Hancom goes global with SDK, SaaS products

South Korea’s homegrown office suite developer Hancom Inc. will seek to boost its brand awareness in the global B2B software market with software development kits (SDKs) and cloud computing services, instead of selling its flagship office suite software.

According to the local information technology (IT) industry on Friday, Hancom will discuss various SDK business partnerships with foreign clients at MWC Barcelona 2023 later this month to enhance its SDK B2B business. The world’s largest IT exhibition will be held in Barcelona, Spain from Feb. 27 to March 2.

A SDK is a set of software tools and programs provided by hardware or software vendors that developers use to build software.

Hancom is seeking to sell SDKs that its clients can use to develop customized software or add-ons catering to the specific needs of different companies and countries.

The Korean software developer expects it would make rapid inroads into foreign markets with its SDKs, instead of selling its flagship office suite Hancom Office, which has been mainly used in Korea and tailored to Korean users’ needs since its launch more than two decades ago.

The latest move is part of Hancom’s efforts to foray into the global Software as a Service (SaaS) market with SDKs under the direction of Kim Yeon-su, who joined Hancom as its chief executive officer in November 2021.

SaaS is a type of cloud computing that enables its users to use cloud-based apps and programs over the internet, and the related market is burgeoning.

The Korean software powerhouse also expects that it can save time and money through collaboration with a local corporate partner that knows the target market well.  

Once its SDKs are widely available across the globe, Hancom’s business software ecosystem could greatly expand in the long term, the company said.

It will market its SDKs mainly in Southeast Asia, South America and Europe because the US market is already taken over by MS Office and Google Workspace, while non-US markets are shared by various office software programs without one dominant leader.

Since Kim took the helm, the Korean indigenous software company has been speeding up its efforts to diversify its business portfolio ranging from cloud computing to artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and mobility platforms.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.