Hyundai Home Shopping Network Corp., one of major home shopping companies in South Korea, will fully launch the operations of its artificial intelligence (AI) service at its call centers for the first time in the industry this month.

According to multiple industry sources on Sunday, Hyundai Home Shopping has been engaged in the development of an AI Contact Center (AICC) over the past year in collaboration with KT Corp., one of Korea’s three telecommunications providers.

The core technologies of the AICC are speech-to-text, which converts the conversation between customers and agents into text and text analysis (TA) that analyzes the text.

AI responds to simple inquiries by itself and provides agents with the information needed to respond to customer inquiries in real time.

For example, an alarm went off in real time on the monitor of the customer center at Hyundai Home Shopping in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, where the sale of “Altafit Premium Slippers” was on air.

It was a message that AI sent with regard to the rise in unusual inquiries about sizes. An increasing number of inquiries about sizes of 5 millimeter (mm) increments was being received when the slippers were released only in 10 mm increments.

It was immediately conveyed to the show host, who sent out a message, saying “Wear 240mm if your size is 235mm and 250mm if 245mm. Please order a size bigger.”

This way, AICC sends text notifications to managers about customer complaints or issues that may escalate into risks after monitoring.

It also plays the role of a consulting assistant that provides agents with the order history and real-time call log of customers involved in the call and information needed for consultation.

The AI assistance enables prompt and accurate consultations and saves customers the time spent with the agent.

The voicebot, which answers the call when agent connection is delayed, handles up to 260 calls related to orders, order cancellations, and return requests per day.

Hyundai Home Shopping has enhanced customer convenience by reducing consultation time with the help of AI. The company’s call center call time was cut by 8,065 minutes, or 13.4 percent, during the pilot period from January to March.

By Hong Sung-yong and Choi Jieun

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