[Kyung-sik Sung (성경식), head of Infobip Korea] X, led by Elon Musk, has signalled the launch of a new messenger called XChat, drawing considerable attention in South Korea's messaging market. Each time a new service appears with security and a global network, the same question returns: will it change a KakaoTalk-centred market? From the perspective of corporate customer communication, the more important issue is not how much a new messenger can shake KakaoTalk's share. The real change is already happening elsewhere.

In South Korea, KakaoTalk's influence remains overwhelming. But customer communication is no longer an era that can be explained by KakaoTalk alone. According to Infobip's 2026 Messaging Trends Report, KakaoTalk interactions in South Korea in 2025 jumped 739 percent from a year earlier. Over the same period, total interactions across the Infobip platform rose 221 percent, while chat apps increased 738 percent, SMS grew 268 percent and voice and video climbed 147 percent. That shows that in South Korea, it is not a single messenger but channels with different functions that are growing together.

Many South Korean companies still believe that "in Korea, it is enough to run only a KakaoTalk channel well." What matters now is not the strength of a specific channel, but how to connect the entire set of customer touchpoints. "True omnichannel" can be defined as orchestrating multiple channels so customers have a consistent, seamless and context-appropriate experience. In other words, operating KakaoTalk, text messages, email and voice channels separately may be multichannel, but it is not omnichannel as customers perceive it. What matters is an experience in which the previous context carries over no matter which channel the customer starts from, and the next step connects naturally.

The global trend is also clear. On the Infobip platform, 97.7 percent of total traffic in 2025 came from customers using two or more channels, and the largest share came from brands using 4 channels. By contrast, traffic from customers using only 1 channel accounted for just 2.3 percent. That shows that the competitive edge in customer communication is shifting from "which channel you use" to "how you combine and connect channels."

South Korea is no exception. In Asia-Pacific (APAC), preferred chat apps differ by country, but overall SMS still serves as the basic axis, combined with email, voice and video, and messaging apps that are strong in each country. The report also describes South Korea as a Kakao-centred market, while explaining that omnichannel use across APAC broadly combines email, voice and video, and leading regional messengers around SMS. In other words, the strategy South Korean companies need is not to abandon KakaoTalk. It is to keep KakaoTalk as a core touchpoint while linking it organically with text messages, email and voice support depending on the situation.

For example, a financial company can use SMS for authentication and urgent notices, a messenger for product consultations and customer response, email for detailed contract-related guidance, and voice counselling to resolve complex complaints. For an e-commerce company, it may be more effective to send order confirmations and delivery alerts by text message, handle inquiries and promotions through chat apps, and route claim resolution to an agent connection. The key is not to increase the number of channels, but to design which channel customers will accept most naturally in each situation. The report also notes that industry-specific omnichannel combinations are changing, and that while SMS remains the core axis, voice and video, email, RCS and regional messengers are operating together.

AI is not a substitute for omnichannel, but a technology that advances it to the next level. Infobip's report notes that today's communication is evolving beyond simple chatbots toward coordinating customer journeys across multiple channels. It also forecasts that in 2025 omnichannel effectively became the standard, and that agentic AI will be a key element that changes how brands and customers interact. That means AI's value is not limited to slightly increasing response speed. It lies in carrying context from text messages to messengers, email and voice support, and helping companies design the full process more precisely.

In the end, the question companies must ask is simple. It is not who will become the new No. 1 messenger after KakaoTalk. Customers are already moving across multiple channels. Is our company ready to connect that flow into a single experience? Shifts in the messaging market landscape can become a topic at any time. But what ultimately determines success or failure in customer communication is not a particular platform's market share, but the capability to connect the most suitable channels in the most natural way at the moment customers want. What is needed now is not a "messenger-centred" mindset but an "omnichannel-centred" strategy.