© FORCS

Today, we introduce you to a leading e-business solution developer named FORCS. Let’s meet with Park Mi-kyung, co-CEO of the company. 

Our company started in 1995 with the development of web-based reporting solutions designed to enable enterprises to create various business reports in an easier way. We launched these tools here in Korea and also developed electronic form or e-form solutions. Currently, the company accounts for about 50 percent of the domestic e-form market. 

We named the company FORCS, which stands for “For Client’s Success.” We aim to help our customers fulfill their goals, in the belief that their success is our success. 

After studying computer science and engineering at Sogang University, Ms. Park worked at “SoftScience” in Japan and “MJL Korea.” At both companies, the software expert was in charge of technical assistance related to system management. In the process, she found that managers wanted easy and simple reports. Having figured out the needs of the market, she co-founded FORCS in 1995 and devoted herself to software development. In 2000, her company released a web-based enterprise reporting solution named OZ Report.  

When we first created a web reporting solution in 2000, Korea was building internet-based systems faster than any other country in the world. For example, Korea had excellent e-government systems at the time. 

The manufacturing industry and banks in Korea were also beginning to shift into web-based systems. Thanks to our timely launch, large companies were eager to contact us, although we were a small firm, and we were able to lay a solid foundation as an e-business solution developer. 

As an easy-to-use tool for the creation, distribution and management of business reports, OZ Report was adopted as software for the Korean administration network. But FORCS was still not satisfied. 

The company upgraded OZ Report six times in the following five years to keep up with fast-evolving IT trends and provide an appropriate reporting environment optimized for corporate customers. As a result, the company’s product quickly grew to dominate the domestic market, edging out the world’s No.1 reporting software at the time, “Crystal Reports.” FORCS still holds the largest market share in Korea. 

In 2012, the company unveiled another groundbreaking product called “OZ e-Form,” a solution for e-document development. 

© FORCS

Digital forms have various advantages over conventional paper forms. For instance, users can attach visual and audio data to digital forms. Also, it is possible to know where an electronic contract was drawn up if GPS coordinates are entered in the e-document. Our solution is designed to maximize the advantages of digital forms. OZ e-Form supports mobile reporting, meaning that it is accessible on mobile devices. 

Around 2012, local financial institutions were beginning to introduce electronic financial transactions such as e-contracts and e-subscriptions, and we were able to respond to the needs of the financial sector immediately. At present, our software is used for about half of all e-contract and e-subscription services offered by domestic financial institutions, as well as in forms provided by bank tellers in face-to-face transactions. Many financial institutions here recognize us as a leading digital form solution provider.  

FORCS anticipates the shape and contours of the market, preemptively developing products tailored to consumers’ needs and proactively responding to market environment changes. They do this with the help of their talented workforce. Indeed, 70 percent of company employees are technical professionals. 

OZ e-Form supports the conversion of paper documents, including contracts and applications, into electronic forms and enables users to easily view and fill out e-forms across different devices. With its convenient features such as camera, voice recording, e-signature and barcode recognition, the software is employed in a wide range of areas from e-subscriptions at bank windows to e-consent forms used in hospitals. 

After dominating the domestic e-form market in Korea, FORCS is eyeing overseas market expansion. 

I believe first movers in the Korean private sector that have built certain systems earlier than foreign entrants will prove to be highly competitive in the global market. Korea definitely stands out in the field of electronic documentation. Korean financial institutions were among the first in the world to adopt and standardize e-subscription services and paperless systems. Therefore, relevant software developed by our company can surely find its way to overseas markets. 

Branches of Standard Chartered Bank in ten Asian countries have deployed our solutions after its Korean branches built an e-subscription system using our software. Major Korean telecom companies such as SK Telecom, KT and LG Telecom also use an e-contract platform featuring our software. We’ve inked a software contract with a telecom firm in Serbia and a large telecom company in Mongolia is using our e-contract solution. 

Standard Chartered Bank has offered the so-called “visiting bank service,” where customers can have a bank consultant visit them instead of going to the bank themselves. The service operates on a tablet PC-based mobility platform, which, as explained, uses FORCS’ technology. It is also used for the mobile contract system of Mongolian mobile telecommunications company Unitel, which holds a 33 percent market share in the country. Serbia’s largest telecommunications firm Telekom Srbija(Serbia) has also chosen FORCS’ software for its paperless solutions. 

With an ambitious goal of becoming a leading global provider of e-form solutions, FORCS has once again engineered a new and innovative product solution. 

Many large companies, government agencies and financial institutions use electronic documents these days, but paper forms are still commonly used by small-and mid-sized firms to carry out business activities. To help them build a paperless system easily and use it at affordable prices, we’ve created a new cloud-based e-form service. We’ll explore the global market with this new service. We hope that companies throughout the world, whether big or small, will use our service to go paperless eventually. 

The company released “eformsign” in overseas markets last year. It integrates a cloud service into the existing e-form service so digital forms can be created quickly and easily. This solution makes the most of the benefits of a cloud service, allowing users to store and access data at anytime and anywhere. It also allows businesses to create a paperless office without having to install complicated infrastructure. 

Of course, it may take time for e-forms to replace paper entirely. But FORCS will surely prepare for this envisioned future with innovative ideas and advanced technology.