SK Telecom, which faced a hacking incident last year, will expand customer touchpoints this year and move to restore trust. It will listen to customers through on-site communication and focus on service innovation.

SKT on March 18 held a media briefing at Ferrum Tower in Euljiro, Seoul, and announced the plan. Lee Hye-yeon (이혜연), head of SKT's Customer Value Innovation Office, said, "Customer trust is why SKT exists." She said the company will greatly expand on-site communication with customers this year, better understand them, and reflect the results across all touchpoint channels and products and services.

◆Expanding travelling services…strengthening customer touchpoints across the board

SKT set up a CX (Customer Experience) organisation under its Customer Value Innovation Office late last year. The organisation listens to customer needs, details them and reflects them in products or services. It meets customers directly through various channels to identify demand and suggest service improvements. It is also tasked with setting mid- to long-term plans to improve customer value.

Lee said building the CX organisation through an internal open recruitment makes more voluntary and motivated work possible. An advisory group of 100 customers also delivers real customer feedback through a regular monthly meeting. It will also link with the group's Customer Trust Committee to communicate with outside experts and gather market views in a multi-layered way.

SKT will expand its "travelling service" to innovate customer value. If the travelling service launched last year centred on security issues such as USIM replacement, this year it will focus on easing inconvenience for customers with low access to information. SKT plans to visit 71 counties nationwide this year. It will prioritise areas where the elderly population is at least 30 percent, providing security education as well as telecommunications and AI consultations and mobile phone after-service consultations.

SKT has already run the travelling service in six areas through pilot activities since February. Lee said it plans to support tasks such as replacing protective films or repairs using a mobile bus as a travelling-store concept.

SKT will also seek out long-term customers who have used the company for more than 40 years. It aims to reflect their views in service improvements by listening to opinions formed over a long period of using SKT. It will also promote tailored activities to strengthen customer trust by reflecting the characteristics of different customer groups, including customers in their 20s to 40s and teenagers. It plans to work with management consulting societies at universities to hear students' views and devise marketing measures for younger generations. In the second half of this year, it will also hold AI usage and security workshops for elementary and middle schools.

◆"Customers are the essence of the business"…CEO to meet customers directly

SKT's efforts are aimed at maintaining its position as the top operator and securing mid- to long-term growth engines. SKT has not recovered its broken market share around the 40 percent level. It has regained some customers due to the knock-on effect of KT's unauthorised small-amount payment incident last year, but it needs time to exceed 40 percent again.

SKT's plan is to raise customer value and fundamentally change the company's constitution to create changes customers can feel. Earlier, SKT Chief Executive Jaehun Jung (정재헌) said at MWC26 in Barcelona, "SKT defines customers as the essence of its business, and through change and innovation driven by AI, it will evolve into a company that becomes a source of pride for customers and South Korea."

SKT employees, including Jung, will take part in the travelling service this year. It aims to hear more opinions by deploying SKT staff across customer touchpoints. Jung will also meet customers directly soon. The company will also push innovation by placing customers at the centre of company-wide activities, including having new hires carry out projects that solve problems customers face in the field as part of their training.

SKT is also focusing on customer value innovation through AI technology. SKT is also moving to build an "AI data curating" system that refines, classifies and processes scattered customer needs and signals, and provides data-based, customer-tailored services that can be used for AI learning.

Kim In-su (김인수), an SKT team manager, said the first goal is to ensure information is not taken outside and can be incorporated into AI services. The aim is to explore directions for improving products and services by using customer information while safely protecting personal data.

Lee said the goal for this year is to link customer feedback heard directly to changes at the company and make those changes into a sustainable structure. She said SKT will focus all capabilities on improvements without missing even small customer voices so that customers can feel SKT's efforts to change.