MS "48% of Korean Companies Perceive the Pandemic as a New Opportunity"

Lee Ji-eun, CEO of Microsoft Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] A survey revealed that 48% of domestic companies perceive the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic as a new opportunity.

Microsoft Korea (MS Korea) held an online press conference on the 10th under the theme "How the 2020 Pandemic Changes the Korean Business Ecosystem" and announced these results.

"48% of Korean Companies Perceive the Pandemic as a New Opportunity"

MS stated that, based on a joint survey with the global market research firm IDC titled "Innovation Culture of Asia-Pacific and Korean Companies," Korean companies have accelerated digital transformation since the onset of COVID-19.

The survey was conducted over six months before and after the pandemic across 15 markets in the Asia-Pacific region. IDC developed an "Innovation Culture Framework" based on four elements: people, processes, data, and technology. It assessed the maturity of organizational innovation culture and classified companies into four stages: traditionalists, beginners, adopters, and leaders.

According to this classification, the proportion of companies in Korea at the "leader" stage increased approximately threefold from 0.9% to 2.7% since the pandemic began. During the same period, the overall innovation culture maturity of domestic companies grew by 12%.

Forty-eight percent of domestic companies recognized the pandemic as a new opportunity and expected optimistic outcomes. Among them, 81% considered innovation capability crucial for securing resilience.

The innovation culture maturity of Korean companies was also compared to the Asia-Pacific leader group. Compared to these companies, which represent only 8% of the entire Asia-Pacific region, Korean companies were found to be somewhat slower in revenue recovery, digitalization speed, and business model redesign.

MS: "Failure to Keep Up with Change Means Crisis... Speeding Up Means Opportunity"

Microsoft Korea emphasized the "digital feedback loop" and the 3Rs necessary for companies to build high resilience. The digital feedback loop is a digital transformation solution model proposed by MS. It is a concept that digitally connects all business aspects from customers to employees and from sales to products.

According to Microsoft Korea, through this, companies can achieve ▲employee capability enhancement ▲expansion of customer touchpoints ▲operational optimization for customers and employees ▲product innovation based on new business models, enabling the establishment of a sustainable growth model.

The 3Rs stand for Respond, Recovery, and Reimagine. It means quickly responding to changing demand and supply, optimizing operations using advanced technologies, simplifying operations by making better data-driven decisions, and further, embracing new business models to create an innovation gene.

At the event, Microsoft Korea introduced various domestic cases applying the digital feedback loop and the 3Rs. SK Construction adopted a document encryption solution and created a cloud work environment to support non-face-to-face work. EBS urgently expanded its existing servers by 1,500 times for online school openings and established a public education infrastructure capable of supporting up to 3 million simultaneous connections from middle and high school students nationwide.

Lee Ji-eun, CEO of Microsoft Korea, said, "We live in a rapidly changing world where failure to keep up with change leads to crisis, and speeding up creates opportunity. Now is the time to accelerate," adding, "Microsoft Korea will actively support domestic companies to realize 'Tech Intensity,' internalizing technology as their own beyond simple adoption."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.