[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] "In the AI era, IT services companies now need to try it themselves and then make proposals to customers. Business should be done by changing first and then passing on the know-how."

Hye-won Choi, head of SK AX's High-Tech Center of Excellence, on Jan. 16 stressed at a 2026 IT services industry market and technology outlook seminar hosted by the IT Services Industry Association that sharing know-how gained through hands-on experience with customers has become very important.

She said SK AX is also expanding its use of AI at the company level, adding: "Once you try it yourself, it gives more weight when you talk to customers."

She said competitiveness in the IT services industry is shifting from how many people are deployed to what value is structurally created through AX. "AX is not simply a means of cutting costs. It is a strategic lever that fundamentally changes the rules of the industrial game. The key is not whether you adopt AI tools. What matters is whether you can change pricing, delivery models and the workforce structure itself," she said.

Choi also shared various AX cases SK AX is pursuing to strengthen internal competitiveness.

SK AX is accelerating the use of AI across a range of tasks, focusing on strengthening fundamental competitiveness rather than cutting costs. The company explained that it will maximize the use of AI in areas that AI can cover, while people are deployed to focus on tasks AI cannot do.

"People's core capabilities are shifting from writing text to building relationships. Proposals and client research should be done through AI, while people should focus on discovering hidden customer needs and building trust through decision-maker mapping, in-person communication and in-depth interviews," Choi said.

But the imbalance between the pace of AI-driven change and the structural limits facing the IT services industry is worsening. With manpower-based graded unit pricing and inefficient staffing structures still in place, key talent burnout and resource waste are continuing, and that is also leading to talent departures, she said. "Without a new unit-price standard and standard contracts agreed between ordering parties and contractors, the AX transition cannot structurally take root," Choi said. "As this is not something individual companies can do, we will actively cooperate with relevant associations and organizations," she said.