So far, 2016 has been a very positive year for Samsung Electronics. Earlier in March, the company was named the most trusted mobile phones brand in India, and Q1 earning reports have shown that Samsung’s sales figures were greater than Apple’s in the said timeframe. But although Samsung is enjoying a lot of success at the present, the company needs to continue and push for greatness in order to maintain its spot. One area that has to change is the way the company functions, and Samsung Electronics already confirmed that it is determined to change its corporate ways. Another area that apparently needs improvement is the software department, and a new report from South Korea suggests that the company is urging its employees to up their game and improve their skills in software development.
According to a South Korean report, after Samsung Electronics announced its plans to change its corporate structure in the first quarter of the year, the company has also urged its employees to improve their software development skills. An unmentioned Samsung official cited by the Korean blog claims that only 1-to-2% of Samsung’s employees are qualified enough to work for Google. The official added that “such self-criticism, although this is a little bit humiliating, is aimed at letting employees know about the real scene at Samsung”. Granted, Samsung’s software business hasn’t been too successful compared to the company’s hardware department. It took several years for Samsung to improve its proprietary TouchWiz user interface for Android OS, only to do so largely by cutting down on proprietary features / apps and “bloatware”. The company’s in-house Tizen operating system was somewhat of a letdown too. The platform was initially viewed as a potential competitor to iOS and Android OS, but ultimately it made its way on a limited number of budget smartphones, accounting for only 0.1% of the global market at the end of Q1 2016. The company’s “ChatON” global communication service launched in 2011 was also discontinued last year on account that it wasn’t able to compete with alternative solutions such as WeChat and KakaoTalk.
The official also revealed that Samsung has “acknowledged complaints by employees that Samsung’s operational systems aren’t fitted with software development”, and that the company will try to address these problems as they “need new momentum with a new winning formula”. The new program for employees implies that the company needs to change its views on software engineering and that software engineers “will be given more time to develop technologies, not to check administrative work”. Hopefully, these changes will pay off, resulting in better Samsung software for mobile and otherwise.