IBM has reorganized its product portfolio with a strategy focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and hybrid cloud.

Won Sung-sik, CEO and President of IBM Korea, said this about IBM in 2022, declaring that the company will go all-in on continuous growth.

IBM Korea held its 2023 New Year's meeting at the IBM Innovation Studio in Yeouido on the 7th. At the meeting, the company announced its business performance for last year and its 2023 strategy.

IBM Transforms into an AI and Hybrid Cloud-Centric Company

IBM CEO Won Sung-sik announced that IBM has now transformed into a software services company focused on AI and hybrid cloud. Global IBM reported $60.5 billion in revenue last year, with $22.4 billion coming from the hybrid cloud sector, and the software and consulting sectors accounting for nearly 70% of total revenue.

IBM Korea announced that its infrastructure sectors, including hybrid cloud, data management for AI, automation software, power servers, and ESS storage, drove growth, while consulting and security also contributed to improving domestic performance.

In the SW sector, the company said it will focus on solutions for improving development and IT management efficiency, such as ISW and AIOps, for companies experiencing a shortage of human resources and skills, as well as AI-based data fabric and data lakehouse solutions, such as Cloud Pak for Data, that support big data management and efficiency.

Additionally, we plan to focus on providing sustainability solutions such as Envizi and macro-level, integrated security services to meet the growing national demand for ESG and cybersecurity.

In the infrastructure sector, IBM is responding to the needs of financial, distribution, and public market customers to modernize their systems to hybrid clouds with products such as Power10, ESS, tape libraries, and flash systems. IBM Consulting has a strategy to support companies' digital transformation with differentiated technologies and expertise, including global know-how and IBM Garage Methodology.

“We will pursue IBM’s growth centered on hybrid cloud and AI,” said CEO Won. “Many companies operate within a hybrid cloud environment, and IBM will move toward supporting their digital transformation through software solutions and services.”

Trends for 2023: "Data Fabric, AI, and Automation Must Be Considered";
IBM, which focuses on SW power, announced five digital trends that will lead the future.

Lee Ji-eun, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of IBM Korea, pointed out the following trends for 2023: △ Limited growth due to talent shortages and rising wages △ Increasing complexity of customer relationships due to privacy and personalization △ Unstable supply chains and difficulty maintaining resilience △ Demand for realistic sustainability strategies △ Exponential increase in cyberattacks.

The report also noted that the global talent and skills shortage is expected to result in 85 million job vacancies by 2030, and the slowdown in response due to the lack of professionals could negatively impact security and supply chain response. Sixty-eight percent of consumers responded that trust is important when choosing a brand, and 37% said they would even switch brands for privacy reasons.

Amidst this, data breaches are becoming increasingly widespread and costly, with the average loss from a data breach for a Korean company estimated at 4.3 billion won. With an estimated 14.4 billion IoT devices active by 2022, and quantum computers projected to overpower public security systems by 2030, companies are increasingly required to proactively respond five to ten years in advance.

In today's world, it's essential for businesses to adapt to rapid change, and the CTO added, "We need to consider technologies like data fabric, AI, and automation to address talent shortages and broader supply chain and security issues." He emphasized, "The five keywords are not independent issues, but are highly interconnected, and the importance of data will gradually increase."

Meanwhile, domestic companies are hesitant to adopt AI technology compared to the global average. According to the IBM AI Adoption Index Report, the AI adoption rate among domestic companies stands at just 22%, relatively low compared to the global average of 34%. When asked by this magazine about the reasons for this, IBM Korea responded, "We believe this is because many domestic companies are still unsure about the reliability and accuracy of AI."

The analysis concluded that businesses will hesitate to adopt AI systems with an accuracy level of 80-90%, and that technologies that enhance AI's transparency, reliability, and explainability should be considered. IBM Korea stated, "AI chatbot adoption is active in Korea, and AI can be applied across most industries," but emphasized, "However, the AI life cycle, including data collection, preprocessing, learning, construction, monitoring, and feedback, must be properly implemented to deliver business value."

Meanwhile, data fabric is emerging as a next-generation architecture that integrates all heterogeneous data across the cloud, on-premises, and edge, enabling data analysis and modeling through AI technologies such as machine learning, enabling insightful data operation and management.