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First female CEO of Naver picked as SME minister nominee
First female CEO of Naver picked as SME minister nominee

Korea Herald

time7 hours ago

  • Business
  • Korea Herald

First female CEO of Naver picked as SME minister nominee

President Lee Jae-myung on Monday nominated Han Sung-sook, former CEO of Naver, as minister of SMEs and Startups. Han, 58, is a first-generation IT expert who played a key role in the growth of Naver, Korea's largest portal site. After graduating from Sookmyung Women's University, she began her career as a tech reporter at a local media outlet. She later joined Empas, one of Korea's early portal sites, where she served as head of the search business. Han joined NHN, now rebranded as Naver, in 2007 and held key positions including search quality director and general service director. In 2017, she became the company's first female CEO. She stepped down from the role in 2022 to lead Naver's European business development until recently. Since March, she has been serving as an adviser at Naver and also chairs the Korea Internet Enterprise Association.

The CIO paradox: Leading when the future won't sit still
The CIO paradox: Leading when the future won't sit still

Time of India

time6 days ago

  • Business
  • Time of India

The CIO paradox: Leading when the future won't sit still

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a buzzword—it's the beating heart of digital transformation . But as enterprises accelerate toward AI-led models, a peculiar contradiction confronts today's technology leaders: how do you offer certainty in a world built on constant change? At the ETCIO Annual Conclave 2025 , a high-impact opening panel brought together top CIOs and tech leaders to address the elephant in the boardroom: the evolving role of the CIO in the face of rapid technological, cultural, and business model disruption. Moderated by Shantheri Mallaya, Editor, ETCIO, the panel featured: Hitesh Sachdev, Head – Innovation & Startups, ICICI BankAshok Jade, Global CIO, Kirloskar Brothers LimitedManikandan Thangarathnam, Senior Director – Mobility and Platforms, UberRakesh Bhardwaj, Group CIO, LupinRajesh Gopal, Global CDO, Tata Consumer ProductsMukundha Madhavan, APAC Tech Lead, Datastax Together, they explored the paradoxes shaping the CIO's reality in 2025—navigating blind spots, decoding boardroom expectations, and asking whether AI will become a teammate or a competitor. 'From controllers to translators': Rewriting the CIO job description Rakesh Bhardwaj, Group CIO at Lupin, offered a striking take: 'We're no longer just providers—we're becoming translators. Translating volatility into opportunity, translating AI into business impact.' AI adoption , he emphasized, is not surprising—but what's noteworthy is how quickly business functions have embraced it. With GenAI's natural language interface, AI is no longer intimidating—it's usable. That ease of interaction, Bhardwaj noted, has catapulted IT from a support function to the center of business model redesign. 'The focus now must shift from adoption to embedding intelligence into day-to-day decision-making.' Don't just automate. Ask: Do you even need AI? Manikandan Thangarathnam from Uber brought pragmatism to the conversation. 'A lot of enterprises are suffering from FOMO—fear of missing out,' he said. 'But not every problem needs AI.' He explained how Uber sets error thresholds differently depending on the application. 'For identity verification, we use AI at 99% accuracy. But when showing recommended ride types, 85% is fine,' he noted. 'It's about aligning AI's role with the tolerance of the problem you're solving.' Legacy to leadership: When CIOs become growth architects Ashok Jade, Global CIO at Kirloskar Brothers, challenged the outdated notion that AI is only for boosting efficiency. 'We're not just improving processes. We're opening up entirely new lines of business,' he said. Kirloskar is piloting a service-led model where pumps are sold as-a-service, enabled by AI, IoT, and digital factories. Their goal: reduce channel dependence and let AI agents guide product discovery directly online—disrupting a century-old distribution model. 'The board doesn't ask what LLM we're using. They ask how much new business we're creating with it.' Trust is the new differentiator in consumer-centric businesses Rajesh Gopal, Global CDO at Tata Consumer Products, emphasized the balancing act between deep personalization and digital trust. He highlighted two pillars: Explainability – 'People don't trust what they don't understand—this applies to both customers and internal users.'Contextual relevance – 'Every AI output must feel timely, precise, and intuitive to the user.' His focus? Making AI meaningful by mapping the customer journey from awareness to loyalty, and ensuring touchpoints convert into trust, not fatigue. The quiet revolution: Rethinking AI readiness from the ground up Mukundha Madhavan from Datastax broke down what enterprises often get wrong about AI transformation: 'Most organizations focus on tools. But the real question is—can AI access and understand your data?' He listed two pillars of AI-ready data: Access: via operational data layers that span structured, unstructured, and multimodal dataUnderstanding: through advanced representation formats like vectors, graphs, hybrid search, and LLMs 'Privacy and relevance will be the biggest challenges. Enterprises must develop new strategies to govern AI's interaction with sensitive, high-volume data.' CIOs at a crossroads: Strategy, Talent, and Elevation The panel concluded with a powerful reflection on how AI is reshaping not just systems, but CIO identity itself. Rakesh Bhardwaj called for the CIO to own talent development across the enterprise, not just within IT. 'The real risk isn't displacement,' said Manikandan. 'It's irrelevant.' The takeaway: A new mandate for CIOs in 2025 As the discussion unfolded, one thing became clear: the CIO's role is no longer defined by technology—it's defined by translation, transformation, and trust-building. In 2025, success isn't about deploying more dashboards or faster APIs. It's about: Turning AI uncertainty into business clarityDesigning tech that can be trusted and explainedAligning boardroom expectations with the business value CIOs truly createRethinking talent not as a support layer, but as a strategic differentiator 'We can no longer be gatekeepers. We must be value creators,' said Shantheri Mallaya in closing. 'AI won't replace the CIO. But it will demand a new kind of CIO—one who thinks in algorithms, acts in outcomes, and leads without a map.'

How the Gig Economy Is Failing Businesses
How the Gig Economy Is Failing Businesses

Entrepreneur

time21-05-2025

  • Business
  • Entrepreneur

How the Gig Economy Is Failing Businesses

The gig economy is fueling innovation, but it's also causing chaos. Here's how smart companies are fighting back. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. The gig economy was supposed to be the great equalizer. It promised freedom for workers and flexibility for companies. And for a time, it delivered. A surge in freelance platforms allowed startups and enterprises to tap into a global talent pool, scaling fast, saving money and moving with unprecedented agility. But beneath that glossy surface lies a growing problem: When it comes to mission-critical work, especially in tech, the gig economy is starting to break. Projects are stalling, developers are ghosting, and teams are struggling to maintain momentum. For many founders and CTOs, the very model they once leaned on has become a source of operational risk. So, what's the alternative? Increasingly, companies are turning to staff augmentation, not just for talent, but for accountability. And when the partner takes responsibility for outcomes, not just resumes, the results speak for themselves. Related: Why Startups Shouldn't Rely Solely on Gig Marketplaces for Developers The double-edged sword of the gig economy Let's be clear: The gig economy isn't going anywhere. Nearly 60 million Americans performed freelance work in 2023, with similar trends across Latin America and Europe. Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr and Toptal have made it easy to find talent in hours. That kind of access is revolutionary. But it comes with downsides: Lack of commitment: Freelancers juggle multiple clients, and loyalty is thin. If a better-paying gig shows up mid-project, they may disappear without warning. Poor integration: Gig workers often operate in isolation, disconnected from internal teams, tools and culture. Inconsistent quality: Vetting can be superficial, and many clients spend more time managing than building. Zero accountability: When things go wrong, you're on your own. There's no partner to step in and fix the issue. These risks can be catastrophic for companies trying to build real products, meet investor deadlines or drive innovation at scale. Staff augmentation: Flexibility with backbone That's where IT staff augmentation comes in. Unlike gig platforms, staff augmentation isn't about short-term help — it's about embedding vetted engineers into your team as if they were full-time employees. You get flexibility, yes, but also structure, accountability and performance. At their best, augmentation firms go beyond staffing. They take on delivery risk, help manage outcomes and build long-term partnerships, not one-off transactions. This model is compelling when sourced through nearshore staff augmentation. With teams based in Latin America, companies gain real-time collaboration (thanks to overlapping time zones), cultural affinity and deep technical skill — all without the high costs or timezone misalignment of offshore outsourcing. Related: What is Staff Augmentation? 3 Reasons It is Vital For Your Business Real-world breakdown: Freelance chaos vs. augmented stability Consider this: A U.S.-based fintech startup needed to build a payment gateway. They hired two freelance developers from a significant platform. Week one, everything seemed fine. By week three, one had ghosted. The other delivered buggy code with no documentation. The project slipped two months and cost them a major client pilot. Contrast that with another firm that works with a nearshore software development partner. They onboarded a full-stack team in under 10 days, working within U.S. business hours. The partner assigned a delivery manager to ensure milestones were met, blockers were resolved and code quality was maintained. They launched their MVP on time and raised their next round. The difference? One leaned on freelancers, while the other relied on a managed talent model with accountability built in. Offshore isn't dead — but it's getting riskier Some companies still opt for offshore staff augmentation, usually to cut costs. And while offshore teams can be effective with the proper management infrastructure, they come with well-known tradeoffs: time zone friction, communication challenges and geopolitical instability. As global volatility increases and the demand for speed intensifies, many leaders choose to de-risk by shifting closer to home. Nearshoring — especially in Latin America — is growing because it offers the best of both worlds: cost efficiency and real-time collaboration. Key benefits of the right augmentation partner To be clear, not all staff augmentation firms are created equal. The real value emerges when your partner commits to the following: End-to-end recruitment : Pre-vetted candidates, not just resumes. Cultural fit : Engineers who align with your team's work style and values. Fast ramp-up : Onboarding in days, not months. Delivery oversight : Managers who track outcomes, not just hours worked. Seamless scaling: The ability to add or reduce resources as needed. Top-tier providers of software development services now act more like extensions of your internal tech team — offering not only capacity, but continuity, quality and innovation. Related: Why Entrepreneurs Are Looking Towards Latin America for Nearshoring Opportunities We're living in a post-gig world. That doesn't mean freelancers are obsolete. However, for core product development, enterprise systems and scalable tech innovation, the future lies in blended, agile teams that deliver like in-house talent but scale like the cloud. Staff augmentation — especially when it's outcome-focused and nearshore-enabled — represents the next evolution. If you've been burned by disappearing freelancers, ghosted projects or rising costs from inefficiencies, it may be time to rethink your talent strategy. The right partner won't just help you find engineers. They'll help you deliver results.

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