AI swiftly handles telecom service issues even on weekends and at night... KT expands AI-powered customer support

[Financial News] KT is expanding the scope of its customer service operations using generative artificial intelligence (AI), moving beyond basic inquiries to include outage resolution and technician dispatch requests. With the AI voicebot’s first-contact resolution rate rising to 81% and average call times falling by 11%, the results suggest that AI is helping resolve customer issues and reduce agents’ workloads, beyond simply answering basic inquiries.
KT said on the 29th that it is improving customer service quality and operational efficiency by using a generative AI-powered voicebot and its “AI Consultation Assist.”
KT has equipped its voicebot with large language model (LLM)-based intent recognition technology and “full duplex,” a two-way conversation technology. The bot can understand a caller’s intent from the full context, even if the caller explains an issue at length or changes the subject during the conversation. It can also talk and listen at the same time as the customer.

KT’s voicebot currently handles an average of 1.2 million customer calls a month. Since its introduction, the first-contact resolution rate—the share of customer inquiries resolved in a single interaction—has risen by 4 percentage points, from 77% to 81%.
KT’s voicebot-based after-sales service (A/S) automation allows customers to handle everything from filing a service request to remote outage resolution, confirming service restoration and requesting a technician visit, even on weekends and at night when it can be difficult to reach an agent. Previously, customers had to wait to speak to an agent when an outage occurred or repeatedly explain the situation. Now, the voicebot identifies the customer’s issue and carries out the necessary steps in sequence. KT expects this to ease the inconvenience of repeat A/S inquiries for about 200,000 customers a year.

KT is also using AI Consultation Assist to support agents throughout the entire process—before, during and after a call. It provides information agents need during calls and automatically classifies the type of inquiry and summarizes its content afterward. It also analyzes service quality and identifies areas for improvement. KT said that since AI Consultation Assist was introduced, average call times have fallen by 31 seconds (11%) and agent turnover has also decreased slightly.
KT plans to further develop its voicebot into a “voice agent” capable of handling complex customer inquiries. It will also expand the use of AI Consultation Assist to sales calls, training new agents and A/S support. Building on its experience operating customer service centers, KT plans to strengthen its business-to-business (B2B) operations by offering AI contact center (AICC) services across a range of industries, including finance, the public sector, healthcare, manufacturing and distribution.
Choi Se-jun, an executive director and head of the Customer Strategy Office in KT’s Customer Business Division, said, “We will continue to drive innovation in our customer service centers by providing customers with an even faster and more convenient service experience and supporting agents with an efficient work environment powered by AI.”

[email protected] Choi Hye-rim Reporter