KT Corp expands customer listening forum to reach youth, seniors and small businesses

KT Corp is expanding its outreach program, the Customer Listening Forum, which brings company representatives directly to customers to gather feedback for use in improving services and policies.

KT said Tuesday it has been steadily broadening the forum's reach. The program is designed to hear firsthand how different customer groups experience KT's products and services, and to channel that feedback into concrete improvements.

Since launching the first session with young customers in April, KT has held forums each month, meeting seniors in May, customers in remote island and mountain areas in June, foreign customers in July, and Generation Z customers in August.

Feedback gathered at each session is shared with relevant departments, which assess the feasibility and necessity of proposed changes. Items identified as improvement tasks are tracked on an ongoing basis. KT said the goal is to manage the entire cycle — from identifying issues to implementing and reviewing solutions — in order to enhance the customer experience.

KT said it has used forum feedback to improve the usability of its membership app and to enhance consultation access and service guidance for foreign customers.

A digital education program for seniors stands out as a concrete result. Since August, KT has been piloting the program twice a month at select KT Plaza stores nationwide — a direct response to a suggestion raised at the May senior customer forum that the company offer regular smartphone education sessions for older users.

KT is now extending the forum into business settings. On Monday, it held the sixth Customer Listening Forum at the Prep Academy Gongdeok Campus in Mapo-gu, Seoul, gathering input from small-business owners. Participants included customers running restaurants, cafes and unmanned stores, among other businesses.

At the session, participants discussed inconveniences and areas for improvement they had encountered while using KT's digital solutions — including KT Hi-Order — in their day-to-day operations. KT also solicited ideas on services and support measures that could help small-business owners run their operations more effectively. The company said it plans to route the feedback from this session through relevant departments and link it to customer-focused improvement tasks.

"The Customer Listening Forum is not just about hearing customers — it is about turning what we hear in the field into real improvements," said Park Hyun-jin, head of KT Corp's customer division. "We will continue to listen closely to our customers going forward."