Ministry of Science and ICT Selects Outstanding ARS Service Providers by Industry

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) conducted and announced the results of the "2021 ARS Operation Status Analysis and Evaluation" targeting a total of 205 institutions operating telephone automated response systems (ARS).

This evaluation selected outstanding institutions by industry for services that have a significant impact on public life and high usage rates. The detailed evaluation was conducted over approximately four months (August to November) through telephone surveys, written surveys, and submission of supporting documents on a total of 15 indicators aimed at minimizing connection time to counselors and reducing user cost burdens.

By industry, the highest scores were achieved by ▲NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance (Insurance) ▲Hanwha Investment & Securities (Investment & Payment) ▲Kookmin Bank (Banking) ▲SK Broadband (Broadcasting & Telecommunications) ▲Samchully (Daily Life) ▲Korean Air (Culture & Leisure) ▲Private School Teachers’ Pension (Public) and others. MSIT plans to select these institutions as outstanding and award them ministerial commendations.

The overall evaluation score was 68.4 points, an increase of 4.8 points compared to last year (63.6 points). Menu skipping, minimizing advertisements, providing replay options, reducing ARS steps, and standardizing counselor connections were rated highly, whereas prior notification of call charges, recipient-borne charges, and callback service provision received relatively lower ratings, indicating the need for continuous improvement. By industry, sectors that directly use ARS for service subscription, changes, and cancellations tended to achieve higher evaluation scores through active investment and service improvements.

Meanwhile, in the ARS operating institutions survey (95 institutions responded), the average number of call center employees was 310.8, of which ARS counselors accounted for about 87% with 273.1 employees. In response to the spread of COVID-19, call centers have adopted measures such as telecommuting (60%), staggered working hours (30.5%), distributed work (21.1%), and AI system introduction (12.6%).

Additionally, to advance counseling services, institutions are operating AI chatbots (48.4%), visual ARS (44.2%), voice recognition guidance (21.1%), and AI voicebots (3.2%), and expressed strong intentions to invest in AI chatbots, AI voicebots, and visual ARS in the future.