Manager A of Kookmin University was having a business trip to Jeju Island when he got a call from a colleague. He was asked what needs to be done as there were urgent things to be reported to the president.

If he were in the past, he would have to take a flight back to the school in Seoul to write a report and direct further actions after obtaining approval from the president. So if the president was not in the office at the time of obtaining the approval, then he had reasons to worry.

Fortunately, there is no need to be like that because President Yu Ji Soo (61, photo) enjoys using Kakao Talk. Manager A organized the things to be reported on the Jeju Island and texted the contents to the president through Kakao Talk. He received a response in less than 30 seconds. ‘Address the issue by discussing it with oo Department.’

President Yu has a doctorate in business administration. He has actively introduced Kakao Talk that was previously regarded as an app exclusive to the young generation. He wanted to show how this app can be used for the purpose of efficiently running the affairs of the university. Such purpose can be realized by actively utilizing the advantages of Kakao Talk, which encourages conversation between several people, whenever and wherever we need to.

Since the president started sending work directions through Kakao Talk, it saved the time and effort that would have been expended in an unnecessary meeting. Whenever there is a pending issue, the employees can report through Kakao Talk without having to expend efforts for documentation.

Especially in a business that is managed together with several departments, the culture that discusses related issues through a group chatting board (‘Dankabang’ in Korean) has been settled.

For example, President Yu opened a group chatting board named ‘The measure to secure the lecture space’ in January, which is a time when people were busy preparing for the new semester, and he called all hand-on personnel and team managers. In the past, countless reports and meetings had to be prepared and managed. With the use of Kakao Talk, a conclusion can be derived in a faster and more efficient manner through the group chatting discussion.

President Yu evaluated, “The conventional approval method was vertical; on the other hand, Kakao Talk enables horizontal decision making of an issue. Especially, rapid participation and intuitive opinions of the members realize a more creative communication.”

By expanding such culture, Kookmin University plans to initiate ‘One-to-one social network service (SNS)’ between the employees and students.