As customer service demands surged across 19 outlets, Yong Kang TCM Clinic turned to artificial intelligence to handle after-hours patient inquiries, CNA reported on Friday.
The traditional Chinese medicine provider, which operates under Refresh Group across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, faced a growing bottleneck at its centralised call centre. Dr Elson Lee pointed out that customer requests regarding appointments, treatments, or outlet locations often piled up during peak operational windows.
“Some after-hours enquiries went unanswered until the next working day, which meant that we were likely losing customers who wanted an immediate answer and went elsewhere instead,” Lee told CNA.
The clinic needed a digital solution to capture leads outside standard working hours. However, integrating automated tools into a healthcare setting involved careful internal calculation rather than immediate deployment.
Adopting conversational systems required management to balance implementation expenses against staff readiness and communication accuracy. Patient data privacy and accurate clinical routing remained primary operational hurdles during the software selection phase.
Yong Kang TCM Clinic’s digital rollout highlights the broader difficulties encountered by small- and medium-size enterprises attempting to automate client communications. As regional wage pressures mount, smaller operators must weigh the capital expenditure of software deployment against potential customer acquisition gains.
| Company | Operational Footprint | Identified Bottleneck | Digital Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yong Kang TCM Clinic | 19 Outlets (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia) | Centralised call centre capacity | Automated enquiry handling |
| Refresh Group | Parent organisation | After-hours response lag | AI-driven customer service tools |
Yong Kang TCM Clinic continues to monitor system performance as regional patient volumes fluctuate across its three operating markets.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
