Recently, ARC Advisory conducted an in-depth interview with Liu Bin, founder and CEO of Deep Insights. In this information-rich conversation, Liu not only reviewed the entire process of Deep Insights (formed by the merger of Quantum Asia and GILLION) from integration to restructuring, but also systematically elaborated on his unique understanding of the SaaS model, pragmatic views on the value of AI, and the overseas expansion blueprint shifting from “passive following” to “active advancement”. What he outlined is not a shortcut to chasing trends, but a difficult yet inevitable long-termism path in China’s complex enterprise services market.
I. Strategic Integration: Not “1+1=2”, but Genetic Recombination
The merger of Quantum Asia and GILLION was one of the most watched industry events in the supply chain software sector in 2023 in China. However, in Liu Bin’s narrative, this was never a simple story of scale expansion.
“We aim to achieve a strategic-level restructuring,” he made it clear from the start.
In his view, the core of the merger lies in complementary genes and capability recombination: Quantum Asia brought core SaaS genes, cloud-native architecture, and a reusable product ecosystem; while GILLION injected valuable industry-specific know-how, experience in serving large clients, and strong capabilities in handling complex deliveries.
“The integration of these two capability chains has laid a solid foundation for us to build an AI-driven end-to-end supply chain platform,” Liu revealed.
After the merger, Deep Insights made three crucial and coherent decisions:
Unified product roadmap: Built a complete product matrix covering WMS (Warehouse Management System), TMS (Transportation Management System), freight forwarding, shipping, and container management, committed to providing an “end-to-end supply chain collaboration platform” rather than scattered point tools.
Unified AI strategy: Clearly mapped out a phased development path from “AI-enhanced” (improving existing functions) to “AI-native” (restructuring product design), and ultimately to an “AI ecosystem”.
Unified delivery system: Innovatively proposed “AI-enhanced delivery”, aiming to use AI technology to improve the efficiency and standardization of project implementation, thereby achieving large-scale expansion.
“Our current goal is not only to make the system easy to use, but also to enable enterprises to have an intelligent supply chain platform that understands business and data and can independently optimize itself.”
II. The Way to Break Through in SaaS: Two Key Decisions – “Serving Large Clients” and “Supporting Customization”
“SaaS has encountered some difficulties in China, but its business model is sound.”
When asked why Deep Insights still adheres to the SaaS model amid a market flooded with customization demands, Liu Bin’s answer was unhesitant. Behind this seemingly plain statement is his deep belief in the industry’s underlying logic after more than a decade of deep cultivation in the supply chain software sector, experiencing model exploration and market tempering.
Currently, many peers in the SaaS industry shrink back in the face of complex customization needs from large enterprises and question whether SaaS can succeed in China. Why can Deep Insights stick to SaaS and make it a core competency? Liu shared two crucial “breakthrough” decisions during his entrepreneurial journey, and these details reveal the uniqueness of its model.
The first breakthrough was a strategic decision on “who to serve”.
“Initially, our understanding of SaaS was quite superficial. We thought SaaS was probably for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and large enterprises would never use it.”
Liu recalled the exploration period from 2016 to 2017, when they designed a SaaS product tailored for SMEs. But the market quickly gave feedback: “After about half a year, we realized it was not working. It’s extremely difficult to do SaaS for SMEs in China, unless you target C-end customers.”
Amid the predicament, Liu made a decision that turned the tide: “I proposed that the clients we originally served with software should be our future SaaS clients. Our SaaS must be able to serve large enterprises.”
This key strategic shift opened a clear path for Deep Insights’ SaaS journey, directly targeting medium and large client groups with stronger payment capabilities and digital transformation willingness, laying the foundation for the success of its business model.
The second breakthrough was product and architectural innovation regarding “how to do it”.
Serving large enterprises inevitably involves customization demands. Rejecting customization outright would mean losing clients, while fully embracing it would deviate from the essence of SaaS. Deep Insights’ solution is highly innovative – “SaaS should support customization”.
“Different from traditional views in the market, we provide each large client with a ‘customization package’ on the multi-tenant architecture of the public cloud,” Liu explained the sophisticated design in detail. “We maintain rapid iterations of the main version every two weeks, while clients’ personalized needs are encapsulated in independent customization packages. Clients can retain their customized functions and independently choose whether to upgrade with the main version.”
This design is like setting up a “private compartment” that can be independently arranged for each VIP on a standardized high-speed train, perfectly balancing the fundamental contradiction between rapid iteration of product standardization and core personalized needs of clients and becoming the cornerstone for Deep Insights to attract and retain large clients in the long term.
III. AI Positioning: Evolution, Not Subversion
Faced with the sweeping AI wave, Liu Bin demonstrated rare calmness and pragmatism. He believes that AI is not a subverter of SaaS, but a natural “evolution”.
“The core of SaaS is process standardization, which is essentially process-based. In contrast, the core of AI is data-driven intelligence,” he accurately analyzed the relationship between the two, pointing out that they have different underlying starting points but are not oppositional. Liu further elaborated that AI not only fully inherits the most excellent subscription-based business model of SaaS, but more importantly, “we have been doing SaaS for nearly 10 years, and in fact, we have accumulated a large amount of desensitized data, which has become the best ‘fuel’ for AI.”
He further pointed out that AI is profoundly transforming the very way software is developed. “Since the beginning of this year, we have been practicing how to drive our internal development processes with AI. Our vision is that by next year, over 60% of the work will be done by AI, with 30% to 40% handled by humans for confirmation and verification.”
Based on this, he gave a clear judgment on industry evolution: “Initially, we developed standalone software, then we moved to internet-based software, and later evolved into SaaS. In fact, the transition from SaaS to AI is another evolution, which I think is an inevitable process.”
IV. Strategic Upgrade of Overseas Expansion: From “Riding on Others’ Ships” to “Building Our Own Vessels”
Regarding Deep Insights’ future development direction, Liu Bin’s answer clearly and firmly points to globalization.
“In the past few years, our overseas expansion has been ‘following Chinese enterprises going global’,” Liu frankly reviewed the initial stage. “But starting from this year, we will take the initiative to expand overseas.” He revealed that he has recently led a team to visit Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand and Singapore intensively. “We will adopt a dual-track approach: on the one hand, continue to deepen services for Chinese enterprises expanding overseas; on the other hand, actively promote our supply chain cloud, AI, and localized products to the local market.”
Conclusion: The “Inevitable Path” for Long-Termists
Throughout the conversation, Liu Bin consistently showed the clarity and determination of a “long-termist”. He is well aware of the difficulties of SaaS in the Chinese market, has witnessed early twists and turns and industry fluctuations, but firmly believes in its inherent value and irreversible direction.
With the strategic triangle of “SaaS as the foundation, industrialization as the accelerator, and AI as the engine”, Deep Insights is striving to blaze a path to the future in the soil of China’s enterprise services that requires patience and wisdom.
The post Forging Ahead with Long-Termism, Deepening Supply Chain SaaS After Seven Years of Refinement – Exclusive Interview with Liu Bin, CEO of Deep Insights appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.