SK Telecom announced on the 8th that it has secured the number one spot in the 2024 National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) survey for mobile phone services for the 27th consecutive year, as selected by the Korea Productivity Center.
This marks 27 years of uninterrupted top rankings since the NCSI was introduced in Korea in 1998, making SKT the only company to achieve this across all domestic industries.
In this survey, SKT has been recognized for its continuous service innovation utilizing AI (Artificial Intelligence) and various efforts to enhance customer satisfaction, becoming the first in the telecommunications sector to surpass a customer satisfaction score of 80.
The NCSI is a globally recognized customer satisfaction measurement index co-developed by the Korea Productivity Center and the University of Michigan, widely used across countries to quantify customer satisfaction levels based on direct customer evaluations of companies’ products and services each year.
■ AI Integration in Customer Services: Call Recording and Summarization Functions
Since last year, SKT has received a positive response from customers by introducing new AI-based features, such as call recording and summarization, and interpretation calls in the A-dot telephone service.
Unlike traditional call services, A-dot telephone analyzes the context of the conversation and provides a summary and classification of the call. The AI features, which were initially popular among iPhone (iOS) users last year, have now been expanded to Android devices as of April this year.
SKT has significantly enhanced customer convenience by applying AI technology to customer consultations at stores and call centers.
First, SKT’s official certified stores have introduced customer tablets with real-time screen mirroring, utilizing AI modeling for customer consultations. This allows customers to view the screen shared by the consultant directly and receive optimized product information based on AI recommendations.
SKT’s customer center has implemented AI across all areas of customer consultation under the motto ‘AI First, AI Anywhere’. Starting with the introduction of a voice AI consultation service in 2020, they have launched the ‘Who’ consultation bot in 2021, along with adding T-Phone chatbot services to enhance customer consultation convenience.
Additionally, SKT plans to apply a telecommunications-specialized LLM (Telco LLM) in the latter half of this year to provide fast and tailored consultations for customers.
■ Continuing to Unveil Innovative Services for Customers: ‘Special T’, ‘Zero Youth Plan’, and ‘Family Roaming’
SKT has been operating the ‘Special T’ program, which provides special benefits to long-term customers, since January this year.
The ‘Special T’ program offers customers who have been with SKT for more than five years an additional data allowance equal to their years of subscription (in 1GB units) each year. Furthermore, long-term customers with over ten years of service are provided with various event benefits, such as discounts on performances, sports events, and exhibitions. They have received a warm response from customers, particularly with the monthly discounts on tickets for performances and exhibitions through the online ticketing site Interpark Ticket.
Reflecting the data usage patterns of the youth generation and the trend toward rational consumption, SKT launched the ‘Zero Youth Plan’ in June 2023.
The Zero Youth Plan alleviates the burden of communication costs for young people by providing up to 50% additional data at the same price as the standard 5G pricing and offers enhanced lifestyle benefits, such as partnerships with coffee franchises and movie theaters. Consequently, over 70% of SKT’s youth customers have chosen the Zero Youth Plan, indicating its popularity.
The ‘Family Roaming’ product officially launched by SKT in December has gained immense popularity among family travelers by reducing roaming fees while enhancing service convenience.
During family trips, only one person needs to subscribe to the roaming plan baro and pay an additional 3,000 won, allowing a family of up to five to share roaming data. After the ‘Family Roaming Promotion,’ which was launched in June last year and attracted around 450,000 users over five months, was transitioned to a regular product due to its popularity.
■ SKB’s 14-Year Streak at Number One: Dominance of the SK ICT Family in Five Sectors
SK Broadband has been selected as the number one provider in the customer satisfaction survey for two categories, IPTV and high-speed internet, for 14 consecutive years since 2011. Notably, this year, they achieved the first position solely in the high-speed internet category, having previously shared it last year.
SK Broadband has expanded the ‘Visible ARS Self-Service Menu,’ which allows for rapid resolution of service inquiries and applications without connecting to a consultant, and introduced AI chatbots and chat counseling on their website B world.
SK Telink has been ranked number one in the international call sector for 11 years in a row and has also achieved the top position in the budget phone sector. SK Telink continuously conducts voice quality monitoring and access quality testing for major countries under the principle that ‘providing excellent call quality is fundamental to customer satisfaction.’
Meanwhile, SKT prioritizes enhancing customer satisfaction as a core value, striving to reflect customer experiences and opinions during the development of products and services.
Since 1997, SKT has held monthly ‘Customer Value Innovation Meetings’ with significant participation from executives, including the CEO, to accommodate customer demands and trends. Furthermore, they operate a ‘Junior Forum’ system, primarily featuring members of the MZ generation, to review and propose services from the perspective of actual customers rather than from the service provider’s viewpoint.
Hong Seung-tae, in charge of customer value innovation at SKT, stated, “This year, SKT surpassing 80 points for the first time in the NCSI survey is a recognition of 40 years of efforts toward our customers,” adding, “Through service innovation incorporating AI technology and our sincere commitment to our customers, we will continue to do our utmost to improve customer satisfaction.”
By Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr