Our Business Advisory Board supports us in achieving transformational and innovative education for our students. Here we speak to one of our board members, Yan Zhang, Solution Architect and Alibaba Cloud Certified Instructor at the Alibaba Group based in Hong Kong. Yan has vast experience in IT consulting, Cloud Architecting and Cybersecurity and bringing these areas into business training.
By Editorial Team. Published 1 April 2020.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology (also known as Alibaba Group and Alibaba). Founded on 4 April 1999 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the company provides consumer-to-consumer (C2C), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) sales services via web portals, as well as electronic payment services, shopping search engines and cloud computing services. It owns and operates a diverse array of businesses around the world in numerous sectors and is named one of the world's most admired companies by Fortune.
I’m working as Solution Architect and Alibaba Cloud Certified Instructor in Alibaba Cloud Intelligence International. I am currently in charge of the Training and Education team as well as university cooperation in EMEA. I have 10 years ‘experience in IT consulting, Cloud Architecting and Cybersecurity, and am working as a Technical Evangelist to provide online and offline training courses and delivery service to global customers focusing on cloud computing and Cybersecurity areas.
An average day in my role involves cloud computing, AI, and Big Data training delivery.
A legal background is an excellent foundation for business. During the business development in Europe and China, I have to prepare myself regarding the service/product compliance on both China/Europe sides.
I have joined the Business Advisory Board as Alibaba Cloud has always attached great importance to the education of talented young people. As the EMEA training manager of the Alibaba Cloud education team, I’d like to share the 20 years of Alibaba Group's experience in AI and retail industry with young minds in the Business School.
The Business Advisory Board will help students gain a competitive advantage by sharing experiences in digital transformation with students so they can understand the business model of Internet companies and AI/Data technologies used in the industries solutions.
A good leader must be keenly aware of changes in the business world and adjust the company's direction and strategy flexibly but firmly.
Having a strategy for digital transformation is key to good business in the future. The main challenge facing the next generation of business leaders is the lack of expertise to lead digitisation initiatives.
My advice for students hoping to succeed in the business world is always to be curious about new technologies. The most important thing that business school students should be doing, outside the classroom now, to maximise their career prospects is to focus on the changes that digital transformation and new technologies (like AI/Big Data/cloud computing) are bringing to the world.
Discover more about the members of our Business Advisory Board now.
