Ministry of SMEs and Startups Supports 'Noran Usan' Notification Service via Chatbot

Cooperation with the Korea Federation of SMEs... Expanding Users of Small Businesses and Micro Enterprises

Mobile Detailed Screen for Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid System Inquiry for Small Businesses and Small Merchants

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 23rd that it will expand the user base so that small businesses and small merchants can access and utilize various information such as policy funds through 'chatbots.'

This user expansion is being promoted in collaboration with the Korea Federation of SMEs. To increase the utilization of the chatbot service, they plan to actively promote it by sending regular emails and text messages to about 1.22 million customers subscribed to the 'Noranwoosang' mutual aid.

Noranwoosang is operated under Article 115 of the Small and Medium Enterprise Cooperative Act to help small businesses and small merchants stabilize their livelihoods from risks such as business closure, old age, and death, and to provide opportunities for business recovery.

It is a public mutual aid system operated by the Korea Federation of SMEs, a non-profit special corporation, and supervised by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Business owners pay a fixed monthly contribution, and various benefits are provided, including an annual income deduction of up to 5 million KRW and free accident insurance enrollment.

A chatbot is a computer program that performs purposes such as information search and customer support through text or voice conversations. Since last year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Persona Co., Ltd. have been operating the 'Support Project Notification Chatbot,' a KakaoTalk-based mobile policy information service, to efficiently deliver SME policies and information.

Anyone can easily use the service by adding the 'Support Project Notification Chatbot' as a friend on KakaoTalk. Users can check the contents of SME support projects by region and sector without restrictions on time and place. Since the launch of the chatbot service, more than 48,000 users (friends) have been using it. Approximately 310,000 chatbot automatic consultations regarding SME support projects have been conducted.

Chatbot consultations are optimized to provide customized answers to various user inquiries through an automatic response function linked to a policy information database and search engine.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Federation plan to continuously discover and support services that help improve the management of small businesses and small merchants.

Jung Yeonho, Head of the Statistics and Analysis Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We will closely cooperate with the Federation to expand the user base so that no small businesses or small merchants miss out on government policies due to lack of awareness," adding, "We plan to continuously advance the chatbot service by expanding content and strengthening search functions."

Park Mihwa, Head of Mutual Aid Services at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "We expect that small businesses and small merchants who have had difficulties finding information about government support projects will be able to easily access and utilize various information such as policy funds and market support through the chatbot."