[Hwon-Young Kwon's Data Innovation] To Win the Global Data War, a 'National Commander' Is Needed

The Formula for Winning the Data War Without Borders Is Ultimately People
At Some Point, Decide What Data to Use and How to Utilize It

Innovative Companies Engage in Fierce Competition to Recruit Data Experts
Our Government Agencies Entrust Section Chiefs

Appoint a National Data Commander
and Innovate Presidential Decision-Making Based on Data

The silent war over data is intensifying. It is a complex war with no borders and no boundaries between fields. Whether called the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution,' 'Digital Transformation,' or 'Artificial Intelligence'... we are at the heart of this whirlwind of war. Those who move first win, and those who lag behind lose. Fortunately, South Korea does not seem to be on the losing side yet. The world, amazed by Korea's data-driven K-quarantine, invited President Moon Jae-in to the G7 summit, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has given positive evaluations to Korea's data policies?these are proof of that.

Data emerged as the oil of the 21st century around 2010. It was the point when countries that had succeeded in early informatization rediscovered the value of accumulated data as a result. Digitizing document data was the key. Countries that surpassed this stage saw digital become the basis of work in the early 2000s. As data accumulated every moment and its volume exploded, big data technology and cloud computing emerged, evolving into artificial intelligence robots.

Data War, Clear Trend of Focusing on People
Competent Data Commanders Needed

Global companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook are fiercely competing to dominate data platforms. To curb this overheated competition and monopoly, regulatory legislation is rapidly advancing not only in the European Union but also in the United States. Soon, taxes will be imposed on data, and measures such as splitting these companies or limiting their business areas will be taken. The frontlines are expanding unimaginably wide.

In the automotive sector, newly entered electric vehicle platform companies and traditional automobile manufacturers are waging war over autonomous driving systems. In finance, regulations are already being removed under the name of sandboxes. Although conflicts have arisen between existing financial companies and new data innovation firms in this field, ultimately, survivors will be decided by consumer choice. In the medical data sector, conflicts over telemedicine, personal medical data analysis services, and platform wars for medical data collection devices are in full swing. The home appliance sector, once dominated by Japanese companies, is now led worldwide by Korean companies accelerating the transition to smart homes.

All actors in the digital economy?countries, companies, and individuals?must win this war to survive. How to win? Recently, there has been a clear trend of focusing on people. This is because it has been realized that the data war is ultimately conducted by people. At every moment, there must be human planning or intervention on when, what data, and how to collect and utilize it. A 'data commander' is needed who discovers necessary data, analyzes it to find value, and removes difficulties when using data.

Let’s look at those who jumped in first. Shinhan Bank recruited Kim Hye-ju, a data expert who worked at a telecommunications company, as an executive director. Kookmin Bank urgently brought in Park Ki-eun, a former executive director at Naver Cloud. Kim Tae-hoon, CEO of BankSalad, is a data practitioner leading financial innovation. The top headhunting target for financial companies is the data analysis teams of digital innovation firms.

The financial sector was the fastest to advance informatization in the past. The reason for prioritizing hiring engineers equipped with data technology over traditional business majors is due to this experience of technological innovation. Data-based KakaoBank, K Bank, and BankSalad, as well as credit card companies, are not only planning data-based products but also generating revenue by selling datasets themselves. The desperation of companies not to lose in this started war is palpable.

Blue House Chief of Policy as Data Commander, Proposal to Establish Chief Data Secretary Position
Could Stand Shoulder to Shoulder with Global Companies

But what about the government? Is the South Korean government smarter than Google? Has it produced better policies or services than Naver or Kakao for its people? To answer these questions, one should look at who the government's data commander is. The government accumulates all data surrounding me?income, health, family, assets, education, etc. For this data to gain vitality, it must be well integrated and used to create policies that help the people. Only then does data become vibrant. South Korean public officials must have capabilities exceeding those of corporate data commanders to have a smarter government.

This spring, 'Data-Based Administrative Officers' were designated in all administrative and public institutions. They were not newly appointed but selected from existing staff and designated first. Although they are tasked with commanding the data war as commanders of each institution, they remain at the level of section chiefs. To have commanders at the level of executives in the private sector, they should be at least department heads. If even one or two ministries have department head-level commanders who deliver results comparable to global companies, wouldn't that earn public trust?

President Moon advocates an innovative progressive government. How about appointing a national data commander to lead the global data war? Having the Blue House Chief of Policy or the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy serve as the data commander and creating a Chief Data Secretary position to innovate presidential decision-making based on data would be a way for the South Korean government to stand shoulder to shoulder with global companies.

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