JD showcases new HQs with self-made mobile app

Photo taken on Nov 25, 2015 shows the headquarters of JD.com in Beijing. [Liu Zheng/chinadaily.com.cn]

JD.com, or Jingdong Mall, held a news briefing on Wednesday on its newly launched smartphone application -- JD ME, a self-made mobile office app powered by the online retailer's cloud computing technology.

According to the company, aiming at providing convenience to both employees and suppliers who shuttle back and forth between 12,000 workstations and more than 200 meeting rooms, the app began to be developed by the firm's engineers in the second half of 2013.

A dog named 'Joy' as the mascot is set in the office building of JD.com, aka Jingdong Mall, a new headquarters with an area of 280,000 square meters at Yizhuang Economic and Technical Development Area at Daxing District on Nov 25, 2015 in Beijing. [Liu Zheng/chinadaily.com.cn]

"Indoor navigation, meeting room booking, canteen visitors' flow rate monitoring, employee attendance tracking, scheduled bus booking and visitor registration are some of the highlights among other decades of functions of JD ME to offer self-services for people who work and live in an 280,000-square meters office mansion," said Chen Wei, senior director of R&D department of JD Mall.

According to Chen, 7,000 sensors that are connected with the master server are installed inside the three units building. All the real-time statistics will be analyzed and then present solutions for the app users.

"We've got 5 canteens in the building to serve about 12,000 people during the lunch time. By using the app, you can monitor the line up and find out a better timing for your lunch break, rather than get starving by waiting in the long queue," said Ji Hongtao, senior manager of JD's intelligent building department.

Chen confirmed it was previously in talks with the country's search engine giant Baidu Inc to cooperate on the development of mobile office system although the communication between the two companies did not come fruition. "Nobody can give you better advice than yourself," said Chen.

According to Chen, a certain number of enterprises and business partners have shown their interests in the app. However, JD will continue to improve and optimize the app before it gets introduced in the market.