Thread by @grata_co

DingTalk’s CEO Chen Hang did a 90min live stream to celebrate the launch of #DingTalk v5.0

He didn't keep the mask on long

Part launch event, part recognition of the team's heroic product release rate responding to the #COVIDー19 epidemic (thread)
h5.dingtalk.com/group-live-sha…

When the epidemic started, with hundreds of millions of people facing quarantine, the first thing they did was publish a guide to teach people *how* to work remotely.

Next they expanded free video conferencing from 30 to 302 people (302, we assume, to best WeChat Work's 300).

The next update was the Health check-in app.

It was the fastest product launch in DingTalk's history: <40 hours from initial scoping to deployment, and their team did it all while working remotely for the first time.

Chen casually drops that the health app was made at the request of the government to collect and centralize epidemic data

"这些信息也会上报给每一个区域的政府, 帮政府统一协调" (16:45)
"This data was reported to every regional government to help them coordinate their efforts"

The health app data was used to generate Health QR codes (健康码) that have traffic light colors to easily display each person's infection danger, with details available after scanning.

Next, planning for the post-quarantine return to the office.

The standard office attendance devices presented challenges:
1) lining up to clock-in increased exposure to colleagues,
2) obviously finger print scanners are bad, and
3) facial recognition won't work with face masks

So DingTalk updated their attendance app and smart hardware to use either WiFi connection, bluetooth, or GPS location as the verification method.

None of these methods require employees to line up, touch anything, or remove their face mask.

The applause track and the musical performance celebrating remote work/study - including a chorus calling in by video conference - was a bit hokey, but credit where credit is due: DingTalk and WeChat Work teams put in long hours to keep China online

Getting 50 million students to use DingTalk's new online classroom app (钉钉在线课堂) overnight was no small feat.

Crucially neither the teacher nor the students needed any special equipment: just a smartphone or laptop.

https://twitter.com/grata_co/status/1225150166056960003?s=20

Chen addressed the flood of 1-star app reviews students gave, blaming DingTalk for keeping them in class despite the quarantine.

He said while he understands the students, his team had a hard time taking all the negative feedback and hopes for 5-stars in the future.

The actual product launch starts at 29:26

DingTalk gives a name to each version, and v5 is called 巴颜喀拉 (Bayan Har, a Qinghai mountain range that contains the source of the Yellow River).
h5.dingtalk.com/group-live-sha…

33:00 Lots of upgrades to the online office (在线办公室): completely overhauled online docs, a new note app (便签) and company knowledge bank (知识库), and better integration of Ding Drive file storage.

37:04 Also new is DingTalk Project (钉钉项目) a collection of centralized project management tools and third-party apps including Gantt charts, Trello-style boards, and task management

55:43 New project called Circles (钉钉圈子), a social product designed to build company culture when used internally, or externally to connect with customers and students.

Tools to manage multiple circles of users with tools like newsfeed, live streaming, broadcast messages, etc

1:02:10 Chen gives an examples of Circles for customers or fans of a business to connect online, give feedback, get service, etc.

1:10:22 Chen announces DingDing CRM (钉钉智能客户管理) a new product to help improve customer service quality and efficiency.

1:11:59 A CRM example of a restaurant: the employee shows their DingTalk QR code to a customer who scans the code in DingTalk.

Wait, what?

This is a huge jump. Does the customer want this? Does the customer have DingTalk on their phone?

After getting 50m students to download DingTalk overnight, maybe this isn't so far fetched. But... this is basically rewriting DingTalk as not just an enterprise collaboration app, but also a consumer app. That's a massive gamble and strategy shift.

They close with a nod to Laiwang, Alibaba's failed attempt at a consumer messaging app to challenge WeChat

"Without Laiwang, there is no DingTalk". I first misunderstood where he's going: I thought he was about to recognize that DingTalk CRM needs a complementary consumer app...

Like "Without WeChat, there is no WeChat Work". That would have made sense. I just don't see how they can do what WeChat Work is doing with Customers, without a Laiwang

More on WeChat Work Customers here:
blog.grata.co/wechat-at-work/

What he actually meant by "Without Laiwang, there is no DingTalk" was that DingTalk was built on Laiwang's tech.

It was his segue into pitching the ex Laiwang teams' new app Real, which ended the event.

/thread