Beike announced changes to the organizational structure of the group and Beijing Lianjia.
On March 29th, Peng Yongdong, the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of the Beike Group, issued an all-staff letter titled "Beike's Next Phase: Reconstructing the Organization with the Consumer at the Core", initiating a strategic transformation that encompasses multiple aspects such as the upgrade of the service model, organizational structure reform, and the transformation of Beijing Lianjia. It was clearly stated that the company will undergo a profound transformation from a transaction platform to a community-based residential service platform.
The all-staff letter clearly stated that the general direction of Beike's transformation is to upgrade the community-based residential service model. By seizing the dual opportunities presented by the changing consumer demands and the reconstruction of the industry's underlying logic by AI, the company aims to assist real estate agents in transitioning from "information intermediaries" to "trusted professional service providers", and to transform Beike's service model from "changing the way the industry connects" to "changing the way the industry serves".
Peng Yongdong pointed out in the letter, "After 24 years, we have inevitably contracted the 'big organization disease': the departmental barriers are getting thicker, processes override common sense, and the accumulation of complex indicators obscures the creation of real value. What seems to be management is actually internal strife; what seems to be the pursuit of efficiency is actually self - serving, taking us further away from consumers. We will further streamline various indicators, enabling those who truly create value to be closer to consumers; ensuring that all capabilities and resources reach the front line directly; and making the organization more agile and flat, revolving around consumers."
After the issuance of the all-staff letter, Beike issued a document to restructure its management framework and announced the establishment of a Group Transformation Management Committee, led by Peng Yongdong. The committee aims to transform the business structure, performance evaluation, and resource allocation to meet consumer needs.
To meet the fundamental changes in consumer demands, Peng Yongdong emphasized the need to upgrade front - line customer service (Service) and functional professional capabilities (Skill). He clearly stated that "serving consumers" should be incorporated into the core responsibilities of managers at all levels. He required managers to move from the back - end, looking at reports, imposing indicators, and implementing strict control to the front - line to serve consumers. At the same time, ineffective assessment indicators for front - line service providers will be removed, the short - term transaction volume orientation will be weakened, and dimensions such as customer satisfaction, service quality, and long - term value creation will be strengthened.
The functional back - end will also undergo a transformation, upgrading from a traditional "control center" to a "capability factory". It will focus on capability building, reduce ineffective management consumption, and ensure that reusable capabilities and group resources reach the service front - line directly.
The following is the full text of the all - staff letter "Beike's Next Phase: Reconstructing the Organization with the Consumer at the Core":
More than a month ago, in the New Year's letter, we looked back on the 24 - year journey of Beike together. In that letter, I discussed with you a question: Facing five forces of transformation, what should Beike adhere to?
The answer is simple and straightforward: Put the consumer at the center.
"The fundamental change in consumer demands" is the most powerful force. It is profoundly changing our residential industry and forcing us to rewrite our organization, service, and the way of creating value. Today, I would like to further share my thoughts, which will be implemented as a series of transformation measures.
I. Upgrade the Model: Meet the Fundamental Changes in Consumer Demands
In the past, the main demands of consumers were "buying a house" and "selling a house". However, today, what more and more consumers are actually facing is not a lack of information, but an overload of it; not the transaction itself, but the decision - making process. Buying, selling, renting, and renovating a house have become comprehensive judgments involving family, assets, lifestyle, and future expectations. Especially when the market enters a stage of differentiation and fluctuation, what buyers fear most is "buying the wrong house", and what sellers care most about is "whether someone truly understands my house and can help me sell it well". Those who can adhere to a neutral market view and stand firmly on the side of consumers to help them make better choices are the ones who truly create value.
This is not only true for the second - hand housing business but also for the new housing service. Before visiting a property sales site, today's consumers often complete the first round of screening and comparison on different online platforms and may even form initial preferences. If the information is incomplete at this stage, decision - making mistakes are inevitable.
At this month's earnings conference, an analyst asked me what I thought of self - media. I believe that the emergence of any new form is not accidental; it must have met some previously unmet needs. Self - media is actually a signal, reminding us that when making housing decisions, today's consumers increasingly need someone to explain the property clearly, the neighborhood clearly, and "why it is worth buying" clearly. Consumers need decision - making support.
Then, do our managers and service providers have the ability to "explain the decision - making logic"? Those who can explain the real advantages and disadvantages of a property, the living logic of a neighborhood, and the choice path for a family are creating value for consumers; those who can simplify complex issues, clarify uncertainties, and address consumers' concerns and hesitations are helping consumers make correct decisions.
To truly achieve this, our service model itself must also change. In the past, we dissected the business according to different product lines, focusing on short - term transactions: the number of customers, market share, and average transaction value, and then analyzed the business results based on these indicators. However, this logic is no longer applicable in the future. When we truly put the consumer at the center, we will not only focus on a single transaction but will take a longer - term view of the service relationship with a community, a family, and the concept of "home".
For example, when looking at a community, we should not only focus on the number of transactions but also consider the number of households; not only the number of houses sold today but also the potential needs of residents in home improvement, rental, asset management, and even future community services. How much in - depth service can we provide? In the future, we will not only focus on the average transaction value of a single deal but on how deep a connection we can form, how much value we can create, and how strong a trust we can build over the customer's life cycle.
There are still numerous opportunities for iteration and redefinition in the area of "residential services". When we talk about "meeting consumer demands" today, it is essentially different from the past. We need to rebuild our service capabilities based on consumers' new decision - making methods, risk perceptions, information - acquisition habits, and living expectations. At the same time, we also need to restructure our content system, product system, and organizational approach based on long - term customer value.
We need to move from one - time service delivery to a business model based on long - term trust relationships. Only by starting from this point will the subsequent changes in organization, capabilities, and service models truly make sense.
II. Adapt to the Reconstruction of the Industry by AI
Will AI bring a revolution to the real estate service industry?
My core judgment on this issue is not about "whether AI will replace humans" but about: AI is reconstructing the underlying logic of this industry. In the New Year's letter, we put forward a basic judgment: AI cannot be ignored, and humans cannot be replaced. What this means is that AI will reduce the value of low - value, homogeneous labor, while amplifying the value of judgment, explanation, coordination, and trust.
This industry will not be simply replaced by AI because it has two inherent characteristics:
First, it is difficult to fully express the demand. Many people cannot precisely describe what they need at the beginning. Although they say "I want to buy a house", what they actually need to solve may be hidden needs such as children's schooling, changes in family structure, commuting convenience, improvement of living conditions, or even emotional stress.
Second, the supply is highly non - standard. A house is not a fully standardized and commoditized product. Its suitability, price, risk, substitutability, and the seller's expectations all carry a high degree of uncertainty. That's why real estate transactions are never just a simple price - comparison behavior but a process of continuously coordinating cognition, emotions, expectations, and responsibilities.
Therefore, AI will not simply "replace" but will give rise to more detailed professional divisions, such as buyer consultants, seller service providers, cloud butlers, school - district experts, loan consultants, and community consultants. They will provide deeper, more accurate, and higher - quality support in different scenarios.
This also means that the role of real estate agents will change fundamentally.
In the past, the value of real estate agents was mainly reflected in information connection and transaction promotion. In the future, real estate agents will increasingly transform from "information intermediaries" to "trusted service providers", relying on their ability to understand customers, explain complex issues, organize multi - party collaboration, and provide professional advice to gain long - term trust from customers. Those who can use AI to delegate standardized tasks to the system and focus more on judgment, explanation, coordination, and responsibility - taking are more likely to become high - value service providers.
The value of excellent service providers will be further amplified by AI. For our organization, the question is not "whether we have AI capabilities" but "whether we can organize people and whether we can organize people and AI together".
For Beike, this means not fewer opportunities but more.
Beike will more actively use AI to upgrade itself into an industry foundation for residential services. On the one hand, it will make information, matching, processes, and collaboration more efficient; on the other hand, it will make transaction responsibilities, performance guarantees, and service delivery more reliable.
I believe that in the future, a truly competitive platform is not just one that has AI but one that can integrate AI and professional service providers to win customers' trust. What will determine how far a platform can go in the future is whether it can truly achieve: Equip service providers with AI and win trust with professionalism.
III. Reshape the Collaborative Ecosystem
In its first phase, Beike was able to change the industry thanks to collaboration. The ACN (Agent Cooperation Network), real - estate listings, and platform collaboration provided a foundation for large - scale cooperation in real estate transactions for the first time, enabling the originally scattered and inefficient transaction relationships to operate on a more transparent platform. This was a very important starting point for Beike and also the first real - sense upgrade of collaboration in this industry.
However, today, with the changing consumer demands and the underlying reconstruction of the industry by AI, such collaboration is no longer sufficient.
In the new collaborative ecosystem, the store will be the most important minimum business unit. We will position the store as a "community housing service station", which not only undertakes transactions but also provides a series of long - term services around the family living scenario.
One of the most important responsibilities of the Beike platform in the future is to continuously empower stores. Every platform position should answer the question: Can we make the stores stronger in serving consumers, managing real - estate listings, and providing community services?
The ACN must be upgraded. In the past, the ACN mainly focused on cooperation in a single transaction. In the future, the ACN will increasingly be centered around the professional division of different roles. Those who are better at understanding customers, providing consulting - style services, and helping consumers make decisions will move more towards the buyer side; those who are better at managing real - estate listings, understanding property owners, and promoting the sale of properties will move more towards the seller side. This may not be a mandatory division but more likely a natural outcome in practice.
In the future, those entering the ACN will not only be real estate agents. Consultative service providers facing customers, professional service providers dealing with special issues such as schools, communities, loans, and policies, service providers maintaining long - term entrusted relationships with property owners, and even new collaborators formed around different scenarios such as home improvement, rental, asset management, and community services may all join. The future ACN will not just be a "cooperation network among real estate agents" but a cooperation network formed around the long - term value creation for consumers and property owners. It will connect not just a single transaction but a whole set of residential services.
The upgrade of the collaborative ecosystem will ultimately be reflected in the upgrade of the distribution mechanism. We need to form a new mechanism that is more suitable for different roles, contributions, and service cycles, enabling those who truly create value to receive more reasonable and long - term rewards.
IV. Reform the Structure: Return to the Organization Form that Creates Value
After 24 years, we have inevitably contracted the "big organization disease": the departmental barriers are getting thicker, processes override common sense, and the accumulation of complex indicators obscures the creation of real value. What seems to be management is actually internal strife; what seems to be the pursuit of efficiency is actually self - serving, taking us further away from consumers.
We will further streamline various indicators, enabling those who truly create value to be closer to consumers; ensuring that all capabilities and resources reach the front line directly; and making the organization more agile and flat, revolving around consumers.
All managers, especially front - line managers, must go deeper into the front line, interact with real estate agents and consumers, and directly participate in the business. In the past, we were better at managing "tens of thousands of properties, customers, and agents". Looking to the future, we need to be able to truly serve "one property, one customer, and one individual".
Our service does not happen in reports or in the reporting chain but in the hesitations of each specific customer and the judgments of each specific property. Can our managers explain the neighborhood and the property well? This is a hundred times more effective than repeated presentations and number - crunching.
The roles of the group and COE (Center of Excellence) also need to be redefined. They should not just be departments supporting internal operations and making demands but should become departments that empower skills. They need to summarize the problems in real - world front - line scenarios and the methods from historical experience into capabilities and then provide these "resources and weapons" to the front line, becoming professional departments in the AI era.
The governance structure, positions and responsibilities of cadres, and performance evaluation and incentives will all be rewritten. We will establish a Chief Customer Officer position and incorporate "customer" into the names and responsibilities of a series of management cadre positions, giving cadres a clearer sense of direction and mission and making them aware of who they are serving every day. In the future, incentive resources will flow to those who create customer value, build long - term capabilities, and help the organization move forward.
We will set higher requirements for management cadres. Next, we will strengthen the cadre system construction, enhance compliance and supervision capabilities, safety governance, and upgrade cultural values. Only when those who truly create value are recognized and those who break the rules and damage trust are punished can the organization be full of integrity.
V. Make Our Existence More Meaningful
When discussing the transformation today, a colleague asked me how confident I am about this transformation.
Confidence usually emerges when a person still has choices. Because there are different paths to take, people will hesitate and worry about uncertainties. However, for Beike today, this is not just a matter of confidence but a matter of choice. More precisely, we have no choice!
Consumers are changing, the industry is changing, and technology is changing. If we stay in the past, we will only move further away from consumers and from the original intention of the enterprise. Only by moving forward can the enterprise continue to create value, remain meaningful to the industry, and contribute to society.
The journey over the mountains has just begun. The climb will not be easy, and the process will be full of uncertainties. However, precisely because we have no choice and because this is a difficult but correct thing to do, we must take on this responsibility and move forward firmly.
Next, I would like to talk about the transformation direction of "putting the consumer at the center and upgrading the community - based residential service model":
1. I will take overall responsibility for this reform. The group will establish a Transformation Management Committee to systematically restructure business processes, performance evaluation, and resource allocation around consumers. We will gradually incorporate "serving consumers" into the main responsibilities of each position. Especially for management cadres, their most important task should be to help the team serve consumers well, rather than simply imposing pressure and manipulating data. We will free front - line service providers from ineffective assessment indicators so that they can focus on providing high - quality services.
2. Polish our S² capabilities for the new stage: One S stands for Service (front - line service), which is our ability to serve consumers better; the other S stands for Skill (professional ability), which means that the functional back - end needs to accumulate professional capabilities to support front - line service to consumers. Only when these two levels of capabilities are combined can we serve consumers on a large scale and with high quality.
3. Upgrading the community - based residential service model is the general direction of the transformation. Beijing will be the first to implement this. A Beijing Lianjia Strategic Committee will be established to promote the deeper integration of brokerage, housing - related services, and home renovation. At the same time, we will appoint three "Chief Customer Officers", and the responsibilities of various management positions will also