- SK Planet to deliver mobile-optimized services using NFC tags for managing arrival/departure time and
interactive communication between parents and teachers
- Kicking off with Bidan Summer Hill Childcare Center and to begin pilots in over 100 childcare institutions
around Korea
Seoul, Korea, August 14, 2013—SK Planet today announced the pilot launch of a smart childcare service that
enables interactive communication between childcare facilities and parents.
The new service offering called Near Kids (
www.nearkids.co.kr) is a smart mobile-optimized childcare service
developed by PlanetX, SK’s in-house venture program.
Near Kids addresses the varying needs of both the parents and the childcare providers. Parents wish to stay
close and to ensure safety of their children. The teachers or the childcare providers want to achieve efficiency
in their work to maximize their time spent on actually taking care of the children. Both parties have mutual need
for better communication and trust. Near Kids is designed to meet these important needs of all who are
involved in the care of children.
Near Kids partners with daycare centers, kindergartens and other institutions responsible for the care of
children. Service features include: real-time management of child’s arrival at and departure from the facility using
NFC tagging, smart bulletin boards for sharing news, photos and other records pertaining to children, and
interactive services for shuttle bus arrival updates, request for medication and early leave, and reporting missing children.
Near Kids also offers mobile office features that help reduce the operating costs and enhance convenience for
childcare institutions. It supports both mobile and internet access, allowing for real-time availability regardless
of the user’s environment.
The first to adopt this service is the Bidan Summer Hill Childcare Center located in Suwon, but more will join.
The plan is to pilot Near Kids with some 100 daycare centers across Korea by September. SK Planet intends
to discuss this opportunity with local governments and large childcare center franchises to expand the user base.
Furthermore, SK Planet will add on new contents that are relevant to the service users so that Near Kids can truly
become an integrated childcare service offering.
Near Kids is the fifth of services launched through Planet X, an in-house venture program that was kicked off
when SK Planet itself was just starting.
Planet X is an innovation program open to not only the staff of SK Planet but also of the affiliated companies to
form groups and come up with ideas that can drive future growth. Location-based advertising platform,
image-based curation service, smartphone payment platform and real-time weather information platform
have all been commercialized based on Planet X projects.
