Yi Whan-woo is a Korea Times journalist primarily covering finance. He writes in-depth articles on macroeconomy and financial markets and previously covered sports, politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean affairs, among others. Feel free to contact him at yistory@koreatimes.co.kr.
Kyobo Life adopts chatbot service in office
Kyobo Life Insurance's headquarters in central Seoul / Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
By Yi Whan-woo
Kyobo Life Insurance has adopted an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot service to improve work efficiency for its executives and rank-and-file employees.
A top-ranked life insurer in Korea, Kyobo Life Insurance is the first company in the industry to adopt a chatbot, which a range of businesses seeks to capitalize on after it was introduced late last year.
The company picked Microsoft's Azure Bot Service, which can engage in human-like conversation and provide information requested by employees.
As chatbots are developed by private tech companies, clients have been concerned over unwanted exposure of sensitive and confidential information via open conversations.
To tackle that risk, the chatbot service of Kyobo Life Insurance is customized to observe the firm's security regulations and also is only accessible via its internal cloud service.
“We anticipate the chatbot service will help our employees save time and work more effectively,” a Kyobo Life Insurance public relations staffer said.
Another staffer pointed out that it was only last year when Microsoft introduced Azure Bot Service, and that Kyobo Life Insurance was able to adopt the chatbot service in a short period of time as it has been “paying keen attention to rapidly evolving digital technology.”
The company has a broader goal of using the chatbot service for customer support.
To do so, it reckons that the in-office chatbot service will be a good chance to learn through trial and error.
The areas of customer support will include an overview of policy conditions and tailor-made retirement planning.
“We believe a chatbot can explain a long list of terms and conditions thoroughly yet tirelessly for customers and also can optimize retirement for individuals by figuring out their financial status,” a PR official said.