KT DS to Distribute Total of 3.5 Billion KRW Lunar New Year Bonuses to Partners

Sharing Achievements and Overcoming COVID-19
Discussing This Year's Business Directions and Cooperation Plans

Woo Jeong-min, President of KT DS (first from the left), is greeting the representatives of major partner companies attending the meeting. Photo by KT DS

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] KT DS, an IT service specialist company under the KT Group, announced on the 19th that it will continue to pursue mutual growth through win-win partnerships in the new year.

On the 18th, KT DS held an online and offline meeting to share this year's business directions and discuss cooperation plans with 13 major partners, including League System, Ssangyong Information & Communications, and R&B Soft.

At this meeting held ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, KT DS also provided incentives and rewards totaling approximately 350 million KRW as a gesture of sharing achievements and encouragement to overcome COVID-19.

Kang Eung-ho, CEO of R&B Soft, who attended the meeting, said, “It is comforting in times like these that KT DS does not stop at simple support but considers the future and growth of partner companies together. We also appreciate the quick reflection of our employees’ needs for data storage and management training last year.”

KT DS President Woo Jung-min stated, “Leading the trend of digital transformation based on mutual growth with partner companies is the direction KT DS pursues. Let us continue to grow together based on organic cooperation and strong trust.”

Since its founding in 2008, KT DS has expanded support for partner companies to promote mutual growth. Following a survey conducted in January last year to gather partner company representatives’ opinions on responding to the COVID-19 crisis, “strengthening IT education support to improve technical capabilities” received the most responses. As a result, KT DS expanded free IT education curricula for partner company employees and added remote lectures to enable non-face-to-face attendance. The education scope was also broadened to include the latest technology trends. Additionally, KT DS operated a recruitment linkage program between job seekers who completed its talent development courses and partner companies, with 45% of all graduates last year employed by partner companies.

Financial support is also provided concurrently. KT DS pays partner companies of small and medium size 100% in cash to ensure smooth fund management and offers a low-interest win-win cooperation fund so that partners can focus on technology development and quality improvement without worrying about liquidity. Especially right after the outbreak of COVID-19, KT DS increased the fund size by 2 billion KRW to 5 billion KRW to prepare for partner companies’ financial difficulties. As of last year, about 3.5 billion KRW has been loaned to 17 companies.

Meanwhile, KT shared its major management directions for this year through the ‘8th Partners Day’ held on the 18th. Along with this, KT emphasized its commitment to ▲strengthening safety measures ▲providing stable customer service ▲and doing its best for DigiCo’s mutual growth and development.