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NewsMaterial3 min readDisconfirmAI Editorial

Lee Sun-woong, CEO of Cloudike: For Public Institutions Adopting AI, Data Environment Design Is as Critical as Model Selection

In an interview with ZDNet Korea, Lee Sun-woong, CEO of Cloudike, emphasized that for public institutions and high-security organizations such as financial and healthcare sectors introducing generative AI, designing the data environment is as important as model selection but often overlooked. He clarified that CSAP certification covers only the cloud service itself and does not automatically guarantee the security of the entire AI system; he advised organizations to first define business scenarios and document permissions, then conduct small-scale validation in controlled environments before gradually expanding.

2026-10-29 10:00 GMT+8

Many enterprises wish to use AI to process internal documents, yet they often overlook a critical issue as vital as model selection: where exactly is the data stored, where is it processed, and who has access? In an interview with ZDNet Korea, Lee Sun-woong, CEO of the Korean enterprise cloud SaaS company Cloudike, identified this factor as one of the primary bottlenecks preventing public institutions from adopting generative AI.

By 'data location,' he does not merely refer to which server room houses the hardware. In his framework, this question encompasses where documents are processed, who has access rights, and where Q&A records are ultimately stored. He argues that the requirements for using public information differ significantly from those for processing sensitive internal documents. Organizations with high security standards must first distinguish which data can be used in which services before considering model performance comparisons.

For institutions unable to export data to external environments, he proposes an alternative: running AI within the environment where the data resides—deploying models on intranets or dedicated infrastructure controlled by the institution to complete document retrieval and summarization within that setting. However, he notes that simply installing the model inside the intranet is insufficient: every step, including text extraction, search indexing, Q&A log recording, and any connectivity features that might send data to external services, must be individually verified.

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Regarding regulatory boundaries, he highlighted a common misconception: CSAP certification applies only to the certified cloud service itself and does not automatically guarantee the security of the entire AI system connected to it. While South Korea's National Network Security Framework (N2SF) classifies security levels based on business information and system importance to impose corresponding controls, even if N2SF applies, it does not mean all internal data can be input into external AI services. Data classification, the institution's own security policies, and necessary control measures still require item-by-item review.

He advises organizations preparing to introduce AI to first determine the specific business scenarios they intend to use, confirm which documents are needed for those scenarios and how existing permission systems operate, and then validate effectiveness on a small scale in a secure environment before gradually expanding. For data difficult to export externally, AI should operate on that data within an environment controllable by the institution.

It should be noted that Cloudike itself is a supplier of CSAP-certified public cloud file storage and collaboration services, while also supporting customers in deploying their own infrastructure. Lee Sun-woong's arguments align closely with his company's business positioning: positioning data management infrastructure as a key layer for AI implementation, equally important to model selection. This commercial background does not diminish the rationality of his technical judgment, but readers adopting his advice should consider data environment design as one of the planning dimensions, evaluated in parallel with model assessment.

Sources

  • zdnet.co.kr↗
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