Samsung SDS Expands Cloud Business... Recruits Experts from Amazon

Appointment of Kim Ji-hong as CSP Vice President
Former Head of AWS ERP Solutions

Samsung SDS has recruited an expert from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the global leader in cloud computing, to lead its Cloud Service Provider (CSP) business. By appointing key executives from AWS to both wings of its cloud business?CSP and Managed Service Provider (MSP)?the company plans to strengthen its cloud market strategy.

According to the IT industry on the 21st, Samsung SDS appointed Kim Ji-hong, former global head of AWS Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, as Vice President in charge of the Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP) within the Cloud Service Business Division at the end of last year.

Jihong Kim, Vice President in charge of SCP, Cloud Service Business Division, Samsung SDS [Photo by LinkedIn]

Vice President Kim majored in Electrical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Canada. He began his career at the American cloud company Oracle and then worked at SAP, the world’s number one enterprise software (SW) company, and AWS. He served as Senior Product Manager at Oracle and Senior Director of Cloud Solutions at SAP, and from 2019 for four years, he was the global head of AWS ERP solutions. Upon joining Samsung SDS, he ended his 25-year career in Silicon Valley, USA, and returned to Korea.

Vice President Kim leads the CSP business that provides cloud services to clients. As demand for new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain grows in cloud services, he is expected to play a crucial role. The company describes him as an expert who has designed and implemented new technology solutions including AI, Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics across various industries for 25 years.

The recruitment of Vice President Kim is aimed at strengthening the cloud business. Although a latecomer in the cloud market, Samsung SDS possesses all the necessary services for cloud transformation, including CSP, MSP, and Software as a Service (SaaS), and intends to accelerate growth through talent acquisition. Since June last year, the company has been searching for a leader for the CSP business, which had been vacant, focusing on key personnel from global cloud companies. They recruited former SCP Vice President Lee Eun-joo, a cloud expert with experience at Oracle and VMware, but she moved to become the new president of IBM Korea last year.

Samsung SDS has staffed both major pillars of its cloud business, CSP and MSP, with AWS veterans. In January last year, the company appointed Park Sang-jun, former AWS global leader, as Vice President in charge of MSP. Vice President Park has experience at Broadcom, UnitedHealth Group, LinkedIn, and was responsible for cloud modernization at AWS.

With a solid lineup in place, Samsung SDS plans to accelerate its cloud business. Having restructured its business from system integration (SI) to cloud-centric over the past few years, the company aims to secure a competitive edge in the rapidly growing market. Given the sluggish logistics business performance due to the global economic downturn, it is also necessary to achieve more results in the cloud business. Samsung SDS’s revenue last year was KRW 13.2768 trillion, down 23% from the previous year. In contrast, annual revenue from the cloud business reached a record high of KRW 1.8807 trillion.

Hwang Sung-woo, CEO of Samsung SDS, emphasized at the shareholders’ meeting on the 20th, “Samsung SDS is growing on three pillars based on the customized SCP for enterprises: CSP, MSP, and SaaS. Especially this year will be the inaugural year for entering the global SCM SaaS market with a cloud-based integrated Supply Chain Management (SCM) solution.”