KT is forming an "AX Alliance" involving domestic startups and industry-specific experts to tap into the corporate artificial intelligence transformation (AX) market. The plan is to provide industry-specialized AX services by combining KT's platform with startups that hold core technologies needed in the AX transformation process, such as data refinement and security, as well as the knowledge of law firms, accounting firms, and veteran industry experts. As the center of gravity in the AI market shifts from model adoption to generating actual business results, the strategy aims to grow AX into a next-generation B2B growth pillar.
Park Sang-won, Head of KT's AX Business Division, said in an interview with Seoul Economic Daily on Wednesday, "We plan to pursue an 'AX Value Partner' strategy that helps companies achieve tangible results through the AX platform."
Corporate AX is not easy for a single company to accomplish on its own. This is because it requires not only AI models but also data maintenance, business process redesign, security and governance, an understanding of industry-specific regulations, and system integration capabilities.
Park identified "data" as the biggest obstacle to corporate AX. "The fuel for AX is data," he stressed, adding, "Reorganizing and integrating corporate data to turn it into meaningful data, and organizing master data and metadata, is the most difficult area." When a company's internal data is scattered across departments or managed in different formats, it becomes difficult for AI to properly understand the business context. KT plans to solve these problems through its alliance of startups and experts. KT is already expanding its AX business foundation by cooperating with global companies such as Microsoft (MS) and Palantir. On top of this, the company plans to expand collaboration with domestic startups that hold detailed technologies in areas such as ontology, data refinement, data pipelines, and IT/OT security.
Industry-specific expertise will also be combined with KT's platform. The approach uses law firms for the legal domain, accounting firms for accounting and tax, and a pool of veteran experts who have accumulated long experience in their respective fields for business knowledge in specific industries. Park described this as "a platform like Soomgo for AX," explaining, "We will create a virtuous cycle that puts experts' know-how into KT's platform as content, turns it into company-specific models, and provides it to customers in a customized way." He explained that the company provides customized consulting, such as supporting domestic clouds for customers requiring sovereign conditions and global clouds for customers needing versatility.
Park, who led consulting in the manufacturing, services, and finance sectors as Head of Samjong KPMG's consulting division, joined as Head of the AX Business Division during KT's organizational restructuring in March. Over about two months since then, he has refined the direction of KT's AX business and established a "5-Layer AX System." KT's 5-Layer AX System is a structure that supports a company's AI transformation from start to finish. It begins with consulting that first diagnoses a client's business problems and establishes an AX master plan. It then designs the AI platform, cloud, and infrastructure, and organizes scattered data so that AI can utilize it. Based on this, it builds AI agents that reflect business procedures and industry-specific regulations and characteristics, and continues through operation, optimization, and ongoing enhancement so that they work stably in the actual field.
Park forecast that results would appear first in industries with clear business processes and a high proportion of data-driven decision-making. Accordingly, KT also plans to build industry-specialized platforms by initially targeting six to seven industries, including finance, public sector, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, defense, and medical and healthcare. "Rather than flashy technological implementation, we will focus on helping companies achieve their core objectives through AI," Park said.
