"Kakao Enterprise and SAP Join Hands to Make Work Processes as Easy as KakaoTalk"

Lee Sung-yeol, CEO of SAP Korea (left), Baek Sang-yeop, CEO of Kakao Enterprise (right)

Kakao is launching an offensive in the corporate market by building an easy-to-use ‘mobile work infrastructure’ that feels like messenger conversations even in the workplace. In particular, by partnering with leading global companies and combining the strengths of both companies such as artificial intelligence (AI), it also aims to expand into the Southeast Asian market in the future.

Handling Work as Easily as a ‘Messenger’

Kakao Enterprise, a subsidiary responsible for Kakao’s business-to-business (B2B) operations, announced on the 9th that it has signed a new technology business agreement (MOU) with German software company SAP to strengthen its business. The two companies announced their cooperation plans at the IT conference ‘SAP Sapphire Now’ held that day. SAP is a global leader in the enterprise application software market, and Kakao Enterprise is the first domestic company to sign an agreement with SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP).

The two companies will first link the integrated work platform ‘Kakao Work’ with SAP’s solutions to build a digital environment where work can be handled as easily as sending messages anytime and anywhere. As the non-face-to-face work environment continues due to COVID-19, the core is to enable tasks such as drafting and approval to be processed anytime and anywhere using only ‘Kakao Work.’

Kakao Work is a work messenger launched by Kakao Enterprise in September last year. Kakao Work is equipped with various functions necessary for companies, including messenger features, video conferencing, electronic approval, and attendance management. Its strength lies in the KakaoTalk interface (UI) with 52 million users, allowing anyone to use it easily without prior learning. Even emoticons purchased on KakaoTalk can be used as they are. Kakao Work provides various work functions in group chat rooms, including electronic approval and attendance management features.

Aiming for Southeast Asia Expansion by Applying AI

Kakao Enterprise plans to provide a more advanced work environment through cooperation with SAP. In February, it became the first domestic work collaboration tool to install SAP BTP on Kakao Work, supporting an approval environment optimized for domestic corporate infrastructure. It also launched the AI ‘Kakao Work Bot’ to help easily handle various tasks such as notifications, proposals, purchases, approvals, and sales management.

For example, by using the ‘Expense Processing Bot’ within Kakao Work, when an employee pays with a corporate card, the notification bot automatically sends a usage alert message. When approval request information and details are entered in the message, an automatic alert is sent to the approver, and once the approver reviews the details and approves, the expense processing is completed. Kakao plans to introduce purchase request and approval bots that can easily handle ordering, receipt management, and quality inspection, as well as sales management bots that quickly verify order documents and vouchers.

Following the mobile electronic approval system, various SAP work systems such as sales, purchasing, and production management systems will be linked with Kakao Work in the future. The goal is to build a ‘Digital Workplace,’ a space within Kakao Work where various corporate partners can collaborate together.

The two companies will also pioneer new business areas by combining AI technology and work platforms. Kakao Enterprise will provide various AI engines and technologies such as natural language processing and translation to SAP BTP and develop conversational AI based on the Korean language. In the future, conversational AI covering major Asian languages will be introduced. Baek Sang-yeop, CEO of Kakao Enterprise, said, “It is not yet the stage to mention global levels, but we have goals for overseas expansion,” adding, “Since cooperation with SAP in the Southeast Asian market is also planned, we intend to target the Southeast Asian region first.”

Meanwhile, Kakao Work is preparing to launch Kakao Work 2.0 in September. Currently, the cumulative number of Kakao Work users is about 380,000. CEO Baek said, “I think it will reach about 1 million by the end of this year,” and added, “Kakao Work 2.0, which will be released after September, will be radically changed and equipped with features specialized for the work environment.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.