South Korea has the potential to give Silicon Valley and China a run for its money. The country has ranked as the most innovative economy by Bloomberg, dominating international charts in R&D intensity, value-added manufacturing, and patent activity.

It’s a melting pot of innovation. Think about it: which other country is competing for head-on with Apple in the high-end smartphone race? The East Asian nation is also home to the fastest internet on earth and broadband services per capita is the highest in the globe.

In addition to all, The world is seeing its fourth industrial revolution, spearheaded by digitization, artificial intelligence, robotics, increased connectivity, and autonomous vehicles. Korea could have a huge part to play.

Smartphone and appliance companies in the country have begun adopting artificial intelligence. Samsung’s smartphones are some of the best examples of AI-based voice recognition technology.

Korea is also a leader in digital banking. The first digital-only bank in Korea, K Bank, kicked off recently. One of its backers includes Alipay. 

The government has also approved the launch of Kakao Bank, created by Korea’s predominant messaging service, KakaoTalk. Users would be able to perform transactions with friends directly without the hassles of typing bank account numbers.

Why you should work with Korean IT companies

Considered one of the most revolutionary IT markets in the world, South Korea focuses on innovative IT companies with high potential to bring something new in terms of software and technology. In these regards, what it is most possible to find in Korea is only innovative IT and software companies that perform according to the best practices and implement the latest technologies into their web and app projects. 

Also, when working with Korean IT companies the linguistic and cultural barriers are less visible than… let’s say 5 years ago. Skilled professionals have already learned and adapted to western business models, and most of them work in this environment having a proven experience in this direction. 

What you should be aware of when working with Korean IT companies

What you should expect from Korean IT companies, is to get a quote for a web project that is relatively expensive compared to the European market. As of October 2020, the average salary in the Korean IT industry reaches 37K Korean won/ year, or 33K USD. In countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland, you may find companies that provide the same services for lower rates, and respectively web developers in that country receive between 22K-29K USD/ year. 

Does the investment worth it? It’s up to each client to decide since working with an IT company from one or another country depends on the geographical location, the market to which the product is designed, the project’s goal, and many other reasons. 

How reliable are Korean IT companies

In terms of reliability, Korean IT companies are considered among the most trustworthy in the entire world. This is related to factors such as innovation progress, technological leadership, ease of doing business in the country, facilities for digital agencies, and skilled professionals working in the tech and IT industry, and also due to business culture, tradition and environment. 

How well does the Korean IT sector relate to the neighboring countries?

In the geographical proximity, the Korean IT sector competes with Japanese and Chinese ones. Both countries are already regional tech hubs, but also Korea. Known as one of the four Asian Tiger, South Korea seeks to become a competitive market and a better alternative to Japan and China, but also to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. 

The latest trends reveal that it has all the chances, but, trends do change, and so does the leadership.