Five Reasons Intelligent Systems are Growing in Korea

Posted By SeongJin Kang
Windows Embedded Business Lead for Korea

The information-technology market is expected to grow continuously here in Korea, despite risks compounded by fears of a prolonged, worldwide economic slump. In just the past few months, there has been a tremendous number of IT market forecasts for the coming year. Although these reports are full of detailed and various explanations and modifiers, they all have one interesting thing in common: none of them failed to include the term “big data.” This really shows that big data is not a term that’s come into vogue, only to be soon swept away; big data is a significant factor for business. That means that the days are rapidly approaching where implementing and leveraging big data is a necessity in a real business environment.

With every passing day, the business environment in Korea—as elsewhere—is quickly changing, incorporating a vast increase in the quantity and quality of available data, transformed by intelligent systems into meaningful information for businesses. What will the enabling factors be for the increased development of intelligent systems?

There are five technical trends that are accelerating these changes in the business ecosystem. The first trend is connectivity, which enables swift and easy data transfer by leveraging wired and wireless communications including WiFi, 3G and 4G. The second trend is big data, which is growing explosively, thanks to the proliferation of Internet-based devices and connected systems, as well as individuals. The third is computing power, which is making possible tremendous features and performance attributes in smaller and smaller computers than ever before. The fourth is social networking service, which enables intra-person social interactions, free of time and space restrictions. Last but not least is logical and physical security, which buttress secure transactions, processing, storing and utilizations of information.

Thanks to these technical trends, it is not surprising that intelligent systems are already operating in our everyday life. Intelligent systems— the new frontier of business ecosystems—imbue meaning to data by leveraging the above mentioned five technical trends and creating relative business value. Intelligent systems grow from the five above trends, and they’re everywhere, even though we sometimes thoughtlessly pass right by them.

For example, when we look at the inside of a subway train traveling around the city, we can easily find ads for businesses found along that specific route and its stops. At AREX, an airport express train service to Incheon International Airport, passengers can easily get information about AREX routes and arrival and departure information at Incheon International Airport, which is regularly updated inside the train. We casually think that the information is just displayed on-screen, but these are actually targeted ads operating based on the passengers who are using that airport express train.  For instance, “Digital View” ad kiosks, which are built on Windows Embedded by Daum Fingertouch, are easily found and experienced in various subway stations. At these kiosks, passengers can search for various information related to stations and nearby businesses via the Internet while specific ads closely connected to that station and environ are operated. Displayed contents are managed and updated remotely, based on exposure effects, via an intelligent system.

Let’s take another example of an intelligent system, which is found in services provided by credit-card companies. The companies that I mainly use analyze various pieces of information, including my most-favored coffee shop, how frequently I watch movies, and how many times I shop in various retailers, and then provide me with sales and discount information for those businesses. The data created from my credit-card transaction is transmitted back to the company database to be transformed into actionable business intelligence, which drives revenues.

The previously mentioned two examples are not simple marketing case studies. They demonstrate how businesses can gather and compile as much information as possible, and then quickly and appropriately analyze it to secure a competitive edge. The decisive factor of business success in the future lies in creating new services by leveraging this meaningful information to uphold competitive edge. It’s time for all businesses to think about how an intelligent system can give them that edge.