Kakao Introduces 'Kakao Crew Mobile Employee ID' Based on KakaoTalk, Integrating Online and Offline Authentication

The Advanced Technology Team within Kakao's CTO organization developed the Kakao Crew Mobile Employee ID to streamline online and offline authentication processes and broaden their scope. This initiative aims to resolve the inconvenience of previously using separate IDs for each online service or physical plastic cards for offline access.

Issuance and Authentication Process Issuance of the Mobile Employee ID begins with a single step of verifying the Crew member's employment information through the internal system HelloMIS. After logging in with an internal account (LDAP) and authenticating their Kakao account, Crew members can receive the Mobile Employee ID in the '4th tab' of KakaoTalk. During this process, the member's employee information and profile image are linked.

Online and Offline Use Cases The Mobile Employee ID is applied to various authentication scenarios as follows:

• Online Authentication: It serves as an authentication method when watching internal broadcasts or educational content on KakaoTV, or when using chatbots in KakaoTalk channels. It is also used to apply internal welfare discounts at online shopping malls such as Friends Shop.
• Offline Authentication: By tagging a smartphone to BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) or NFC-based readers using the Mobile Employee ID stored in KakaoTalk, access to office buildings is possible. It is currently applied to the access door systems at Kakao Pangyo Office and Jeju Office. Additionally, it is used to confirm attendance at internal events or lectures via QR codes.

Scalability and Future Plans After the introduction of the Mobile Employee ID, over 90% of Crew members used it, demonstrating high adaptability. Based on this technology, Kakao plans to expand the scope of authentication to the entire Kakao community and experiment with more diverse, life-integrated authentication services.