Hello! I'm the CEO of Yanolja NEXT.

My name is Jungshik Jang.

—
What kind of organization is Yanolja NEXT?

Yanolja has continuously improved its services to enhance customer satisfaction, while expanding its tech-driven influence across the global travel industry.

The travel industry used to be driven by traditional business models, but it's now rapidly transforming into a tech and AI-driven industry.

Rather than settling for conventional methods, Yanolja focuses on solving everyday travel problems through the most practical, customer-centric solutions.

Yanolja NEXT was born as the core tech organization to realize Yanolja's future vision through data, platforms, and AI.

Our goal goes beyond advancing individual technologies.

We aim to create synergies across sectors to support Yanolja's continued 10X growth by building a solid technological foundation.

—
What sets Yanolja NEXT apart from other R&D organizations?

What makes Yanolja NEXT different from other R&D organizations is that we aim to make travel 10X easier through practical solutions, and that's our mission.

First, we are deeply focused on the domain of 'travel'.

'10X easier' isn't about incremental improvements.

It means rethinking and redesigning how things fundamentally work.

We don't just look at isolated sectors.

We analyze data across the entire travel experience to find insights and explore how technology can improve it in meaningful and scalable ways.

We avoid sticking to legacy approaches and embrace flexibility in how we solve problems.

Another key value is 'practicality'.

We focus on real, practical challenges and solve them in ways that are immediately applicable.

That doesn't mean we only chase short-term wins, rather we aim for sustainable development that evolves with markets and technologies.

We are fundamentally a 'development-driven' R&D organization.

Although we're an independent corporation, over 90% of our work is focused on R&D.

In our development-focused culture, we take initiative to define problems and actively build solutions for them.

At the same time, we work closely with the business side developing Yanolja's core tech solutions, and supporting the growth of our member companies.

Lastly, Yanolja NEXT operates in a truly 'global and collaborative' environment.

Not only in Seoul but also in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, we have team members in different locations.

From Israel, Turkey, and Italy to many more, we work closely with Yanolja member companies to define and solve global-scale challenges as one unified team.

—
What are the key tech themes or focus areas at Yanolja NEXT?

The core tech pillars we focus on at Yanolja NEXT are data, platform, and AI.

In any business, 'data' and the ability to process it effectively are essential.

Yanolja provides end-to-end travel services from hotels and wholesalers to online travel agencies used directly by travelers.

This full-stack model gives us access to a wide range of industry data.

In this structure, Yanolja NEXT goes beyond individual domains and analyzes data across the entire travel ecosystem.

We refine it into actionable formats like mapping, content, and price prediction and deliver it to member companies for real-world use.

We also help our member companies build better services such as Search, Connectivity, and Booking Engines by offering essential travel service components as scalable 'platforms'.

We take this further by integrating AI into the platform to enable cost-effective, high-efficiency solutions.

Lastly, we leverage 'AI' extensively to continuously improve both our data and platform offerings.

We apply AI across various domains and deliver it as solutions or platforms to our member companies.

—
What role does Yanolja NEXT play in Yanolja's business and growth?

Yanolja NEXT leads Yanolja's technological innovation as its core tech organization.

We don't just look at problems from a single team's perspective.

We analyze end-to-end data across the entirety of Yanolja to understand problems in depth and turn solutions into platforms that can be easily used by other member companies.

Through this approach, Yanolja NEXT is creating Vertical AI solutions that span the entire travel industry.

Since our launch from day one until now, our mission has remained the same.

'To make travel 10X easier and more convenient'.

To achieve this, we focus on building practical travel solutions and services rooted in advanced technologies.

These efforts support not only travelers, but also countless businesses throughout the travel industry with the goal of creating real impact for people working in it.

For example, we connect data often lost in complex distribution networks to solve problems of information asymmetry, and enable AI-powered pricing with CS and operations automation to drive tech-based innovation across the travel industry.

—
What was the most important value when founding Yanolja NEXT?

The first value that came to mind when launching Yanolja NEXT was 'growth'.

Not just technical growth, but also in teamwork, global collaboration, and even growth as a leader I wanted every member, including myself, to grow together in their own roles within the organization.

The next key value I focused on as a tech organization was 'problem solving'.

We don't stop at just completing the task at hand.

I hope we become a team that finds fundamental solutions.

—
If you had to describe Yanolja NEXT in one word, what would it be?

I believe Yanolja NEXT is at the core of Yanolja's 10X value.

We create 10X the value through technology, and build the foundation for Yanolja to grow 10X.

Most of all, I hope Yanolja NEXT is where every team member can grow 10X.