This year’s first national business information and consulting session organized by local IT service providers was held on July 27 at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business. The session was hosted by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and held under the auspices of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, Korea Information Technology Service Industry Association and Korea Software Industry Association. There, major IT service companies of Korea like Samsung SDS, SK C&C, Lotte Data Communication Company, Hanwha S&C, LG CNS and GS ITM made presentations on how they will assist and cooperate with their smaller-sized, software-developing partners. The first four of them made public their criteria for selecting partner software firms, the assistance packages for them, etc. “Today’s occasion will be a valuable opportunity for the IT service providers and software developers here to work and prosper together down the road,” said Jeong Dae-jin, director of the Software Industry Division of the ministry.SK C&C said that it is going to keep developing new programs instrumental for its associates’ substantial growth by listening to their voices. It also promised to improve its existing ones, including the financing aids and those for better working conditions, to boost the competitiveness of SK C&C and its partner companies alike. Lotte Data Communication Company, on its part, remarked that it will revise the payment systems to help the software developers better manage their financial resources. With the current policy of cash payment continued, it is planning to make payments to them more frequently. At the same time, Lotte is intending to utilize its own partnership center to develop new business models together with its partner enterprises.