Le Shou Agricultural and Pastoral Group's Agile IT Development Plan

To be honest, implementing信息化 (information technology) initiatives at Leshou is indeed challenging. Compared to industries like manufacturing, the agricultural and animal husbandry sector places less emphasis on IT adoption. That’s why we need to start with foundational infrastructure planning—building a robust base and establishing stable network application architectures—while simultaneously overhauling relevant institutional frameworks and key processes to ensure seamless alignment with future application systems and their implementation. Of course, gaining strong support from top-level leadership is the key to the success of this initiative. By rolling out the information system from the top down, after several months of assessment and communication, I believe the approach that best suits Leshou’s unique needs is what I call the "Small Steps, Fast Progress Plan."

To be honest, implementing信息化 (information technology) initiatives at Leshou is indeed challenging. Compared to industries like manufacturing, the agricultural and animal husbandry sector places less emphasis on IT adoption. That’s why we need to start with foundational infrastructure planning—building a robust base and establishing stable network application architectures—while simultaneously overhauling relevant institutional frameworks and key processes to ensure seamless alignment with future application systems and their implementation. Of course, gaining strong support from top-level leadership is the key to the success of this initiative. By rolling out the information system from the top down, after several months of assessment and communication, I believe the approach that best suits Leshou’s unique needs is what I call the "Small Steps, Fast Progress Plan."

1. Stay grounded and define clear objectives

First, we need to understand that Leshou’s IT initiative is not just about superficial showpieces—it’s ultimately a management tool and approach. While it can certainly enhance and elevate our operations, it must remain grounded in reality. Therefore, the development and implementation of IT solutions at Leshou should focus on two key integrations: one with our existing management practices, and the other with our core business processes.

When working with information-related systems, we should pay attention to compatibility, a unified platform architecture, and high levels of openness. We need to carefully assess our actual situation and then clearly define our next steps and objectives. For Leshou, our goals can be set fairly ambitious—after all, planning for five or even ten years ahead is perfectly reasonable. And when budgets allow, we can invest more generously; in times of tighter resources, we’ll focus on strategic, cost-effective investments instead.

2. From top to bottom, start with the easier tasks and move on to the more challenging ones.

Information technology development must be a top-level initiative—strong, high-level leadership support is essential. Since IT systems touch every department and every employee across the company, they simply cannot move forward without robust backing from senior management. Moreover, during implementation, it’s crucial to adopt a top-down approach to planning and execution. If efforts start at the grassroots level and only later converge upward, the resulting information will become fragmented and inconsistent, rendering it unusable altogether.

3. Comprehensive planning, phased implementation

Our company’s future development will undoubtedly become more diversified. When planning, our primary goal is to strengthen the group’s centralized control capabilities. While building an information system may sound easy to talk about, putting it into practice is far more challenging. Once work habits become ingrained, making changes becomes difficult—and resistance to implementation can be significant—as both attitudes and mindsets adapt to embrace the new infrastructure.

For Leshou's IT infrastructure development plan—whether implemented in one comprehensive step or rolled out incrementally—we are considering a phased approach that prioritizes rigorous validation of effectiveness. This strategy also helps avoid redundant investments. Leshou’s IT architecture adheres to key principles: a unified platform for seamless integration, while ensuring individual components remain fully functional when used independently, and offering complete system-wide access when combined.

4. Focus on personalized development

The biggest challenge in IT infrastructure development is that standardized software features often fail to fully align with specific organizational needs. Meanwhile, fully custom-developed projects tend to be too costly, time-consuming, and risky—plus, developers may lack the expertise required, potentially resulting in solutions that aren’t even as effective as off-the-shelf, standardized products. This makes personalized development a relatively more economical choice. So-called "personalization" involves tailoring solutions to fit Leshou’s unique operational context. However, it’s crucial to approach this process thoughtfully: development should not be overly arbitrary. First, it must adhere to internal control requirements; second, it must meet broader system standards. Most importantly, the new system must seamlessly integrate with existing systems, ensuring robust data interoperability between them.

5. Advance integrated business and finance management

The biggest challenge in digital transformation is achieving integrated business and finance operations—this is often where IT initiatives fail. After all, true integration means unifying business and financial information, which should ideally be interconnected and mutually accessible. Financial data naturally stems from business activities, while business insights must be translated into financial terms to enable senior leadership to make informed decisions and gain a clearer understanding of the organization's performance. Currently, discrepancies between business and financial data are common—sometimes due to delays in data updates, and other times stemming from broader management issues. When these gaps widen significantly, they can compromise the accuracy of financial disclosures, mislead management’s decision-making process, and ultimately expose the company to operational risks.

Integrating business and financial information so that business data can seamlessly and automatically transform into financial data—without any manual intervention—is a fundamental requirement of internal control. To achieve this, finance and operations teams must work together to standardize, streamline, and digitize business processes. Moreover, while deep expertise in the business is essential, it’s equally important to possess strong communication and management skills.

6. Should We Focus on Finance or Business?

This issue has no easy solution. As finance professionals, it’s natural to prioritize the financial core—it makes our work much more efficient. However, the true heart of any business lies in its operations. That’s why we need to align our focus based on our actual circumstances. And if we ever decide to pursue diversification down the road, centering around the financial core will allow us to maximize the benefits of centralized control and management.

In short, I’m very optimistic about the future of Leshou’s IT development. Let’s keep pushing forward and work hard together toward a brighter tomorrow for Leshou—hey, isn’t that a line from Leshou’s anthem?

Run, brave and wise people of Leshou!