Article at a Glance

B&VIIT Eye Center, which began performing vision correction surgeries in 1994, led the establishment of vision correction surgery in Korea with the principle of delivering objective information without exaggerating the success rate of surgeries. They targeted specific customers and planned spaces that suited their needs, proactively introducing medical marketing to the domestic healthcare industry, building their reputation. Since 2019, they have developed an AI model that predicts surgical eligibility, types of surgery, and expected post-surgery vision, based on 31 years of accumulated surgical data. They restructured their HR system to promote AI initiatives by creating OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) that allow employees to autonomously use the time saved by AI for more valuable tasks. They also actively utilize AI to improve customer experiences, developing AI-optimized content and creating virtual humans of directors to communicate with customers. Meanwhile, to overcome the limitations of the small domestic market, they have been collaborating with foreign influencers to attract medical tourists.

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What is the most influential sense when humans acquire information from their surroundings? Undoubtedly, it is vision. Around 90% of the information the human brain receives is transmitted through sight. The eye, a delicate and sensitive organ, gathers 1.2 million optic nerve fibers into a small sphere about 24mm in diameter, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. Having good, healthy vision is certainly a great blessing. Those with poor vision must rely on glasses, which are not only uncomfortable but also aesthetically undesirable. As an alternative, many try contact lenses, but they often suffer from chronic fatigue and inflammation. This is why many who have undergone vision correction surgeries like LASIK and LASEK express great satisfaction, – their needs originate from these very challenges.

Located near Gangnam Station in Seocho-gu, Seoul, B&VIIT Eye Center has performed surgeries on 580,000 eyes over 31 years since the opening of its predecessor, Kim Jin-kuk Eye Clinic, in 1994. With a size of approximately 4,297㎡ (around 1,300 pyeong), it is the largest single ophthalmology clinic in Korea.

With a space that includes a café and a gallery, B&VIIT Eye Center embodies a "Hotel+ Hospital" concept, which was conceptualized by Kim Jin-kuk, the founder and CEO of B&VIIT Eye Center. Dr. Kim said, "Since the early 2000s, when most hospitals were not introducing marketing, we have been thinking about 'medical marketing,'" adding, "Especially through specialization and expansion, we are striving to provide customized treatments for customers at different stages of their life cycles."

In the history of LASIK surgery, which was developed early among vision correction surgeries, Dr. Kim can be considered a 1.5th generation specialist. He is also a pioneer who introduced LASEK and presbyopia surgery, which were later adopted in Korea. As a leader in the domestic vision correction surgery field, his first mission was to gain the trust of customers for unfamiliar surgeries. Instead of encouraging customers with the claim that "the surgery will be 100% successful," he focused on honestly sharing whether the eye was suitable for surgery and what side effects were expected, thereby building trust with his customers. Up until 20 years ago, many people were still skeptical about the safety of surgeries like LASIK and LASEK, but now, as vision correction surgery has become a must-do during university students' vacation breaks, his first mission seems to have been successfully accomplished.

Since 2019, B&VIIT Eye Center has embraced artificial intelligence (AI) as its new mission. Based on 580,000 valid clinical data collected over 31 years, they developed an AI model that predicts surgical eligibility, types of surgery, and expected post-surgery vision. The accuracy of this model is approximately 95-99% compared to human doctors. Dr. Kim explained, "In the medical field, even with human doctors, it is common for different diagnoses to be given by different physicians," adding, "The AI model helps provide objective diagnoses and can be useful in training specialists." Additionally, AI has been proactively used to improve customer experiences, such as creating virtual humans of the directors to communicate with customers. DBR analyzed the growth process of B&VIIT Eye Center, which has continuously innovated, from vision correction surgeries to medical marketing and healthcare AI.




A Vision for Finding Blue Oceans

1) Ophthalmology, 
Increasing Value with Technology

During his school years, Dr. Kim moved frequently due to his family’s financial struggles and had a weak constitution. As a result, he fell ill during his crucial senior year of high school, but he succeeded in entering Yonsei University College of Medicine. Having been weak as a child and witnessing his elders suffering from asthma, he naturally developed a belief that “health is the most important thing.”

However, entering medical school was not the end of hardship but the beginning. It was always expected that he would be first in everything, but it was not the same in medical school. Despite his determination to study day and night, he could only rank above 15th out of about 150 students. To rise higher, he needed the materials from seniors, commonly known as ‘jokbo,’ the study notes of previous students. At the time, it was customary for medical students to help those from the same high school, but as he did not come from a prestigious school, there were no seniors to assist him. He worked hard to build his network by serving as the table tennis club president, continuing to study, but a fear slowly crept in that he might not be able to enter the popular specialties like surgery, otolaryngology, or dermatology.

It was then that he turned his attention to ophthalmology. More than 70% of sensory receptors in the body are in the eyes, and over 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is delivered through vision. Both academia and businesses began to objectively recognize the importance of the eyes, and research on ophthalmology was being actively conducted. Just 2 or 3 years before his time, seniors only needed to study one book to pass the ophthalmology specialist exam, but by Dr. Kim’s time, it was necessary to study 16 books as knowledge rapidly expanded.

In his 4th year of residency, just before graduation, news that would shine a light on the prospects of ophthalmology reached him from the United States. In the 1980s, the idea of using ‘excimer laser’ equipment to correct vision was proposed in the United States, and actual surgery cases began to appear. With the development of laser technology, a momentum was beginning to form that would create tremendous added value in the field of ophthalmology.

2) A Road Less Traveled,
Overcoming with Trust

Despite the optimism that “a world without glasses and contact lenses” would come, it took a long time for vision correction surgery to take root in Korea. The ophthalmology community was conservative about vision correction surgery. There were concerns that if the cornea was incorrectly shaved with a laser, the keratocytes, which are the cells involved in healing the wound, could be excessively stimulated and undergo excessive differentiation, potentially leading to DNA mutations. There were even criticisms that the pursuit of money was putting patient safety at risk. Given that the eye is such a small and sensitive organ, it was only natural that existing doctors would react sensitively to new technologies.

In the early 1990s, just before opening his clinic, Dr. Kim saw the path that others avoided as his own. Since his time in medical school, he had been thinking about how to avoid competition and achieve differentiation, and he concluded that vision correction surgery, which others had not yet boldly embraced, could be a blue ocean. Especially for a new practitioner entering the market, he believed that honing expertise in an untapped field, rather than in areas already dominated by seniors, would provide a better chance of success. He completed the LASIK Fellow Program at Yale University and the Excimer Fellow Program at Dresden University in Germany, gaining professional knowledge and certified qualifications.

It seemed difficult to compete with large hospitals that were emerging in Seoul offering vision correction surgery. However, in the provinces, private clinics were taking the lead in adopting new technologies like vision correction surgery. After serving as a public health doctor on Geoje Island, performing about 2,500 cataract surgeries over three years, and earning a PhD from Dong-A University, Dr. Kim leveraged the connections he built in the Busan and Gyeongnam regions to open ‘Kim Jin-kuk Eye Clinic’ in Busan in 1994. He made a huge investment, borrowing personal funds to purchase equipment worth nearly 1 billion KRW.

Once he opened his clinic, his primary mission was to gain trust. At the time, LASIK surgery cost about 3 million KRW, and it was not easy for customers to spend such a large sum on a procedure that had not been fully proven. Initially, there weren't many surgery patients, and he could only perform vision correction surgery about once a week. He struggled even to pay the equipment lease. At that time, he had no choice but to keep the clinic afloat by also providing general ophthalmology services.

Running the clinic was not easy, but in the face of the top priority of building trust, Dr. Kim established two clear principles. The first was to "set a large safety margin for surgery." This meant that during consultations, he did not optimistically predict the surgery's outcome but carefully considered the possibility of failure. While the clinic could attract more surgeries by assuring patients that their surgery would be 100% successful, Dr. Kim judged that this would not be effective in building long-term trust with customers. He set the success rate of surgery as conservatively as possible and shaved the cornea as minimally as possible. He also fully explained possible side effects, such as “30-40% of patients may continue to experience glare at night.” Afterward, whether to proceed with surgery was entirely up to the patient. If the patient’s eyes were not suitable for surgery, he would advise them to wait until better surgical options became available, sending them back without hesitation. In fact, he often received complaints like, “Other clinics say surgery is possible; why can’t I have surgery at this clinic?” but he has continued to stick to these principles to this day.

The second principle was to "always maintain the equipment." In the early days of opening his clinic, with only one laser device, the equipment would stop about once a month. The early equipment was not as advanced as it is now, so it would easily become overloaded. If these breakdowns happened frequently, patients coming for surgery would inevitably develop doubts about the hospital and the surgery results. Dr. Kim boldly decided to purchase another device and always maintained the equipment that was not in use. Over time, he became so committed to maintenance that he could tell if there was a problem with the equipment just by hearing the pattern of the laser’s "tick-tick-tick" sound.

As successful surgeries increased under these strict principles, the hospital gradually gained word-of-mouth reputation. Although it was still an unfamiliar procedure, there were certainly people who were eager to take off their glasses. There were various stories, such as a woman who urgently requested surgery before her wedding because she feared her mother-in-law would call her ugly for wearing glasses, or a customer who sought a fundamental solution after wearing contact lenses for so long that her cornea was damaged. Dr. Kim gained confidence that there was definite demand for the procedure in Korea.

3) Medical Marketing - Specialization,
Hospitals Collaborating with Management

The hospital was gradually settling in. However, having been born in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, and raised in Seoul, he felt that there were limitations to establishing himself as part of the local community, as he was not originally from Busan. Additionally, while he wanted to expand his hospital, he lacked capital. In 1997, he opened ‘Bright World Eye Clinic(밝은세상안과)’ together with Dr. Lee Jong-ho, a doctor who was already running a large hospital in Busan.

Once again, Dr. Kim decided to walk a path that others were not taking. He attempted "medical marketing," which was unusual in the domestic medical field.

Now, it’s a given that hospitals actively engage in marketing and promotion, but at the time, most doctors believed that "patients will come for treatment when they are sick." In other words, they didn’t think of proactively reaching out to customers or promoting their hospital. On the other hand, in the U.S., hospitals and management were closely linked. Hospitals analyzed the needs of their customers and introduced branding to cater to their preferences and tastes. It was inevitable that more hospitals would begin offering vision correction surgery, so Dr. Kim realized that he needed to think about what would attract customers to choose his hospital. He began to think about how to market his hospital, but could not find anyone in Korea specializing in or researching medical marketing. Through a friend’s introduction, he met a marketer, and together, they held study sessions twice a week, discussing books and papers on medical marketing.

While considering STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning), he designed the space. He targeted professional women in their 20s and 30s, who had the greatest desire to remove their glasses and also had financial means. He set a fresh pink color as the overall theme color, and the concierge area was designed to resemble a sophisticated café. To ensure that each customer felt they were being treated specially, all consultations were held in private consultation rooms. Thinking of the hospital as a brand, he also created a CI (Corporate Identity).

Thanks to the significant investment in interior design and marketing, the hospital quickly gained word-of-mouth recognition. The number of vision correction surgeries, which had been performed once a week at the previous hospital, increased to several cases a day. At the same time, Dr. Kim continued to focus on introducing new technologies. In 1999, he introduced the first LASIK surgery in Korea in collaboration with Dr. Massimo Camellin from Italy, the developer of the procedure. In 2000, he also performed the first presbyopia surgery in Korea with Dr. Shaker from the United States, the founder of the procedure.

Thus, the hospital established itself as the leading vision correction surgery center in Busan. However, Dr. Kim, originally from Seoul, wanted to expand his reach to Seoul as well. In 2000, he finally made his move to Seoul, renting an entire floor of a building near Gangnam Station. The space was 860㎡ (about 260 pyeong), and the building owner even asked if it was truly possible to use the whole floor. At that time, hospitals specializing in vision correction in Seoul were generally small, with at most two directors, but Dr. Kim planned to expand to six directors.

Dr. Kim believed that, like in other industries, the key to competitiveness in the field of vision correction ophthalmology was expansion and specialization. He envisioned a single ophthalmology clinic where directors with expertise in different fields, such as laser vision correction, cataracts, glaucoma, lens implantation, dream lenses, and dry eye disease, would provide tailored care for patients based on their life cycle. Above all, he believed that the large scale of the clinic itself could serve as a factor that instills trust among customers, especially in a market with many similar vision correction centers. He knew from experience, after two openings, that once the real estate and interior design were completed, expanding further would be more difficult, so he decided to make a large investment upfront.

After learning medical and marketing skills over the past six years while opening and running the hospital, he poured all of his knowledge into opening ‘Gangnam Bright World Eye Clinic(강남밝은세상안과)’. However, the recognition he had gained in Busan was not very useful in Seoul. He had to start from scratch to gain the trust of customers. For about six months, he faced deficits of several million KRW a month, but by quietly running the hospital according to the two principles he had established, word spread that the hospital used the latest equipment and technology. Celebrities from top entertainment groups, such as HOT and SES, visited and underwent surgery, quickly raising the hospital's recognition.




A Vision for Adding Value with AI

1) 31 Years, 580,000 Eyes,
Becoming a Weapon with Clean Data

Although the hospital was thriving, with each director performing more than 10 surgeries a day, Dr. Kim never lost his interest in management and technology, which had shown him new possibilities as a doctor. For instance, in 2011, he renamed the hospital to "B&VIIT Gangnam Bright World Eye Center" and conducted a rebranding centered around "B&VIIT." B&VIIT is written in English as "B&Viit," with the "B" standing for "Bright," symbolizing a bright world, and the Roman numeral VII, representing the seven visible light waves that make up all colors in the world. The "+" symbol represents the heart and beyond, taking the shape of the letter "T." In 2024, he changed the name to simply "B&VIIT Eye Center." At the same time, the hospital expanded and relocated to the GT Tower. It became the largest ophthalmology clinic in Korea, with a café and a gallery located within the hospital, allowing customers to enjoy top-tier services.

Dr. Kim also continued to pay attention to technologies that could change the world. He realized the importance of digitalization early on, introducing electronic medical records (EMR) and computerizing all charts. As advanced technologies such as blockchain began to capture public attention, he began to consider how to incorporate NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) into the hospital.

One of these technologies was AI. Dr. Kim, who had a keen interest in the latest technologies, believed that AI could provide solutions for some of the challenges faced in the medical field. There were more than 10 major types of vision correction surgeries, with roughly 60 variations in total, and determining which surgery would be most suitable for a specific patient was largely based on the doctor's calculations and judgment. Some patients, such as those with careers that require sensitive vision, had specific needs that had to be addressed. Even for the same patient, different doctors might recommend different surgeries. Dr. Kim thought that if consistent diagnoses could be made based on big data, it would help doctors make more objective decisions. Additionally, since it takes at least five years to train an ophthalmologist, he believed that with AI by their side, specialists could adapt more quickly and reduce medical errors.

In 2016, Google’s Lily Pang research team demonstrated the potential for AI to be used in the field of ophthalmology by unveiling an AI that diagnoses diabetic retinopathy, a condition that can lead to blindness due to diabetes complications. Using 128,000 fundus images read by 54 American ophthalmologists as training data, the AI model was developed through deep learning. The model’s accuracy was then tested using 10,000 newly collected fundus images from India. As a result, the AI showed higher accuracy than the average of eight doctors.

In 2018, the same research team introduced a model that predicted cardiovascular disease risk indicators using fundus images. According to the model, analyzing vision test data could accurately infer a patient’s age, blood pressure, smoking habits, and even predict the occurrence of heart disease. In 2016, they also published a paper that used machine learning to analyze corneal topography and detect keratoconus, a condition in which the cornea gradually becomes thinner and more conical.

As AI’s role in ophthalmic diagnostics began to be proven, Dr. Kim became curious: "What if AI could predict the success of vision correction surgery?" Fortunately, the AI experts he consulted all agreed that the data he had been steadily collecting in collaboration with university hospitals for joint research would serve as a key foundation for AI development. Since the days of Kim Jin-kuk Eye Clinic(김진국안과의원), about 580,000 eyes (as of the end of 2024) of eye data had been accumulated, and approximately 40,000 to 44,000 surgery cases were added every year.



Other hospitals have also organized data, but most compress the data for storage due to cost reasons. Since there is a large amount of image and video data, storing such vast amounts incurs significant costs. However, when this data is compressed, the resolution may drop, which can prevent proper AI model training.

In contrast, B&VIIT stores high-capacity, distortion-free "clean data" in its original form. It even manages the data thoroughly by maintaining its own server room and separately storing data in three other locations. In the past, when invited to give lectures on surgical cases abroad, he experienced cold responses from fellow doctors who dismissed him simply because he was not the author of an SCI-level paper. This experience fueled his determination, and the moment when the data he had accumulated for research began to shine was a significant turning point.
According to medical law, patient medical records must be kept for up to 10 years, and data older than 10 years is stored in a de-identified form to ensure that no personal information remains. During the AI model development process, de-identification is also applied to ensure that individual patients are not identified.

2) XAI Predicting 99% of Vision

Since he didn't know much about AI, Dr. Kim sought partners for collaboration. Through partnerships with the newly established medical AI company Mediwhale, Dr. Kim Young-jun’s team from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ahn Dae-hwan from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, actual AI development began.

The AI developed by B&VIIT, also known as B&VIIT AI, determines the feasibility of vision correction surgery and the most suitable type of surgery. It was trained using a dataset of results from 10,561 patients and 21,122 eyes, including examination and surgery outcomes, and the results were tested using data from 7,919 patients. The test results showed that the AI predicted surgery candidates with 98.3% accuracy compared to human doctors. Another AI model was developed to predict the expected post-surgery vision by analyzing 52 variables from the data of 19,920 patients. After improving the algorithm through four generations, the current prediction accuracy reaches 99%. Another AI model recommends the myopia correction value, astigmatism correction value, and astigmatism correction angle for SMILE surgery, or suggests the size of the lens to be inserted for lens implantation surgery.



Especially, it allows for understanding the relationships between variables, making it possible to inform patients in advance about what factors make a particular surgery suitable or what side effects may be expected during consultations. This can be considered as an early implementation of "Explainable AI (XAI)," which aligns with Dr. Kim’s principle of openly sharing surgery-related information with potential patients.

In 2019, the "B&VIIT AI" was unveiled to the world and implemented in actual hospitals. In June of that year, a paper titled "Implementation of a Machine Learning System to Automatically Identify Candidates for Corneal Refractive Surgery" was published in the SCI-level international journal Nature Digital Medicine. The paper attracted significant attention in the global medical community, even being featured on the main page of Nature's website for several hours. Elsevier, a global information analytics company and the world's number one publisher in the field of science and technology, mentioned B&VIIT Eye Center alongside Google as part of "historic ophthalmic technology."



3) How to Make the Time Saved by AI

Since the introduction of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, there have been recommendations to apply generative AI to actual employee tasks. When AI tools like B&VIIT AI and ChatGPT were introduced, employees' reactions were not entirely favorable. Some employees directly asked, "If AI takes over my job, should I resign?" Even though AI could not replace tasks like exams or surgeries, employees remained anxious.

Despite the pushback from employees, Dr. Kim’s resolve regarding the AI initiative was firm. He hoped that employees who improved productivity through AI would use their time to communicate more closely with customers. In practice, applying ChatGPT reduced EMR tasks, which previously took 10 hours, to just 1 hour, resulting in a significant improvement in employee productivity. In fact, repetitive tasks such as accounting and marketing were reduced by about 40%.

Still, employees’ doubts didn’t easily subside. To address this, Dr. Kim invited speakers from big tech companies like Kakao to give lectures to all employees to provide knowledge about AI, which temporarily quieted the concerns.

However, soon after, complaints like, "I don’t understand why we need to use AI" resurfaced. While it was true that AI could automate tasks and save time, developing ways to apply AI to their specific roles became another burden. Furthermore, the idea that employees would use the time saved by AI for more valuable tasks seemed somewhat idealistic. Regardless of the tool, few employees would voluntarily take on tasks beyond what was assigned to them.

Dr. Kim realized that merely explaining the benefits of new technologies was not enough to help employees embrace them. To align with the AI initiative, he began working on establishing an HR system that supported it. He strongly declared to his employees, "Use the time saved by AI to listen to customers. I will double the number of customers and increase your salary by 1.5 times."

His bold proposal went beyond just words. As part of this, in October of the previous year, he began implementing OKR (Objectives and Key Results), a performance management tool. OKR is a goal-setting methodology that helps set measurable team objectives and track progress. It encourages members to discuss how to implement the organization’s vision and goals, determines initiatives, checks whether they are being realized, and ensures that members take voluntary actions, with clear rewards for their contributions.



4) Enhancing Customer Experiences with AI

Additionally, to achieve the goal of doubling the number of customers, B&VIIT began targeting overseas markets in earnest. As vision correction surgery has become a common procedure, the domestic market, which is relatively small, has seen increasing competition. However, by looking abroad, larger markets open up. Especially, Dr. Kim leveraged the fact that Korea’s medical services are among the best in the world while being more affordable than in developed countries, focusing on attracting medical tourists with the goal of becoming the "No.1 global vision correction eye clinic." As of 2024, approximately 900 foreign medical tourists visited B&VIIT, and this year, the goal is to attract around 1,500.

The highlight of medical tourism is "aesthetic" treatments, and Korea is unquestionably a leader in fields such as vision correction, plastic surgery, dental correction, and hair transplants. The results of the procedures and surgeries, as well as the level of service, can confidently be called the best in the world. Dr. Kim believes that medical tourism itself can become a future industry for Korea’s economy. His big picture is for people to visit Korea, receive a range of treatments and surgeries, from vision correction to skin care, in a comprehensive course, and return home. For this, he believes medical institutions should work together, which led to the creation of the Korea Medical Tourism Promotion Association. Along with B&VIIT Eye Center, the association brings together medical institutions representing various fields such as plastic surgery, dentistry, and beauty clinics to strategize on revitalizing domestic medical tourism and propose policies.

Through various marketing activities aimed at attracting medical tourists, Dr. Kim realized that influencer marketing was the most effective. He collaborated with Sardoche, a French YouTuber and e-sports player with 330,000 subscribers. After he visited B&VIIT Eye Center in Korea and shared a video of his surgery, French customers, who had previously been nonexistent, became the second-largest group of foreign clients. In France, the cost of vision correction surgery for one eye is around 7 to 8 million KRW, and patients must wait at least six months for surgery, whereas in Korea, the same procedure is done in one day at less than half the cost, which received high praise.

In addition, influencer marketing is being conducted on new media channels such as Instagram and YouTube, targeting developed countries like Australia and rapidly growing countries like Indonesia. A Korean-Australian influencer posted on his Instagram about his boyfriend receiving vision correction surgery in one day, which received about 1.29 million views and 26,000 likes.

Meanwhile, in line with the shifting search environment centered around generative AI, B&VIIT proactively embraced AEO (AI Engine Optimization). This can be seen as a ChatGPT version of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), where the goal is to ensure that our brand is effectively exposed when searched with specific keywords on search engines like Google.

For example, when asking ChatGPT, "What is the best vision correction clinic in Korea?" we manage whether accurate information about B&VIIT Eye Center is displayed. By asking ChatGPT questions about the positioning that B&VIIT seeks and reviewing the sources of the answers, we check which types of content are being displayed. We then publish content reflecting those characteristics and conduct A/B testing to verify if ChatGPT outputs the desired answers. Through this A/B testing, we realized that the credibility of the source page displaying the content is just as important as the quality of the content itself for ChatGPT search exposure, and we set the direction for content management. Currently, a system to automate AEO is under development.

AI is also being used to upgrade customer experiences. In particular, virtual human directors are used for post-surgery management. The virtual human of the doctor who performed the surgery guides the patient through the precautions to be taken on each day following the surgery. By creating videos with AI, the virtual human doctor calls the patient by name and provides guidance, enabling more intimate interactions with customers. After introducing virtual human doctors, the number of inquiry calls from patients significantly decreased, and actual customer satisfaction improved by approximately 10%.

DBR mini box I : Success Factors and Implications How to Innovate with AI in the Strict Medical Industry "Build Data and Reduce Resistance through Rewards and Education"

The fundamental success factor of B&VIIT Eye Center lies in gaining the trust of patients and providing high-quality medical services that patients desire. However, it is also noteworthy that the center quickly adopted and effectively used the latest technologies, including AI, in the medical industry. The medical industry is known for its strict regulations and conservative nature, which generally leads to slower adoption and use of IT compared to other industries. In contrast, B&VIIT Eye Center is a rare example of successfully adopting and utilizing IT more quickly than companies in other industries, providing many valuable insights. When thinking of successful IT-based innovation, we often think of the introduction of advanced technologies such as AI. However, numerous IT innovation cases and research results commonly emphasize that the key success factors are not the advanced technology itself, but rather data, and even more than data, organizational change.ⅰ ⅰEdelman, D. C. and Abraham, M., “Customer experience in the age of AI,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 2022. 닫기  It is essential to examine how these two factors contributed to B&VIIT Eye Center’s success. 1. Securing Data Used in the Field B&VIIT Eye Center has steadily collected detailed medical records and imaging data over more than 30 years. A key characteristic of the AI driving recent innovations is that the quality of data directly impacts the performance of AI. The long-term accumulation of data has been the most crucial factor in B&VIIT Eye Center's successful application of AI. Of course, having data does not guarantee success. There are conditions for data to be successfully used. First, it is essential to be able to collect the data needed to solve the problem at hand. B&VIIT Eye Center had secured a large amount of examination data necessary to predict a patient's eligibility for surgery and expected post-surgery vision. Even when a human doctor makes predictions, these data are used. In other words, since AI can use the same data that doctors use, it was possible to apply AI. In fact, in the medical field, most of the data needed for doctors' judgments, such as diagnoses, is objectively collected through examination equipment. Therefore, if regulations are eased, the potential for AI applications in this field could be significantly greater. In contrast, many general businesses do not collect the essential data needed for decision-making. For example, when a CEO makes a major decision, they refer to objective reports, but the CEO’s vision and insights into the future also play a critical role in the decision-making process. These elements are difficult to collect in digital data form. This is why AI is difficult to replace humans in such tasks. Not only in important issues like strategic decision-making, but also in simple tasks, such as determining the grade of agricultural and marine products, AI faces challenges in applying digital variables like human touch or smell, which are hard to digitize. To summarize, the key factor in the success of AI is whether or not important data can be collected to perform tasks intended for AI application, and whether such data is sufficiently available. B&VIIT Eye Center consistently and diligently collected high-capacity data in the form of doctor-level data with the belief that even if they did not use IT like AI immediately, it would be possible to use it later. This foresight is now bearing fruit. Similarly, general companies must secure enough data, just like B&VIIT Eye Center, to effectively utilize AI. 2. “Resistance to New Technology is Inevitable” The biggest obstacle to an organization, such as a company, adopting new technology is the resistance of its members.ⅱ ⅱChoi Ho-jin, Lim Il, "Digital Transformation (DX) of GS Caltex," DBR Issue 381 닫기  The resistance referred to here is often not active resistance, such as strikes, but passive resistance, such as avoiding the use of the technology. In the case of B&VIIT Eye Center, even though employees were encouraged to use new technologies like ChatGPT in the early stages, resistance was encountered. The resistance stemmed from various factors, including the fear that new technology might replace their jobs, the difficulty of learning new technology, and human nature’s aversion to change. Therefore, managers should not view resistance as something entirely negative but rather as an inevitable phenomenon and focus on minimizing it. To reduce resistance from members, methods such as 1) having the CEO express strong will, 2) reducing anxiety through training and success stories, and 3) providing motivation through improved incentives can be effective. B&VIIT Eye Center effectively employed all three of these methods. First, Dr. Kim Jin-kuk strongly expressed his commitment to using AI and encouraged the staff. Not only did he encourage them, but he also provided a clear vision, stating, "Using AI, I will double the number of customers and increase salaries by 1.5 times," which motivated the staff. Additionally, they demonstrated how the efficiency of EMR tasks improved with AI and educated the team on the importance of adopting AI through external speaker sessions. Ultimately, improvements in performance and reward systems, such as OKRs, ensured that staff received rewards for using AI. B&VIIT Eye Center serves as a good example of how to effectively reduce resistance when introducing new innovations into an organization. I believe these methods can be applied similarly in general companies. Future Challenges: Building Know-How and Platforms B&VIIT Eye Center has successfully applied IT, including AI, but maintaining differentiation and competitiveness will be its biggest challenge going forward. Currently, there are very few hospitals using AI for tasks like predicting surgery eligibility, but this number will continue to grow. Particularly, the fields where AI has a significant impact will see a larger incentive for technology adoption, and more hospitals will begin to implement it. Over time, as AI technology becomes more widespread and costs decrease, it could become a technology used by everyone. As mentioned above, the rich data accumulated by B&VIIT Eye Center will help maintain its competitiveness for some time. However, as competing hospitals also recognize the importance of data, more hospitals will start collecting their own data. Additionally, assuming regulations are relaxed, there is a possibility of businesses emerging that collect large amounts of data and supply them to multiple hospitals. In such an environment, the methods for maintaining B&VIIT Eye Center's competitiveness and differentiation can be summarized in two main strategies. First, even with the same AI technology, there is know-how related to processing and utilizing the data. For example, there is know-how in whether to use the raw data or to standardize it before using it. Another part of the know-how is modifying the surgery method or post-surgery vision prediction suggested by the AI by referencing additional data or the doctor's experience. B&VIIT Eye Center’s strength lies in its long history of using AI, and by maximizing this know-how, it can maintain its competitive edge. To do so, a system should be established to systematically collect and utilize the data processing know-how of the AI development team and the know-how of the doctors using the AI. Second, there is the possibility of platformizing B&VIIT Eye Center’s data and AI utilization know-how. In other words, B&VIIT Eye Center could allow other hospitals to use its AI model in exchange for payment or through partnerships and, in turn, use the data from those hospitals on its platform. Platformizing could help secure more participating hospitals, and as the number of participating hospitals increases, the data would grow, improving the accuracy of the AI. This would create a positive feedback loop where more participating hospitals lead to even more data, and consequently, even more hospitals would join. Of course, creating a platform itself does not guarantee success. First, it is essential to offer significant value to the participating hospitals to attract them, so careful consideration of the value to be provided to them is necessary. Additionally, due to the highly regulated nature of the medical industry, the platform must be structured in a way that complies with current regulations. At the same time, it is crucial to consider the potential relaxation of regulations in the future and respond proactively and appropriately.

Im-il Professor at Yonsei University School of Business il.im@yonsei.ac.kr The author obtained a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Business Administration from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Southern California. After serving as a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, he has been a professor at Yonsei University School of Business since 2005 and is a full member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. His main areas of interest include digital transformation, personalization, and recommendation systems.

Intern Researcher Lee Da-hyeon, and Choi You-joung participated in the Korean-English translation and proofreading of this article.

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