IT in Gangbuk Changes with AI

When small motors were introduced to individual machines and factory structures were reorganized, a substantial increase in productivity was observed.

True productivity gains occurred when small electric motors were integrated into individual machines and factory layouts were redesigned; similarly, knowledge work systems require a complete overhaul of the entire workflow for real change to happen.

Decade-long next-generation ERP projects incur enormous reconstruction costs, and systems tend to focus on structures for financial ledger creation rather than actual workflow.

According to Go Jong-ok, Division Head at Cosmax, the practice of executing ERP projects every ten years prevents the immediate reflection of numerous rapidly changing business processes within the company.

This results in the inefficiency of having to overhaul an entire decade's worth of processes all at once every ten years, compounding the workload for employees due to the structural limitation of needing to upgrade the system while it's in operation.

Recently, a culture of developing and using even commercially available SaaS solutions in-house has been spreading within companies.

Cases of internal configuration or creation of collaboration tools like Slack or Notion are increasing, indicating a shift in the enterprise IT environment.

The practice of merely adding external solutions while neglecting technical debt becomes a significant burden for executives.

This approach of maintaining existing systems while adding external solutions makes fundamental problem-solving difficult and leads to high failure rates in next-generation ERP projects and challenges in making improvements during operation.

In rapidly evolving companies, tasks are often not manualized and are instead passed down through senior-junior relationships.

These fragmented work methods make software development difficult, but with AI, domain experts can convert tacit knowledge into digital data and effectively organize business processes themselves, without IT consulting.

At Cosmax, through internal AI coding education using Claude Code, over 100 domain experts from non-engineer backgrounds are directly participating in development by committing code to GitHub.

As departments automate their core workflows themselves, an entrepreneurial spirit and a development culture are spreading within the organization.

As disconnected, Excel-centric business processes are transformed into in-house software, numerous intermediate data from calculation processes are being recorded in the ERP, leading to data assetization.

This signifies both top-down and bottom-up innovation, where digital transformation (DX) and AI transformation (AX) occur simultaneously.

As a result, process consulting outcomes that were once possible only every ten years are now derived at every moment, bringing about remarkable changes.

This is due to structures that enforce rules like reverse entries for data modifications and process tasks in DB transaction units, leading companies to face structural constraints that compel them to choose well-known ERPs due to this reliability.

Consequently, scarce ABAP developers command high costs, comparable to those of top-tier developers, according to the analysis.

Most ABAP developers lack experience with other languages, and the work is compartmentalized, leading to a structural problem of low understanding of other modules.

High-level software engineers, who previously concentrated in startups or big tech companies, are now entering manufacturing due to hiring freezes.

This shift provides an opportunity for the Gangbuk IT sector to secure excellent talent that was previously difficult to recruit.

Cosmax's PI Innovation Division is also accelerating its AI transformation (AX) capabilities and increasing hiring in this reshaped talent pool.

This is becoming a significant driver for digital innovation across the manufacturing industry.

Annual maintenance costs are also expected to decrease by over 70% starting next year, having already saved 1 billion KRW in maintenance costs this year alone.

These financial achievements demonstrate that AI-based innovation leads to immediate return on investment and cost savings.

Through this, companies are not just making technological investments but are also experiencing tangible improvements in financial health.

The adoption of AI significantly reduced unnecessary communication costs, such as 300 daily Teams messenger work requests.

As existing tasks are automated and processes are simplified, entire existing tasks are often eliminated or made more efficient, and the internal integration of software personnel is strengthening core in-house competitiveness.

The startup industry does not heavily feel the need for ERP systems, primarily using simple tools like Notion or Google Storage.

Accounting tasks in traditional industries could be handled by external agencies or simple software with little IT interface, but with the advancement of AI, this hidden, massive IT market is facing new challenges and changes.

This suggests the potential to disrupt the existing ERP market and spur the emergence of new solutions.

Go Jong-ok, Division Head at Cosmax, predicts that company-wide organizational change will be completed within two years, even with a very conservative outlook.

Specifically, key business areas will evolve rapidly over 6-month intervals, showing accelerated progress; this will not involve humans being replaced by robots but rather a gradual strengthening of capabilities across business units such as sales, factories, and research centers.

Division Head Go Jong-ok emphasized that based on domain knowledge of their jobs, employees must continuously seek ways to improve their work and innovate existing work methods themselves.

Personnel who remain stagnant and complacent are more likely to be replaced, so they must proactively lead change.