KT "Saving 10 Billion KRW and 90,000 Work Hours Through Robot Automation"

KT saved more than 10 billion KRW last year by improving work efficiency through the introduction of software (SW) robots. Photo by a KT employee using a program with robot automation applied.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] KT achieved cost savings of over 10 billion KRW last year by improving work efficiency through the introduction of software (SW) robots.

On the 18th, KT announced the results of its self-assessment of the work innovation project conducted last year under the name ‘Work Innovation.’ According to the results, KT reduced employees' working hours by approximately 90,000 hours annually, boosting productivity and saving about 10.3 billion KRW in costs.

Positioning itself as a ‘DIGICO (Digital Platform Company)’ and accelerating digital transformation, KT has been implementing ‘untact’ and ‘paperless’ work systems since 2020 to create a freer and more convenient working environment for its employees. As part of this effort, KT actively introduced Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools to automate simple and repetitive computer tasks for employees and enable easy mobile execution, thereby reducing work time.

The conversational robot-based HR mobile application tool ‘Mabiseo’ was improved to cover 90% of service tasks related to attendance and welfare, such as leave, business trips, medical and condolence expense applications, telecommuting requests, and year-end tax settlements. In particular, in 2021, HR welfare functions were significantly expanded to include certificate issuance, parental leave, group insurance, and extended working hours. Employee service usage rates increased sharply to 46% last year, and the simplification of HR application procedures saved an estimated 85,000 hours annually. The year-end tax settlement process in 2021 saw a reduction of over 58% in incomplete cases compared to 2020, and related work hours decreased by 36.7%, saving about 4,000 hours.

Additionally, by implementing a completely ‘paperless’ system without any document printing, KT was recognized as a pioneer in environmentally friendly ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)-focused management. It is estimated that costs previously spent on preparing and sending paper documents via courier were saved by more than 10 million KRW.

Furthermore, the survey and aggregation automation tool ‘Josawon’ has generated over 1,000 survey cases since its launch in September last year, and it is expected to save about 54,000 hours annually through work efficiency improvements. It successfully automated survey and response aggregation tasks that were previously handled via email or Excel, significantly reducing simple repetitive manual work. The non-face-to-face work tool ‘Saini’ digitized document signing tasks, greatly reducing inefficiencies in face-to-face work.

The autonomous seat reservation tool ‘DIGICO Workplace’ is also being actively used. As telecommuting became widespread, KT established remote offices at major city hubs and promoted their use to reduce commuting burdens. It supports autonomous seat and meeting room reservations through various means such as mobile devices and kiosks.

The ‘Work Innovation’ project was recognized for its successful outcomes and received the KT CEO Award last year. This year, KT plans to further develop the project to continue innovating employees’ work environments in line with ‘DIGICO KT.’ System improvements will be gradually applied starting in the first half of 2022, including the introduction of an intelligent consultation chatbot to build a digital financial work environment and upgrades to the electronic approval system.

Ok Kyunghwa, Executive Vice President of KT’s IT Strategy Headquarters, said, “The Work Innovation project began in 2020 to resolve inconveniences caused by employees’ simple and repetitive daily tasks and to create a work environment where they can work more easily and efficiently. We are promoting work environment automation so that digital transformation can be felt first within the company, and we will continue developing new services and performing ongoing enhancements.”