© BIZTALK

Today, we’ll meet a company named Biztalk, a leading player in Korea’s corporate messaging market. Let’s hear from Han Geon-young(한건영), executive director of the company.

Firstly, the design of our business cards really symbolizes our determination not to settle for the present but to keep moving forward. Biztalk’s business card adopts a vertical shape, compared to horizontal format used by most other cards.  Also, company employees clipped one corner of their business cards. They will keep the imperfect cards until the company achieves its sales goal.

Personally, 2018 has been a significant year. Sales of our company have reached 10 billion won or about 9 million US dollars, just three years after the firm’s foundation. In September, Biztalk was selected as a business partner for the artificial intelligence-based ‘chatbot’ adopted by Naver, Korea’s largest portal operator. Indeed, the company has been faring pretty well this year. But we’re still hungry. We hope to restore the clipped corner of our business cards next year.

So, the company will leave its business card incomplete until it accomplishes its target. Mr. Han and company president Chung Eui-young(정의영) set up the company together in 2015. In the beginning, only two members—Han and Chung— worked at the office. Still, they had an ambitious dream. They named the company Biztalk in the hopes of providing all communications services needed for businesses. To start with, they paid attention to the corporate messaging market.

It was common for businesses to send text messages in the past, but it was difficult for recipients, with the caller’s number alone, to identify exactly who sent the message. So spam texts and phishing were not uncommon.

Our service, called Allim알림 Talk, is available on Kakao Talk the country’s most popular messaging app. ‘Allim’ means notification in Korean. For this service, the role of the caller is assumed by the Plus Friend, which is Kakao Talk’s in-app tool. To use the Plus Friend, individuals are required to verify their identity, while businesses should submit their employment certificates as well as business registration certificates. Since the identity of the caller is ensured, recipients can trust the messages they get through the Allim Talk service and open them without feeling uneasy.

Allim Talk-based messages with URL links are known to get up to 50 times more clicks than ordinary text messages. Also, messages using the Allim Talk service allow for better readability. We thought we could turn these benefits into market success.

A corporate messaging service allows companies to send information to individual customers. The service can be offered in two ways: Companies may use the commonplace SMS text messaging or send messages through data-based messaging apps. Biztalk focused on the latter. The company developed an ‘Allim’ or ‘notification Talk’ service that allows businesses such as shopping malls, hotels, banks and credit card companies to send marketing information, including payments, reservations, orders, bank account transactions and credit card approval, to their customers through the Kakao Talk mobile messenger.

Biztalk’s another service “Friend Talk” is designed to help companies deliver advertising messages to customers that ‘friend’ their pages on the mobile messenger.

The company’s “Consultation Talk” service, meanwhile, connects consultants with customers so they can engage in one-on-one conversation.

Biztalk’s services are simple, inexpensive and safe, and provide superior readability, compared to standard text messages. But it took some time for businesses to actually harness these benefits. Mr. Han explains why.

© BIZTALK

When we first released our services, companies were unfamiliar with the concept of corporate messaging. We visited some 20 firms but no one bothered to meet us, with some flatly refusing our business proposal. Many seemed incredulous about what Biztalk was and the services it provides.

Lotte’s online shopping site was the first company that showed interest in us. It was eager to introduce our service, and news about the Kakao Talk-based Allim Talk service launched by one of the leading online shopping malls prompted other shopping sites to follow suit.

Biztalk was the first domestic company to commercialize a business messaging service in Korea. Though being first on the scene has its advantages, there are also challenges, as there is no roadmap to follow.

At first, Biztalk’s had to explain the very concept of corporate messaging. Unfortunately many never bothered to listen. But the company never gave up. It visited any and all firms that showed interest in the idea, no matter how small they were, to explain the service and help them use it.

Our greatest competitive edge lies in our confidence and experience of overcoming many difficulties as well as our tremendous enthusiasm and high technology.

Biztalk is the top Korean business messaging client. There are over 500 corporate users of our service—mostly financial institutions and major shopping firms. They include Shinhan Card, Shinhan Life Insurance, Kakao Bank, Hanwha Life Insurance, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, Lotte Mart, Lotte Cinema, Samsung Electronics Service, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Homeplus and Timon. These companies send messages to their customers through our Allim Talk service.

Biztalk has provided a business messaging service to shopping malls, financial companies and hospitals for the first time. Using Biztalk’s service, corporate users can send messages at prices up to 50 percent cheaper, forward images, and deliver marketing messages tailored to individual customers. Not surprisingly, Biztalk’s service has received highly positive user reviews.

Yet, the company is still working hard to expand business-related communications services.

Now we’re developing a solution to bring together all three services—Allim Talk, Friend Talk and Consultation Talk. Currently, the three platforms are activated separately. But in the envisioned integrated system, recipients get some messages through Allim Talk and they can then use Consultation Talk to make inquiries about the messages or seek advice. So the new system combines the two different functions—notification and customer satisfaction.

In addition to Kakao Talk, we’re preparing to work with social media outside Korea to explore overseas markets. Our goal is to develop into a leading global provider of innovative corporate messaging services.

Biztalk is working on new solutions to allow companies and consumers all around the world to communicate with each other freely and effectively. We’re looking forward to the company’s growth and expansion in both domestic and foreign markets.