AI forms have become the latest battlefield of DingTalk, Feishu, and Qiwei – whoever can turn a line of data into a super entrance for automatically generating PPT and real-time insight into business will hold the key to the “next generation of Office”.
The competition between DingTalk, Feishu and Enterprise WeChat on AI forms is one of the manifestations of Alibaba, Byte and Tencent’s competition for AI to B discourse, and it is also the embodiment of the business expansion logic of leading manufacturers that must compete for every inch of land.
Tencent, Alibaba and Byte have recently made a comeback in the field of B-side collaborative office. First, Alibaba’s DingTalk released a new AI form on July 8, and Feishu released a new generation of AI-driven Feishu multi-dimensional tables at the 2025 Feishu Future Infinite Conference held the next day. In addition, Tencent’s company WeChat also released versions 4.1.36 and 4.1.38 to further enhance the AI capabilities of smart forms.
In the context of the hot large models and the global explosion of AI applications, three companies deeply involved in the field of collaborative office have rolled up AI tables in unison. Although the technical base and detailed functions have their own characteristics, the fact that the three companies focus on the same vertical track at a similar point in time still shows that the competitive situation is severe, and no one wants to be left behind.
In fact, whether it is vertical competition in the collaborative office field or user competition in instant retail, the underlying logic of large manufacturers in the B-end and C-end is similar: in the era of stock competition, the business tentacles of leading enterprises are gradually expanding, and in the process of evolving to super heads, each subdivision needs to fight for every inch of land, and the principle of “backwardness will be beaten” is still applicable in the commercial society.
01 The Big Three strive to be the “next generation of Office”
The layout of AI tables by DingTalk, Feishu and Qiwei can be seen as using AI to reshape traditional application tools (forms), which is also the current general trend of enterprise innovation and competition. After all, at present, from medical care to retail, from transportation to education, and even in the more sunny and snowy content creation, “AI+” is no longer new.
At the same time, the newly launched “table as a document” function is integrated into the data table for the first time, and each line of the table is an independent document, and users can freely input as if writing documents as usual, and the information can be viewed at a glance, further expanding the application scenarios of AI tables.
B-end product manager’s ability model and learning improvement
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According to DingTalk’s official caliber, the new AI table allows AI to truly leap from a dialogue window to an out-of-the-box business system, integrated into all aspects of enterprise communication, collaboration, and processes, greatly releasing productivity.
Feishu’s new generation of multi-dimensional tables has been greatly improved in AI and system construction capabilities, aiming to release the potential of every enterprise employee who uses the system, so as to help enterprises win greater advantages. At the future infinite conference that disclosed a new generation of multi-dimensional tables, Feishu also released an upgraded version of the knowledge quiz, AI conference, Feishu Aily, Feishu Miaoda and other AI products.
Another participant, Enterprise WeChat, upgraded smart forms also around AI capabilities. According to its official introduction, in the latest version of Enterprise WeChat, smart forms upgrade the “AI field” capability, batch labeling, classification, image understanding, and custom fields, which can make business analysis and efficiency simpler.
Putting aside the subdivision differences in technical base and function, the upgrade of multi-dimensional tables/smart tables by the three can be regarded as functional iterations of tables through AI, and the caliber of product publicity also points to the operation efficiency improvement of enterprise users.
Why do all three companies choose to focus on AI forms?
For DingTalk, the group needs DingTalk to hold the to B threshold for the AI strategy, and the AI form can be regarded as the first big move to prove itself after returning without a move; For Feishu, CEO Xie Xin positioned the AI-upgraded multi-dimensional table as “the fourth piece of office in addition to the three-piece set of Word, Excel and PPT”; For Enterprise WeChat, although the urgency of competition is slightly weaker, it also does not want to miss the application opportunities of AI to B in office scenarios.
The three converge in application scenarios, so to a certain extent, doing Office in the AI era may be a common pursuit.
In fact, since the advent of ChatGPT, the AI revolution has long become an industry consensus, and the layout of AI tables by DingTalk, Feishu and Enterprise WeChat is to a certain extent one of the branches of Alibaba, Byte and Tencent’s AI strategy.
As early as 2023, Alibaba has proposed an “AI-driven” strategy. Alibaba Group Chairman Cai Chongxin and CEO Wu Yongming pointed out in their annual report letter to shareholders that in the next ten years, the biggest increments and variables will come from AI. Among them, DingTalk, as the key entrance to Alibaba AI to B, undertakes the group’s expectations for the B-end business.
ByteDance’s layout of AI can be traced back to 2016, and in November 2021, the new CEO Liang Rubo issued an email to all employees, announcing that ByteDance will make organizational adjustments, establish six major business segments, and empower AI strategic goals across the board. With the continuous improvement of AI’s strategic position in the group, Byte has formed a comprehensive AI ecosystem from the C-end to the B-end. In terms of B-end layout, Feishu is one of the core carriers that uses the volcano engine as the core carrier to transform the AI capabilities accumulated internally into enterprise-level solutions.
Tencent’s layout of AI was relatively conservative before, but with the AI trend brought about by the explosion of DeepSeek, Tencent’s AI strategy has also entered a stage of heavy investment since the second half of last year: based on the “self-developed + open source” multi-model strategy, accelerate the AI penetration of global products. The strategic entrance of Enterprise WeChat Official Group AI to B aims to provide Tencent AI (especially large models) with a wealth of real enterprise scenarios for verification and iteration.
From the above information, it can be seen that the layout of AI by the three major manufacturers is a large-scale and long-term strategic action taken under the general trend of the times, and the AI table, as one of the facets of its overall strategic situation, shows the determination of the large manufacturers to compete for AI to B.
02 Seize the minds of users through competition
It is an obvious fact that in the application scenario of AI to B, the competition between Alibaba, Byte and Tencent is stalemate, and the three parties empower their enterprises through the group’s resources in order to achieve differentiated advantages.
However, due to the similarities in the basic application scenarios of multi-dimensional tables/smart tables, although each has its own advantages after AI upgrade, there is still a certain distance to be changed to disruptive innovation in the application scenario. The differences in usage scenarios between the three companies are not subversive, which also prompts the three parties to make efforts in competing for users outside of technology, with the intention of taking the lead in seizing the minds of enterprise users.
In 2023, DingTalk ranked first in terms of user scale data, followed by Enterprise WeChat second, and Feishu third. Although none of the three have announced the specific user size since then, and have replaced it with commercial revenue, the war for users is still fierce.
Feishu has a number of star customers, in the AI industry, such as DeepSeek and the domestic AI large model “Six Little Tigers”, Horizon, etc. are its customers, in the current high-popularity new energy vehicle circle, Xiaomi and Wei Xiaoli are also using Feishu. DingTalk also has star companies such as Qiangnao Technology and Yushu Robot as its platform.
According to relevant reports, many retail consumer brands such as Evely, Haosanglai, Proya, and Jasmine Milk White have migrated from DingTalk to Feishu, and the new car-making forces Xiaopeng and Ideal have also left DingTalk to join Feishu. On the other hand, Best Express, Lierda, and Weimai have migrated from Feishu to DingTalk. In addition, according to late reports, DingTalk launched a “flipbook plan” last year, that is, if DingTalk sells customers who sign Feishu, they can get more bonuses.
Enterprise WeChat is backed by the WeChat ecosystem and has innate advantages, but it is extremely quiet compared to the other two in terms of user competition. The last widely disseminated external speech dates back to January 2024, when Li Zhifeng, vice president of Enterprise WeChat, revealed at a partner exchange meeting that “Enterprise WeChat is confident that it will take the lead in achieving profitability among the three major players (Enterprise WeChat, DingTalk, and Feishu) this year.” But this does not mean that Enterprise WeChat is lying flat and eating WeChat ecological dividends. The AI upgrade of smart forms in the recent new version can also reflect its unwillingness to fall behind.
In terms of charging for multi-dimensional forms/smart forms, competition also exists. DingTalk announced in June this year that multi-dimensional forms are free, while Feishu maintains the free basic version of multi-dimensional forms, with the price of the commercial version ranging from 50 yuan to 120 yuan per month. In response to this situation, Feishu Xie Xin said in response to a late interview: “In fact, some of DingTalk’s charging points have become stricter, but they are more good at publicizing. ”
In contrast, Enterprise WeChat Smart Forms also maintains the model of free basic version and some advanced versions charged. Based on the big backer of the WeChat ecosystem, although there are not many moves in the three-way competition of users’ minds, enterprise WeChat is still not afraid of falling behind, and its commercial revenue has also maintained a growth trend. According to Tencent’s Q1 financial report this year, the revenue of enterprise services represented by WeChat achieved double-digit growth.
In this battle for users’ minds, DingTalk and Feishu are in full swing, and Enterprise WeChat is firmly sitting on Diaoyutai, but with the continuation of the AI strategies of Alibaba, Byte, and Tencent behind it, the competition between the three in the field of collaborative office is far from the end.
03 The essence of the expansion game is the future of the card position
In fact, the confrontation between DingTalk, Feishu and Enterprise WeChat in the field of collaborative office is one of the measures taken by the three Internet giants Alibaba, Byte and Tencent to compete for the right to speak in the future.
In addition to competing for the minds of enterprise users on the B-side, the competition between the three giants on the broader and fiercer C-end battlefield has also continued for a long time.
For example, in terms of e-commerce business, Alibaba’s Taotian can be called the benchmark of traditional shelf e-commerce, and the rise of Douyin content e-commerce has made the competition pattern of the e-commerce market more complex to a certain extent.
In terms of digital entertainment, Tencent’s Tencent Video and Alibaba’s Youku are represented by the long video camp, which is affected by Douyin, which is out of the circle with short videos, and Hongguo short dramas, which are free short dramas, and in order to cope with the impact of the byte system, Tencent Video and Youku have also begun to focus on short dramas. In terms of online literature, Tencent’s China Literature Group, Alibaba’s Shuqi Novel and Byte’s Tomato Novel are facing each other.
If we trace back to the source in the context of normalized competition, a fact that cannot be ignored is that the initial business of the three major companies was originally different: Tencent’s initial business was instant messaging, Alibaba’s initial business positioning was a B2B e-commerce platform, and Byte’s initial business was algorithmic information.
In addition to the different initial businesses, Tencent, Alibaba and Byte also have a convergent mentality in the AI era: in addition to the competition on the AI table, such as in the large model track, Tencent’s Hunyuan model, Alibaba’s Tongyi model and Byte’s Doubao model, and agents and AI assistants based on AI models. The layout of the three AI tracks is at the forefront of the industry, and includes the B-end and C-end markets.
The core driving force for the expansion of the three companies from a single business to a diversified ecological group is that with the continuation of stock competition, the gradual peak of user traffic has prompted large manufacturers to expand their business to dig deeper into the value of existing users, which will inevitably touch the business territory of friends.
On this basis, the underlying logic of business expansion of large manufacturers can be summarized in four aspects: invading the hinterland of opponents, guarding the forbidden area of core business, realizing their own business matrix collaboration and competing for the next technology entrance.
Among them, AI large models, as the current outlet of the times, are an important factor in seizing the entrance of future technology, whether it is a C-end AI assistant or a B-end large model, collaborative office, etc., they need to fight for every inch of land.
Historical experience tells us that there is no eternal king, only the giants of the times, the business scope of Alibaba, Tencent, and Byte is getting wider and wider, and the underlying logic of the boundaries is becoming more and more blurred, which lies in betting on the “next decade” in an all-round way, at least not being left behind by opponents.
Resources:
Market elephant, “Ding Ding Takes Flying Books as a Target”
Photon Planet, “Enterprises Don’t Make Hard Money”
Lei Feng.com, “The New War on the Internet: AI Form without Moves”
LatePost, “Exclusive Interview with Feishu CEO Xie Xin: Office is a great product, and we want to be the Office of the new era”
