data and voice traffic, networks operated without any issue, allowing remote work in many sectors and supporting communication between people in the conditions of social distancing caused by the pandemic context.”

What leadership skills do you find most useful in the current changing work environment? 

The current changing environment is a challenge for all the business leaders around the world, but at Huawei we are always prepared to face challenges and to adapt, at the same time maintaining the quality of the services and products we provide to our customers.

During this period, I think the most important skills every leader should have is being resilient and flexible to the changes in the industry. In the pandemic period, we see that people quickly adopted to the online environment, but many SME needs more support with the transition.

In Huawei Romania, we prepared early for such changes. We prioritised the safety of our employees with the remote work policies and implemented the BCM in early February 2020. These measures allowed our employees to stay focused on our business goals, and still provide top services to our operator partners to support their upcoming surge of network usage and to provide connectivity to all the businesses and individuals that are now unfolding their activities mostly online.

Globally, despite the challenging environment, Huawei continued with the R&D investment for innovative and creative technology for a better future for our customers. In 2019, Huawei invested over US$19.3 billion in the R&D, this is more than any other competitors in the network gear business. We are serious with our technological innovation, despite the change in the working environment.

Which are the empowering mindsets for building the sense of meaning & purpose, both for employers and employees, to keep each other engaged in reaching the business objectives in 2020 and in the next year?

For Huawei, the most important value is being customer-centric, which means having always in mind the needs of our customers and creating added value for them. Being in the telecommunication industry, our goal is to bring digital connection to every organisation, home and individual. Previously, we focused on providing the best quality service to our direct customers, however, from the pandemic, most of our team realised that we are supporting the whole country’s network and telecommunication. We find great pride in working on such important task for Romania and in being part of the ecosystem that supports stable and efficient telecommunication networks. 

Another aspect is the teamplay – we act as one entity, as a well-defined team. Huawei employees are top specialists in their respective areas, and we create an open space for collaboration internally in each other’s work area to achieve the goals. We are constantly forecasting market evolution and adjusting market strategies to ensure our goals are reachable, and our customer needs are met. Moreover, we stimulate our employees to learn, by offering them a wide database of online courses, which helps improve their skills and drive forward their career, keeping our team engaged.

What should be a CEO’s and leader’s power message on business resilience conveyed to peers, partners, and employees  for 2021, in order to enhance the trust and engagement?

I think the most powerful message on business resilience that a leader can send out is to ensure its team that he is always there for guidance, advice and support in all the challenges that a business is facing.

As the CEO of Huawei Romania, I always make sure I do a company-scale meeting with all the employees every two weeks. It is important to listen and answer everyone’s questions about the company, such as future forecasts, provide advises on various situation and suggestions. I always believe that leaders should be open and listen to what your team wants to say and should support the team members. Although most of Huawei employees are now working remotely, our team constantly keeps in touch through the communication apps at our disposal.

How can a CEO and leader of an organization capitalize on the current challenges to enhance ad promote the company’s competition advantages currently?

Although it is difficult to see the benefits of the pandemic, it has accelerated the digitalisation process in Romania and all around the world. For the first time, we are realising how important digitalisation is to us and how much attention we need to pay to the development and safety of each citizen when they are online.

Present in Romania since 2003, Huawei is proud to have been able to contribute through its products and technologies to the development of telecom networks in Romania, in partnership with all major operators present in the local market. The resilience and performance of telecom networks in Romania was fully demonstrated this year. Against the background of a significant increase in data and voice traffic, networks operated without any issue, allowing remote work in many sectors, and supporting communication between people in the conditions of social distancing caused by the pandemic context.

From this point of view, the transition to the next generation of mobile telecommunications is not just an opportunity, but also a necessity for Romania. 5G technology, through the much higher transfer speeds than current networks, and the extremely low latency, which is manifested by an almost instantaneous response time, will lead to a real leap not only in the field of communications, but also in many industries, as well as for home users.

For now, many authorities and organisations have acknowledged the development potential that 5G will generate. And we know for sure that we will gradually enter another normality in which we will get used to remote surgery and tele-medicine, autonomous cars, new smart city and smart house solutions, in which the Internet of Things will support business and personal comfort.

Which are the current concerns of a CEO / leader in 2020?  Which are the hopes for 2021?

The main concern of any corporation should be the changes we must adopt during the pandemic, especially for the safety of our employees and their families, as well as the shift in demand and supply for some industries. Each industry should adjust quickly and adequately to the new business environment in order to not have major impact on their business performance. We must implement the new safety regulations issued by the government and adapt our business activities.

Huawei is committed to its partners and we are working hard to keep networks running and stable. Overall, Huawei’s business is doing well because we built trust with operators and consumers. More than 8 million consumers in Romania today are using Huawei smartphones. Even the launch of our P40 series, despite the lack of Google services, was well received by the Romanian public.

According to the DESI report, issued yearly by the European Commission, however, Romania ranks 27th in the European Union in terms of human capital and digital technology integration. Romania ranks 28th in terms of internet service use and the development of digital public services. Connectivity is still at a better level than other digital development indicators – Romania ranks 11th, above the EU average.

These developments capture the reality not only of present-day Romania, but also of recent years, compared to the rest of the EU. Romania has progressed in absolute terms on most of the measured indicators. However, we are not evolving as fast as the rest of the European markets. For this reason, the existing gaps are not reduced, but rather they are getting wider, which is certainly to the detriment of Romanians and the competitiveness of the Romanian economy.

From this point of view, the transition to the next generation of mobile telecommunications is not just an opportunity, but also a necessity for Romania. 5G technology, through the much higher transfer speeds than current networks, and the extremely low latency, which is manifested by an almost instantaneous response time, will lead to a real leap not only in the field of communications, but also in many industries, as well as for home users.

What kind of  innovative measures and inclusive leadership initiatives have been applied within your organization this year, to better cope with the current context and bring the business forward in 2021?

At Huawei, we are constantly innovating and, over the years, we have developed a myriad of apps used by our employees for internal communication. This way, the pandemic did not take us by surprise from the internal communication point of view. These apps allowed many business features to be accessed online and our employees can use them from home, ensuring the same business processes as usual. The communication tools supported our business continuation just like prior to the breakout of pandemic, generating the growth of our business.

In addition, the need to maintain and support the Romania network and the upcoming digital revolution means we are always seeking top talents in Romania. We have just announced our plan to expand the team, with over 60 job vacancies.