SK Group to Move All IT Systems of Affiliates to the Cloud by 2023

SK Group plans to move all IT systems of its affiliates to the cloud by 2023 to enhance IT scalability and flexibility by tapping into the latest digital technology.

SK Group has recently set up a group task force (TF) to establish a road map for cloud conversion. The roadmap will be finalized by the SK Supex Council, the group's top decision-making body, in the second half of this year.

The Cloud TF, which consists of officials from major affiliates such as SK Telecom, SK C&C, and SK Hynix, started on the analysis of the status of IT systems of all group companies and the cloud conversion targets. In addition, it plans to use an outside consulting firm to produce a conversion plan.

The group cloud strategy is led by SK Telecom. Park Jung-ho, president of SK Telecom, recently made a comprehensive partnership and discussed cooperation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the Microsoft headquarters in the United States. The two companies will combine SK Telecom's AI platform Nugu and Microsoft's AI platform Kotana to develop AI speakers and enterprise solutions, and find a way to apply the MS Cloud to SK Telecom's 5G network and media business. They will also introduce MS’ business collaboration platform and develop related services.

In addition, SK is working with AWS, the number one cloud company in the world. "SK and AWS will soon form an alliance for the cloud business," said an industry expert. "SK Group is looking for partnerships with major cloud companies."

After commercialization of 5G, SK Telecom has expanded its business beyond the existing telecom services into new business areas such as big data, artificial intelligence, smart mobility and smart city. To this end, it is necessary for the company to expand its existing communication infrastructure to introduce cloud and edge computing platforms that work with smartphones, automobiles, and sensors.

Major domestic groups such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai Motor and Lotte have already set up cloud strategies and started the conversion process. Samsung SDS has made the group’s whole data centers a cloud platform and has almost finished the conversion to the private cloud. Hyundai Motor is also pursuing a private-centered strategy, and LG will transfer all systems to the public cloud by 2023. LG Group’s SI company LG CNS has started moving its systems to Amazon Web Services (ASS) this month. In addition, Lotte and Shinsegae are pursuing a multi-hybrid cloud strategy centered on private clouds.

SK Corp.'s C&C, which has collaborated with IBM in the cloud business, is expected to diversify its cooperation partners.