OpsNow, which started as a service software (SaaS) brand of Bespin Global and was officially launched as an independent corporation last year, will enter the global market in earnest this year. OpsNow has grown into Korea's leading CMP specialty company over the past 8 years, starting with the multi-cloud management platform (CMP) 'OpsNow 360'. Recently, the company is speeding up its global business expansion by rebranding its logo and UI/UX to expand into various countries, including the United States, and appointing a new CEO Park Seung-woo. We met with OpsNow Business Manager Park Dae-sik to hear about the strategy and future vision for entering the global CMP market.

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OpsNow, which began as Bespin Global's own SaaS brand, was newly launched as OpsNow Inc. as an independent corporation in July of last year. The establishment of the corporation centered on OpsNow 360, a service-type cloud management (CMaaS, Cloud Management as a Service) product, to strengthen expertise as a SW company and expand the strategic business of the SaaS product line. OpsNow 360 is a cloud operation management platform based on automation and artificial intelligence (AI). It supports efficient management of all cloud-related tasks on a single platform by integrating various tools and data necessary for operation management, such as costs, resources, governance, security, and DevOps.

In addition to this, OpsNow has been developing and supplying various SaaS products in-house, such as the single-interface DevOps (DevOS) platform “DevOS (DevOS),” the cloud security shape management solution “OpsNow (OpsNow),” the only SaaS-type AIoT platform in Korea, and the integrated incident management solution “AlertNow (AlertNow).” According to the company, since introducing a multi-cloud management platform in 2016, OpsNow has been developing and supplying various SaaS products in China, including the United States, China, and the United States. It has secured 2,700 customers from countries around the world, including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America. This year, the plan is to establish itself as an independent corporation and further accelerate its entry into the global market and become a global No. 1 (NO.1) company in the cloud management field. To this end, in April, OpsNow appointed CEO Park Seung-woo as a new co-representative after CEO Lee Han-joo of Bespin Global, and showed a commitment to strengthen SW expertise and promote global business expansion. Along with this, the existing green brand identity, color, and UI/UX was completely rebranded in cobalt blue, and the internal architecture was also tailored to the global market Improvements have been made. In particular, the company launched a full-scale entry into the global market by introducing a CMP equipped with an automatic cost reduction function based on artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML), which is specialized in the US market. In the future, OpsNow's policy is to expand sales channels in the global market by cooperating with an overseas subsidiary of Bespin Global, with dedicated personnel in foreign countries.

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The following is an interview with OpsNow's Head of Business, Park Dae-sik, to answer questions. 'Spurring' into the global CMP market Q. Looking back at the results to date since the launch of an independent corporation last year, A. OpsNow was launched as an independent corporation in July of last year with the ambition to enter the global market. Although it has been less than a year since it was launched, it has achieved significant results. As a representative example, we have launched a new type of CMP referred to as “OpsNow 2nd Generation.” With the goal of providing services in the global market, the second generation of OpsNow was rebranded and redeveloped, all parts of the existing OpsNow 360 CMP, from logo to color, UI/UX, and internal architecture. Performance was enhanced with a focus on performance such as response speed and resource optimization to respond to the increase in global users and expanding service regions. Furthermore, in order to carry out marketing tailored to each country, it was improved with a user-customized UI/UX. In addition, partnerships have also been strengthened to establish itself as an independent software (SW) vendor.

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In particular, last year, it was awarded the 'AWS Korea Technology Partner of the Year Award' for outstanding business discovery achievements through cooperation with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Globalization of these products and the strengthening of partnerships are OpsNow's main achievements. Q. What global CMP trends are currently paying attention to? A. There are two major achievements. The first one is “cloud observability (observability).” This refers to collecting, processing, and analyzing various logs and batch trace (trace) information generated in a cloud environment, and quickly identifying and solving system problems. As cloud demand and usage continue to grow around the world and systems become increasingly complex, the concept and technology of observability is becoming more important than ever. CMP must now rapidly detect system problems, collect, analyze, and process information to maximize uptime, and support services to optimize performance and prevent security threats.

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The second trend to focus on is the increase in CMP services that implement AI-based automation. Until now, CMP focused on analyzing, recommending, and applying data so that users can quickly visualize and optimize cloud resources. Recently, based on AI, CMP itself performs optimized operations on its own without user intervention, and technology is being developed in the direction of enhancing security. Q. How is OpsNow responding to this trend? A. First, with regard to cloud observability, OpsNow already supports excellent technologies. It has consistently provided services that optimize performance and ensure security and stability by collecting information such as system logs and metrics (metrics) at the virtual machine (VM) level. In addition to this, recently, a function to visualize the container environment has also been added. As a representative example, “KubeExplorer (KubeExplorer)”, a service that integrates container and Kubernetes costs, was launched last year.

In addition, OpsNow Security, a security shape management solution, is also being upgraded to enable monitoring tailored to containers and Kubernetes environments. Furthermore, we have already prepared an AI-based automation section. Earlier, we planned and developed an AI-based abnormal cost detection function and launched it in 2020, and won the Korea Artificial Intelligence Award in the 2020 Cloud category by the Korea Artificial Intelligence Industry Association. In addition to this, it recently launched a new AI-based product called “AutoSavings (AutoSavings)” as it entered the US market. This product is a service that automatically reduces costs based on the customer's AWS contract discount information without any user intervention. Even now, AI/machine learning (ML) is incorporated into the service through steady research and development. In particular, the ease of use of CMP for customers was greatly enhanced by utilizing generative AI. In order to analyze desired information, users have moved through menus, adjusted filters, viewed results in the form of charts, and directly introduced insights. On OpsNow's platform, these processes are possible with just a simple prompt. For example, “Compare this month's cost with last month's cost”, “What is the most expensive product this month?” If you ask questions such as “OpsNow Insight (Insight),” they analyze customer data, present it in charts and tables, and even provide insights in text form.

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Q. “Global CMP competitiveness is sufficient” Q. What are OpsNow's competitiveness and strengths in the global market.

A. I think OpsNow has a high level of competitiveness not only in the domestic market but also in the global market. The reason for this is that, firstly, we are not just following the global CMP trend where AI is the center, but we are leading the technology by taking the lead. We have been building up know-how by applying AI and ML technologies for a long time, and we have continued to present the latest services that can maximize customer cloud cost savings based on this. The second is that we can accurately grasp the needs of overseas markets.

Bespin Global has several overseas subsidiaries in the US, China, and Southeast Asia, and customers in many countries where corporations have already been established use OpsNow CMP. Through Bespin Global's overseas subsidiaries, we have been consistently accepting the needs of overseas users, and we are improving and upgrading CMP based on this. The third strength is that it is a multi-cloud management platform.

Many CMP products mostly focus only on AWS services. However, customers are now moving towards multi-cloud to improve business flexibility, security, and reduce costs. Following this trend, more customers will look for platforms to manage multi-clouds. We have been aiming for multi-cloud since the establishment of Bespin Global, and since we have strengthened this field for over 8 years, we are confident that we can fully compete in the global market.

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Q. What are the global business strategies and plans for this year.

A. Our solutions have been well received for a long time in Korea, but overseas, we have the mindset to start now. I think the most important thing is to quickly publicize the differentiating points of our CMP to foreign countries. Therefore, as we entered the US market this year, we are organizing product managers and sales personnel in earnest locally. We plan to focus on promoting our solutions and gaining customer trust through field personnel. In particular, although OpsNow has been split into an independent corporation, we will work closely with overseas subsidiaries owned by Bespin Global as a base for our global market expansion. Currently, during regular meetings with Bespin Global, we receive requests from customers in various countries such as the United States, the Middle East, Japan, and Southeast Asia and reflect them in solution research and development. Thanks to this, we have achieved good results in local demonstrations and contracts. Furthermore, in addition to supplying CMP to end users, we are also promoting white labeling (white labeling) OEM sales targeting overseas local MSPs. In fact, we supplied CMP to a leading South American MSP company called Xertica (Xertica) in 2022.

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The goal is to achieve 'full automation'

Q. What are the CMP upgrade goals and development focus.

A. We aim for “autonomous IT (autonomous IT)” based on AI/ML, that is, complete automation such as autonomous driving. Our solutions, including OpsNow 360, are increasing this level of automation ahead of other CMPs. In addition to cost reduction automation, both security and operational aspects are being advanced to a fully autonomous stage. Ultimately, if all companies and organizations that operate the cloud set simple goals, the CMP is trying to innovate the user experience by providing its own data and insights in the form of autonomous driving without any intervention. Beyond finding out what AI is, to actually execute it, the complete automation of CMP is our goal. To this end, the company is making further efforts in research and development to incorporate AI into the overall cloud operation, including cost, security, and infrastructure.

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Q. What is your vision and ambition as a business manager.

A. OpsNow is working to establish itself as an independent corporation and SW vendor. Recently, CEO Lee Han-joo and CEO Park Seung-woo of Bespin Global have taken office as new representatives, and have established an organizational structure as an independent corporation and are strengthening their operational capabilities even more than before. Based on this, we are continuously improving the quality and value of our solutions by improving the overall architecture and price system to achieve results in the global market. Also, I would like to emphasize once again that it focuses on AI-based automation. OpsNow will continue to lead technology trends in the global CMP market and provide the most automated solutions to customers around the world based on innovative growth.