SK Telecom's strategy for becoming a Global AI Company
Have a quick look at the graphic above. That's SK Telecom's pyramid strategy for becoming a Global AI Company.
It's ambitious, clear and makes a ton of sense.
Can you imagine Vodafone doing this? Or Deutsche Telecom? Or AT&T?
With the greatest of respect. No.
Oh, I can imagine them announcing it. I can imagine all sorts of press releases from mobile operators. But actually doing – actually delivering? Butter me in parsnips and call me Susan. It is, to say the least, unlikely.
I could, in fairness, see the team at E& (formerly Etisalat) announcing and delivering something similar.
Am I too unfair? Perhaps I've been following the mobile industry for too long and I've become somewhat jaded with a lot of the outcomes from some of the Western majors. (If you're wondering, I have been writing Mobile Industry Review since January 2006).
Anyway. Back to SK Telecom. I would encourage you to have a good look through their Global AI Company vision pages.
Here's what they say about the most interesting part of the pyramid for me - the top bit, AI Service:
‘A.’ (pronounced A dot), the world’s first Korean Large Language Model (LLM) service, is evolving into a personal AI assistant (PAA) by offering services including AI Phone, AI Music and AI sleep management. Building on our AI-related expertise proven in the Korean market, we will cooperate with telecommunication companies across the globe to develop localized PAA services and expand the business worldwide.
Here's an illustrative example:
Absolutely fascinating.
The second layer of the pyramid is also worth a look:
Note the top right graphic:
Reducing costs by operating an AI contact centre ("AICC")
To be fair, many telecoms operators are already quite far ahead with this journey – perhaps not to the extent of which SK Telecom is envisioning. I wonder, for example, if they actually mean it – i.e. fully automated (or near as) AI contact centres.
For many companies I've talked with, their vision is 'to reduce costs' but to very much still have humans around. The view is that it's just not possible to fully automate. Or is that just the easier answer?
Absolutely fascinating.
SK Telecom is one to watch.
