LINE Connection - LINE WORKS https://line-works.com/en The only business chat that connects to LINE "LINE WORKS" Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:40:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.4 https://line-works.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/WORKS_JP.ico LINE Connection - LINE WORKS https://line-works.com/en 32 32 The system for information exchange between distributors and sales representatives has improved significantly. We plan to expand LINE WORKS as the primary business hub for team collaboration among all affiliated companies by connecting it with new and legacy infrastructures. https://line-works.com/en/cases/noevir/ Mon, 24 Jun 2019 01:00:38 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=9586 Integration app

 

Noevir Holdings implemented LINE WORKS to create more connectivity among all sales representatives, customers, and distributors. In terms of dynamic communications and minimizing unnecessary tasks, employees can utilize the chat-based solution and send files such as photos and documents to each other. We interviewed Ms. Takigawa, Ms. Munezane, and Mr. Murakami from the Information System Department about specific use cases and future applications of LINE WORKS.

Please tell us about your business, roles, and responsibilities

Ms. Takigawa :

Noevir Group encompasses cosmetics, health food, and OTC pharmaceuticals businesses. Group companies include Noevir Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Noevir”) that manufactures and sells cosmetics and OTC pharmaceuticals, TOKIWA Pharmaceutical Corporation, and TOKIWA Medical Service in which operates a placement medicine sale, a unique pharmaceuticals sales system in Japan. As an Information System Department Director, I oversee all affiliated companies’ information systems.

 

Ms. Munezane :

My responsibilities as the manager of the Information System Department include management of all affiliated companies’ ID, server, and network. Also, I take charge of the selection and operation of systems and applications.

 

Mr. Murakami :

I work with my manager, Ms. Munezane, on server operation, and network management. I am also responsible for implementing various services, including LINE WORKS and its operational practices.

What were the challenges you had before introducing LINE WORKS?

Ms. Takigawa :

Noevir’s products reach customers via corporate authorized selling agencies or housewife staff’s individual sales activities. Thus, Noevir’s sales representatives would oversee several distributors per branch and conduct sales support activities with phone calls and e-mails. However, the communication between distributors and sales representatives was often ineffective; many sales representatives were in dire need of a way to deliver information to several distributors at once. As a result, a request asking to authorize the use of LINE came to the Information System Department.

 

Sales staff provides the distributors with information on new product launch, training sessions, delivery dates, and inventory data. Conversely, distributors must report back their daily sales activities. With LINE, I could envision the seamless and more immediate communication. However, the risk of misdirecting messages that may contain confidential or personal information to the outsider was quite concerning.

Why did you choose LINE WORKS? Also, could you explain the implementation process?

Ms. Takigawa :

First, it began with a request from the salesperson of TOKIWA Medical Service. The salesperson asked the permission to make use of LINE to contact nationwide placement medicine sales customers. Hence, we adopted LINE WORKS for its chat interface that could safeguard our sensitive corporate data. Since LINE WORKS is easily accessible on PC, we can send long announcements from the head office at once too. Accordingly, TOKIWA Pharmaceuticals’ and Noevir sales employees began using LINE WORKS to contact distributors. Nowadays, more than 1000 people from the Sales, Information System and Management Department of the three aforementioned companies utilize LINE WORKS.

 

I think the advanced security and familiar user interface similar to LINE are the most appealing aspects of LINE WORKS. Indeed, getting rid of the need to train many midway sales team joiners is a great advantage. Moreover, we expected that even the partnered distributors with high age range could benefit from LINE WORKS’ external messenger connection feature. In fact, we believed that the distributors could experience improved communication with our sales representatives since they know how to utilize LINE already.

Ms. Munezane :

Initially, we used to write and distribute manuals or hold a briefing session when introducing a new tool – LINE WORKS never needed them. Even after the implementation, only a few employees had inquiries about usage. LINE WORKS is the first tool to integrate into our company system so seamlessly.

What were the security measures after implementing LINE WORKS?

Ms. Takigawa :

We make sure to instruct sales representatives not to leak the personal information and that every conversation that took place via LINE connection will leave log data.

 

Mr. Murakami :

We can guarantee security by preventing employees from sending executable files with the LINE WORKS admin feature.

What are the implementation effects of LINE WORKS? Tell us about the specific use cases

Ms. Takigawa :

Group chat feature became the inseparable communication tool to Noevir sales representatives. Initially, the function could not be interconnected with LINE, but over time it became available with updates. We are thankful for how it allows a number of our employees to exchange information at any time; this is crucial as sales representatives must interact with various distributors and groups, such as specific event participants. Previously, sales staff had to call or send e-mails to each distributor individually; only after connecting with LINE did LINE WORKS become the primary communication tool to sales representatives. Now sales employees can create group chats based on different purposes and invite the right people without any limitations. Furthermore, they can conveniently handle tasks with flexibility by sending information at once in the group chats.

 

Mr. Murakami :

Sales employees can send Excel, Word, and PDF files with LINE WORKS. Now sending various business data is easily accessible.

 

Ms. Takigawa :

In addition to cosmetics, Noevir runs apparel and underwear businesses. Therefore, we use LINE WORKS to inform new products to distributors and retailers by sending sample images or explanation videos made by sales representatives in group chats.

 

Ms. Munezane :

In the past, the Information Systems Department used to deliver system failure or update notices to all group companies via e-mail. After implementing LINE WORKS, we post such information on home boards. Most of the employees check home postings faster than e-mails; hence, we make announcements that need to be delivered swiftly and surely on home boards.

Ms. Takigawa :

Initially, LINE WORKS was selected primarily as a means for the sales force to communicate closely with customers and distributors. However, now it functions as a convenient platform that bridges communication among all affiliated companies even more so than the existing groupware.

How do you manage a good number of LINE WORKS accounts?

Mr. Murakami

The Information System Department needs to manage all accounts of affiliated companies. We use the LINE WORKS API and ETL tool’s DataSpider※ to acquire HR info in the form of CSV data automatically. The system deletes the LINE WORKS accounts of retirees and members on leave by itself; it also sends issued accounts to new employees through e-mail. As there is no need to manage each account manually, it helps to streamline work procedures effectively.

How do you wish to use LINE WORKS in the future?

Ms. Takigawa :

Currently, we are using LINE WORKS in combination with the existing groupware. However, in the future, we plan to use it as the primary communication tool to support busy sales staff by connecting with various systems and better take advantage of its convenience. We are reviewing whether we can communicate and check work-related info immediately and securely only using LINE WORKS all over the group companies.

 

One of the attempts is to implement a Help Desk Chatbot related to PCs utilized in the office. Sales representatives frequently work outside and cannot contact the helpdesk in case of desk absence. As a result, I would like to establish an automatic response Chatbot for simple inquiries. In the future, I want to develop a hub to connect to various applications. If we can consolidate different systems’ UI into LINE WORKS as a single platform, it would boost the productivity of our sales teams.

 

Ms. Munezane :

Ms. Munezane: We are considering whether it would be possible to replace manual writing of daybook, using existing company groupware, with LINE WORKS voice input system outside the office. Though we are already supporting our employees by giving them access to connect with smartphones, we would like to significantly improve their work efficiency by facilitating more comfortable and faster ways to input info. LINE WORKS is equipped with various functions in addition to voice input, and therefore, we would like to increase the applied uses within all group companies.

 

DataSpider…ETL tool that connects data between different systems without programming

 

 

※All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.

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We have improved schoolwork efficiency by reaching students directly through their LINE accounts. Utilizing the service for group activities and connecting each department horizontally has led to lively discussions among staff. https://line-works.com/en/cases/daito/ Wed, 15 May 2019 01:00:31 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=8895
Celebrating its 95th anniversary in 2018, Daito Bunka University has introduced LINE WORKS as a communication tool for employees and built a system for close information sharing, improving work efficiency. It is also utilizing the service to deliver information to students. The university is also utilizing the service for group study and meetings aiming to transform the way they work, using message rooms and video calls to promote communication that connect each department horizontally.

Please tell us about your business, roles, and responsibilities

Mr. Umezawa :

Under the mission of “seeking the blossoming of new culture by promoting the convergence of Eastern and Western cultures,” Daito Bunka Institute operates three schools: Daito Bunka University, Daito Bunka University Daiichi High School, and Daito Bunka University Aogiri Kindergarten. As an Executive Director, Secretary General and Planning Director, I assist the chairman of the board and I am in charge of general management and operation of the institute, including corporate decision-making procedures, financial and office organizations, human resources affairs etc.

 

As the Chief of Staff in the Institute’s General Information Center Office, I am in charge of information systems including network, server, backbone network and client PC, and I also take care of adoption of IT devices, maintenance, and operation management.

 

Ms. Maekawa:

In the Faculty Course Center located in Daito Bunka University, we support acquirement of teacher’s licenses and finding career paths as a teacher. As a member of the center, I am in charge of gathering and delivering information related to job and volunteer opportunities in schools for students who wish to become teachers.

Tell us more about some of the problems you had before using LINE WORKS, and what has led you to adopt the service

Mr. Watanebe :

PCs used by office workers who handle students’ personal information can only be accessed through intranet for safety purposes, and in principle, taking them outside of school is prohibited. Nevertheless, this factor has been impeding work efficiency, and we felt the need to create an environment where information can be accessed from the outside, and promote communication among employees.

 

Ms. Maekawa :

For students who aim to become teachers, we post information about teacher recruitment in the school portal and also on the bulletin board. However, as it is difficult to catch students’ attention with the bulletin board in the faculty course center, we were searching for an alternative means to share information that could substitute the paper notices, which were quite cumbersome to make and replace.

 

Mr. Watanabe :

After comparing and reviewing various tools, we came to notice LINE WORKS, which has the same interface with LINE many young employees use. We decided to introduce the service because there was no special training needed before the introduction, and because operating and managing the service didn’t seem burdensome.

Did the school establish any special operating rules when introducing LINE WORKS?

Mr. Watanabe :

We made a regulation prohibiting employees from describing information related to students’ personal information, and informed the employees through orientations, LINE WORKS’ ‘Home,’ school intranet and etc. But we tried to stay away from unduly detailed regulations as much as possible, in order to bring about the active use of LINE WORKS.

 

Moreover, this coincided with the time when we provided iPads to all employees to pursue paperless work environment, so we kitted and distributed the LINE WORKS app.

 

For office workers who were not provided with iPads, we allowed using LINE WORKS through personal devices like mobile phones. But since we also ban taking iPads outside of school in principle, we allowed BYOD (Bring your own device) for all employees, creating an environment where information and work-related contacts can be shared, regardless of time and place.

Tell us more in detail about how LINE WORKS is being used, and the effects made after

Mr. Umezawa :

Prior to the implementation of the “Work Style Reform Act,” we organized employees into groups so that they could voluntarily start projects on how to change the way they work. About 70 out of 200 employees took part in the project, even though it was a voluntary activity outside of working hours. There were also many people who wanted to know about the project’s progress but could not participate, so for them I uploaded a video explaining the project’s guidelines in the LINE WORKS message room as a kickoff. Afterwards, we conducted a survey with LINE WORKS’ ‘Form’ (which has just been introduced) on pending issues, and we could collect so many responses compared to the surveys conducted in the past. Based on the responses, we established six subcommittees, and they are utilizing LINE WORKS along with discussions and face-to-face meetings.

Survey on work style reformation found there was noticeable improvement in response rate

It wasn’t easy for employees to participate in the existing project while juggling with daily work, but LINE WORKS has enabled them to exchange ideas anywhere, anytime—message rooms almost serve the role of group study rooms. Although young employees find it quite challenging to speak out in a typical face-to-face meeting, ‘Message Room’ enables everyone to participate in the discussion regardless of age or rank, and also to check previous conversations and review the flow of discussions. I think this is a big strength of LINE WORKS. Although these groups are a place for voluntary learning for employees, without particularly aiming to make proposals to reform policies, we plan to combine the results achieved in each subcommittee and use them as a reference for establishing policies to change the way we work.

Actively sharing ideas in group message rooms

Tell us about how both Institute’s General Information Center and Faculty Course Center are utilizing LINE WORKS

Mr. Watanabe :

The Institute’s General Information Center frequently gets inquiries from other departments regarding the backbone network and client PC. After adopting LINE WORKS, we get most of the inquiries through LINE WORKS, not calls. When we received calls, we often had to stop what we were doing to respond to the inquiry right away; but when we receive them through message rooms, we can judge whether we can respond when we have time, so there is less psychological burden for response.

Ms. Maekawa :

I consulted Watanabe from the Institute’s General Information Center about how we can efficiently deliver information related to teachers’ recruitment. He recommended creating the center’s LINE WORKS account and sending information to students’ LINE accounts just like [LINE@.] Based on his counseling, we built an environment where we can connect with students’ LINE accounts through external conversations, and send information about recruitment and volunteer opportunities in message rooms through PDF files.

 

After recruiting applicants who had wished to receive a LINE alarm among students, most of the students who had completed the teacher training course have registered. Students can additionally fill in information about name, student ID, major, and the kind of local government or school (elementary·middle·high) they wish to apply for through tags; based on this information we use the ‘search’ feature in message rooms to search for tags, and send information customized for each student.

 

Of course, there are students who do not use LINE, so we still post information on the portal as well—but we no longer need to worry about the burden of replacing paper notices on the school bulletin board. When we send information through LINE WORKS, students either reply very fast or we can see the ‘read’ indication, so we can actually feel that the information is actually being delivered to the students.

An example of delivering information to students who completed teacher training course

How would you like to utilize LINE WORKS to further boost schoolwork efficiency in the future?

Mr. Umezawa :

I realized that we can build an environment where it is easy for many people to take part through the use of communication tools. As it is easy for a university to turn into a vertical organization, it is crucial that we strengthen horizontal connections between departments and collect opinions to solve this problem. I would like to continue to utilize LINE WORK’s various features for this mission.

 

Mr. Watanabe :

Daito Bunka University is located in both Tokyo and Saitama, so we are considering conferences to connect the two campuses through voice and video calls.

 

Ms. Maekawa :

As there is a lot of teacher recruitment information concerning graduates in the Faculty Course Center, we are considering supporting graduates (along with undergraduates) by delivering information to them as well.

 

 

※All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.

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We established a system for all employees to share information swiftly and reliably. Now we can provide effective support to improve customer satisfaction. https://line-works.com/en/cases/tochigi-toyota-motors/ Fri, 08 Feb 2019 08:36:34 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=7485 Tochigi Toyota Motor Corporation, which is in charge of new car and U-Car sales in Tochigi Prefecture, adopted LINE WORKS as a communication tool. The objective was to ensure a smooth exchange of information among 27 sales stores and the head office. According to the sales staff, the overall work efficiency and customer satisfaction have improved as they can securely contact customers who use LINE via ‘external messenger connecting service.’ We interviewed Mr. Edagawa and Ms. Amagai from General Administration and Human Resources Group about management-related use cases and Ms. Ishikawa and Ms. Takezawa from Tochigi Toyota Yokota Store for sales office usage.

Please tell us about your roles and responsibilities

Mr. Edagawa:

Our company provides Toyota car sales and related services by operating 20 new car, 6 U-Car, and 1 LEXUS sales stores within Tochigi Prefecture. As the General Administration and Human Resources Development team manager, my responsibilities include talent recruitment and training, system selection, and operation maintenance.

Ms. Amagai:

My role in General Administration and Human Resources Development team is to manage personnel affairs and LINE WORKS operations.

 

Ms. Ishikawa:

I am responsible for customer response and new car sales related business at the Yokota store, established within the head office.

 

Ms. Takezawa:

I also work at the Yokota store, mainly responsible for new car sales.

What were the challenges you faced before using LINE WORKS?

Mr. Edagawa:

There were issues with disseminating information from the head office to sales offices effectively. We used to post notifications via the company’s internal portal. Since not all of the employees had access to the company’s PC or e-mail, the delivery process was often slow or faulted. Therefore, we felt the need to implement a better communication tool to deliver our announcements in a timely and accurate manner to all employees.

 

Recently, sales representatives have been individually responding to customers through LINE to meet the increasing demands. However, I felt uneasy thinking whether LINE would enable our representatives to contact customers without compromising security and going against the company’s management regime.

 

Ms. Hitomi:

Before introducing LINE WORKS, we wasted so much time trying to communicate with just fixed-line phone and fax. As a result, I wanted to add new means of communication to improve the situation and to promote Paperless ways.

Why and how did you introduce LINE WORKS?

Mr. Edagawa :

We paid attention to LINE WORKS as a tool that facilitates much-needed communications for work and connects to customers’ LINE securely. Thus, we began by conducting an employee survey and free testing at head quarter’s Management Department and Yokota store. The result indicated that LINE WORKS was easy-to-use and can solve various problems that we were experiencing at the time.

 

Ms. Hitomi:

After selecting LINE WORKS, we distributed user manuals suitable for potential work situations to the head office and all sales stores. We were able to roll out LINE WORKS promptly and effortlessly, even more so than our expectation, as it has a similar user interface with LINE. The employees welcomed the concept of ‘Business version of LINE.’ After the employees adapted to using LINE WORKS, we actively utilized surveys and suggested use examples to promote the use further.

How do you optimize in-store tasks and sales activities with LINE WORKS?

Ms. Ishikawa:

Before LINE WORKS, sales representatives out on the field could not be informed immediately about the information from the clients or head office that came in during their desk absence. People who were briefed on behalf would leave the memo on the desk, and the sales representatives can only access them once they return to the office.

 

Fortunately, with LINE WORKS, employees can dispatch information immediately and reliably through chat features. Moreover, employees do not have to worry about whether the person in absence got the info with the message acknowledgment feature.

 

Furthermore, we had to ask to be connected when contacting a salesperson from other branches that we were not acquainted with. Now with LINE WORKS, we can contact whoever whenever by looking through contacts section. As a result, we can see how LINE WORKS streamlines internal communication, speeding business insight.

What are the advantages of using LINE WORKS? Tell us about the specific use cases

 Ms. Takezawa:

Customers who wish to contact me via LINE can add me by using the QR code on my business card. With the external messenger connection feature, I can communicate with customers in a digitally secure environment. Also, customer support became more convenient since the majority of relatively young working-age generation prefers to communicate with LINE. For instance, I could not specify the address that the customer designated and asked for more information with LINE. Then the customer immediately sent me a map with the exact location. It is one of the examples of how a seamless response happens without waiting for the other person to call or wasting customer time.

 

Moreover, we can quickly initiate responding to customer’s trouble with car breakdown once the video with the sound about the car status is given. By connecting the repair support representative to given videos, the customer can benefit from immediate judgment of whether a repair visit is needed. Thanks to LINE WORKS, we have achieved more immediate and effective communication with our customers, which has led to improved customer satisfaction.

 

How do you use LINE WORKS for management purposes?

Mr. Edagawa:

Instant messaging, e-mail and home features allow us to deliver the information from head office real-time and accurately. In-house portal, which was not available to all employees, was replaced by LINE WORKS home, and LINE WORKS mail integrated internal and external e-mail systems into one. In conclusion, the overall burden of managing software diminished significantly as previously dispersed calendar, facility reservation, and e-mail features have merged into one application: LINE WORKS.

 

One of our primary considerations was finding reliable software to confirm our employees’ safety in case of an emergency. However, the LINE WORKS survey feature enabled us to achieve the desired outcome without an additional fee – we can now check on our employees’ safety at ease.

 

Ms. Hitomi:

Form is a very convenient feature; we use it to manage in-house event attendances and various internal polls. It is also used for the company’s unique operations by connecting the pay system with data and managerial positions with non-managerial employees, who are unlikely to face each other on a regular basis.

 

Prior to introducing LINE WORKS, the much-needed process of collecting and sending all employees’ responses included using in-house mail delivery and fax. In this sense, the time spent and the workload was quite considerable. LINE WORKS Form promoted Paperless ways and gave a positive impact on response rate and speed: the Form can be delivered directly to each employee and answered using smartphones. The Form system also shows answer results, which allows us to check the progress rate; this then minimized the need to collect and count answers separately. With LINE WORKS, we could optimize workflows, automate simple procedures, and thus experience a noticeable improvement in work efficiency.

 

We are currently blooming with ideas and therefore researching ways to improve work efficiency thanks to the various features of LINE WORKS. Improvements in work efficiency are quite visible and already yielding practical outcomes. We would like to continue incorporating the use of LINE WORKS features into daily business operations.

How do you plan to use LINE WORKS in the future?

Mr. Edagawa:

We are considering whether we can utilize the PC version of a group call feature for manager meetings. I am aware that the feature is currently at a beta stage, but it is a great advantage to have video conferences without introducing any additional software.

 

Ms. Hitomi:

LINE WORKS enable employees to get work done regardless of the location. Therefore, we will consider using it as a backbone to Teleworking in the future.

 

 

※ All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.

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By utilizing LINE WORKS as a communication tool with prospective employees, it has definitely decreased the withdrawing rate of their resume https://line-works.com/en/cases/jk-holdings/ Fri, 18 Jan 2019 04:16:32 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=5174 JK Holdings corporation operates a wide range of businesses in the housing-related industry with Japan Construction Materials Corporation, which has the highest sales in the housing construction materials wholesale business. By using LINE WORKS to Communication with employees, customers, and even with the prospective employees, the tool is helpful with the overall recruiting process. This time, we have heard from Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Ishizawa, and Mr. Oshio about how they use LINE WORKS and the changes made after LINE WORKS introduction.

Tell us about your company and individual roles

Mr. Yamamoto :

Our company is a Holdings company, and our business covers from housing wholesale to manufacturing and sales. Main business is the wholesale business which mainly covered by Japan Construction Materials Corporation. However, we also have interoffice in which doing housing construction business. I am a member from Finance Accounting Department, Business administration Headquarters, but also as a member of Office Rationalization Committee, I was in charge of introducing LINE WORKS to our company this time.

What were the issues before the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Yamamoto  :

A purpose of Office Rationalization Committee is to introduce systems or tool which enables efficient working environment. We had a mission to find a communication tool that is suitable to use, since we did not have such tool. We used to use a groupware as a communication tool. However, there are limitations such as it can only be used inside the office and if the employees were to use outside the office, they had to connect VPN every time.

 

Moreover, not all the employees had the accounts to the groupware. Therefore, we had to use phone calls obligatorily in order to connect with other employees. Phone calls, fax, and groupware communication has been continued for decades.

Mr. Yamamoto :

Under such circumstance, important information such as announcements on personnel as well as medical checkup cannot be delivered to the all the employees. Especially, ‘Japan Construction Materials Corporation’ is consisted mostly with salesperson, and therefore, the administration department considered about not being able to share various information to them. In order to make sure the information is delivered successfully to each employee, some of the branches print out the written mail and receive the paper with the employees’ signatures on it. Still, it costed a lot of efforts.

 

Company provided cellphones were mostly 2G phone, which only provide calling feature. For this reason, we often use personal smart phones to communicate with the employees from both working inside and outside the office. Notably, the number of employees who are using LINE as a communication tool was increasing. It is unavoidable if the customer wants to communication through LINE, but this was still not perfectly suitable. Although we wanted to prevent our employees from use LINE as a business communication tool, we had no other option to replace it.

What was the decisive reason that drove you to turn to LINE WORKS?

Mr. Yamamoto :

We compared various communication tools to find the most suitable option. But, with the purpose of regulating the contacts held between the salesperson and the customers through LINE, we paid attention to LINE WORKS. For other applications, we had to install a certain program in order to communicate with the customers. However, LINE is already well being used by the people, including our customers. The most decisive factor for LINE WORKS introduction was that it is easily connected with LINE.

 

Also, LINE WORKS is cost-effective, when compared with other tools. We wanted all the employees to use LINE WORKS, instead of the current groupware that only certain portion of employees are using.

Mr. Ishizawa :

We were thankful about that there is no need for manual or education needed for LINE WORKS introduction. Because most of the people were already using LINE, we believed that the employees would soon be able to get used to LINE WORKS. We were not sure about the other tools since they had different user interface to LINE.

 

Mr. Yamamoto :

In 2017, we started a project to reform our working style, and 10 participants from the project started using trial version of LINE WORKS. And, soon we received positive feedbacks from the participants such as, ‘Response time gets faster’, ‘I can definitely contact everyone inside the company’, ‘Read notification feature is comfortable’. It took less than a month to actually introduce LINE WORKS to our company.

Tell us the specific use cases for LINE WORKS

Mr. Yamamoto :

Employees from the Administration department and salesperson are using the company provided tablets and smartphones, and the other employees are using LINE WORKS through their PC. We found most of our employees decided to ‘use LINE WORKS for every single contact made for business purpose’, and actively use the tool.

 

Especially, LINE WORKS is gaining a good reputation as it enabled smooth and comfortable communication between employees who are working inside and outside the office. Either when salesperson, who is working away from the office, needs to check the stocks of certain goods, or when desk worker has to check the price of the goods, it is very conveniently communicated through the tool. We are also using when reporting our supervisor about the agenda and its progress made to it.

 

Mr. Oshio :

I am currently in charge of recruiting at the Human Resources Department. The feature I found the most comfortable is survey feature. We survey all the employees about the current policies related human resource and employee welfares. The response rate of the LINE WORKS survey is 85%, and the response doubled the speed than paper survey, which is an incredible change. It is much easier to aggregate the result since we can download the result in CSV format. And, the result which provided with graph format is also helpful.

 

We are providing LINE WORKS accounts to prospective employees and use the tool as a communication channel between them and the recruiting team. For those prospective employees, we are using ‘Disable Search on the Group Contacts’ to prevent the contacts information other than oneself from revelation. We used SNS tool for prospective employee communication in the past. However, we did not use the tool as much as we expected since it was difficult to use. LINE WORKS, a similar tool that of LINE, was already familiar to the LINE WORKS interface. Due to this, many of the prospective employees are actively using the tool. The existing tool had a problem that we could not communicate continuously with the tool. We first logged in to the tool when first introduced, but gradually became not to log in. After using LINE WORKS, however, the rate of the employees logging into the tool did has not decreased much and therefore, vigorous communication has been continued for a long time. We also received positive feedbacks from prospective employees such as ‘it is easy to use’.

 

We are currently using Board message feature when recruiting manager is communicating with prospective employees. We are also using the feature to check the attendance for nomination ceremony as well as collect opinion from the prospective employees before start their work at the company. We chose theme for each week such as ‘The book you like’ or ‘Recommending place travel after graduation’, and we encourage prospective employees to write their ideas and opinion freely on the board.

 

What we like the most is that now we have gained a place to communicate with the prospective employees since they are located nationwide. We also feel that prospective employees have reduced their feelings of worrisome before entering the company, as they can freely ask questions to the company. We believe that this will make a great contribution to the improvement of royalties from the prospective employees as well as prevention of the cancellation of their application.

Communicating with prospective employees through LINE WORKS Home feature

What are the effects after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Yamamoto :

Employees from administration department to part-time workers, we are able to communicate everyone working in the company without feeling difficulties to it. This definitely has broadened our communication. One of the great features of the LINE WORKS is that we can easily reach out to the people whom did not know their contact information. We are encouraging our employees to record their duties at the LINE WORKS profile. And when we have questions like ‘Who is in charge of this agenda?’, we can easily check the profiles of the employees and reach out the right person.

 

We can work time effectively as we reduced unnecessary time we spent in the past, such as waiting for omitted emails to be checked or waiting for a call to be connected. We believe that overtime working at night time will soon be eliminated. By sending photos about the question we want to ask, it is now possible to share thoughts and opinion in depth.

 

Mr. Oshio :

As one of the employees from Human Resource department, dramatic increase in survey response rate and active communication with prospective employees are the two key accomplishments. It is cost-effective to use LINE WORKS because we did not have make individual tool for each agenda. Also, we curtailed expenditures by changing the tool from the SNS tool that we previously used to LINE WORKS.

 

Mr. Ishizawa :

We would like to implement auto-answering chatting bot based on AI near in the future using LINE WORKS. Setting aside from the working style that we have continued for decades using phone calls and fax, we expect that the introduction of innovative tool called LINE WORKS would bring us big impacts to our company.

 

※ All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.

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Connection between LINE WORKS and LINE has enabled us to shorten the time took for selling, buying and contracting the car. By being closer to our customers, we became the store in which gained better trustworthiness https://line-works.com/en/cases/idom/ Fri, 18 Jan 2019 01:59:32 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=5098 IDOM Inc. (Former: Gulliver International) is Japan’s No.1 dealer in the field of selling and purchasing used cars. The company has been able to handle customer requests faster and more accurately by introducing LINE WORKS as a means of contacting customers, which has also resulted in earning the trust from the customers. We interviewed Sato Ayaka, life planner of Smart car as well as manager of Kannananishiarai Branch, about the use cases of LINE WORKS and effects after the LINE WORKS introduction.

Tell us about your company and your role

Our company do sales business which buy and sell the used car. As a manager, I am responsible for store management such as managing sales, store employee schedules, and customer service status.

How exactly LINE WORKS is being used? Also, what are the effects after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

We are using LINE WORKS for daily communication with store staffs, area manager, headquarters, and customers.

 

We are checking consulting reviews with the store staffs in real time

 

For example, when customer visits our store and asks about the cars or asking for a consultation, the assigned staff often contact via LINE WORKS and ask questions like ‘the client requested this, how should I do?’. We also use LINE WORKS when we visit the actual site to purchase the used cars. Once we visit our customers house, we can take photos of the car and immediately send them to the office. This enables both field and office workers to check the condition of the car together in real time. This way, the customer no longer have to wait. As a manager, it has become easier for me to take control of the works since I can check the condition of the consulting in real time.

 

It has become easier to communicate with headquarters about price negotiation

 

Overall process of purchasing used car is that once we send information through exclusively used application, headquarters notifies an appraised value of that car. And, if the customer does not satisfies with the estimated value and have to adjust the value, we negotiate its price with the headquarters via LINE WORKS. Previously, we held such communication through SMS with the company given cell phones. However, it was not easy for staffs to send SMS to the boss or the headquarters. Furthermore, it was difficult to find out whether they have read the message or not. Inside LINE WORKS, however, there is Read notification feature is provided as well as we can also send both photo or video. Unlike email which requires to turn on the PC to check the attached files, no extra effort is required when checking the file. If the amount of money negotiated goes beyond my approval authority, an area manager manages the deal. At times, there are cases when the manager could not reach their phone due to meetings. For this reason, such communication is held via LINE WORKS. The tool has enabled us to communicate comfortably, and most importantly, we felt that this kind of contact is most suitable for LINE WORKS.

 

We communicate efficiently with our headquarters by transferring photos

 

The headquarters often contact us with regards to management and installation of the store. For example, when we have to change the vehicle or store layout for newly held event, the headquarters send photos of other stores for reference. This definitely let us to have better idea on the overall store layout. We sometimes send photos of vehicle layouts as well as condition of banner installation and receive feedbacks.

 

Example of store managing communication

We can communicate with our clients faster via LINE

 

Using the ‘Connection to LINE’ feature, we are using LINE when communicating our the customers. During the consultation, we ask ‘is It okay to send related information through LINE WORKS?’. With this question, many of the clients gladly accept the suggestion and tell us their LINE account. Since we can immediately check the message delivered through LINE on LINE WORKS, faster communication with the clients is possible. Not just about the contract, but also the contacts regarding the aftercare have also increased.

 

Example of communication between staff and client via LINE

How does the communication with the customer changed after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

What changed the most is that we can make response to the requests from the clients faster than before. When customers send messages like ‘Can we do this?’ or ‘I want to do this part as this’ via LINE, we can immediately check the message and send the response. It is definitely faster than phone call or email. For email, we can only send the response after we come back to our own house and turn on the computer. For this reason, we could only provide the customer service only during the time frame we assigned. With LINE and LINE WORKS, we could both check and response immediately to the messages, and therefore, we could solve the issue on the day it has occurred.

 

Close connection with our customers has speeded up the time taken for problem resolution and the time it takes to sign the contract has also been reduced.

 

Since LINE is easier for clients to send messages to us without feeling burdensome, we are receiving many messages regarding various purpose, from asking simple questions like ‘how to make spare key?’ to tough and serious questions. Because LINE WORKS account is verified as an official account of the company, it also draws the feelings of trustworthiness from our customers. As quality of overall communication has improved, we can contact each other more delightfully than before. As psychological distance has been put closer than before, this has resulted in having a lot more customers who chose our company. And, we believe that this is what differentiates our company from other competition companies. We are pleasure to receive messages from our customers about automobile-related issues and concerns like ‘I want to film my car’ or ‘I soon to have car inspection’. We are also receiving positive feedbacks from our clients that contacting via LINE is much easier to communicate with our company than phone call or email.

How does the communication with the customer changed after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Communicating with headquarters or interoffice communication has become much more convenient than before. Previously, when we want to contact someone in our company, we first had to check the profile and find detailed contact information and either send email or make phone call to them after. And, this was extremely inconvenient. With LINE WORKS, however, we can simply look up the contacts information on the application and send message immediately. With this, it became convenient to make contacts to others.

 

Other than this, I am recently participating in an internal project at our office called ‘Sakura Project’, which pursues the greater environment for the women to work. The project is divided into several teams and where I am located is in charge of posting contents on the company blog. To make contents, I often have to make contacts to the employees whom I have never met before. Even under such circumstance, I use LINE WORKS group chatting room to contact those people conveniently.

 

 

※ All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.

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LINE WORKS was introduced to us as a communication tool with visitors at the housing exhibition. As a result, acquisition rate of contact information has doubled and the dialogues have increased three times more https://line-works.com/en/cases/hinokiya-holdings-2/ Thu, 17 Jan 2019 07:35:19 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=4879 As a one-stop solution company for housing and living, Hinokiya Holdings Co., Ltd. Is taking an active part in a variety of industries including custom home construction, real estate, remodeling, and nursing home facilities. It owns a number of subsidiaries within the group and more than 100 exhibits throughout Japan, while conducting business overseas as well. Through LINE WORKS, Hinokiya Holdings has experienced significant effects in not only smooth communication among employees, but also discovery of new customers and improvement in deal making rate. Mr. Tsukahara from Systems Department and Group Management Division of the company, and Mr. Minamoto, manager at Misato Exhibit of Hinokiya Group Co., Ltd., told their background stories for introduction of LINE WORKS and positive changes that it has brought.

Please tell us about details of the business and your roles in the company

Shigekazu Minamoto, manager at Misato Exhibit of Hinokiya Group
Mr. Shinya:

It is primarily construction. We are a housing construction corporation that guides customers who visit our exhibits, and eventually build ideal houses. In addition, other sub-companies within the group are in businesses fields of housing sales and nursing care as well. We are founded upon the custom home business and we are definitely a one-stop solution company that seeks happiness of people from the perspective of living.

 

Mr. Shigekazu:

I listen to the opinions and wishes from visiting customers and actually guide them through our exhibition. I also offer a variety of suggestions regarding housing.

Please tell us how you have introduced LINE WORKS

Mr. Shinya:

In the past, we normally communicated with customers by phone or email. But contacting with customers often preceded in a rigid manner, which evoked feelings of distance with the customers. As communication was delayed due to missed calls, losses in work were also created. That is why we looked out for a new tool. It all started from employees. Employees began to talk about using LINE for its sales business. They added to say LINE enables intuitive reaction and increase the communication speed, which will eventually contribute to speed up management of Hinokiya Group. Following such idea, we implemented LINE’s corporate version, LINE WORKS.

 

It took only about 2 weeks, which is an extremely short period of time, from making final decision about conducting LINE WORKS to actually operating it in company. We first conducted a test with a free trial version. That is because as its method of use is almost identical to that of the popular LINE, we felt that we could introduce the tool without experiencing much resistance. For operation, policies were defined by headquarters. Furthermore, based on regulations, administrator authorities were given to employees those who are in charge of systems in each sub-company of the group. Feeling likeliness to LINE, most employees were able to easily use LINE WORKS. So far, we are currently operating more than 1,300 IDs.

Please tell us how you decided to introduce LINE WORKS

Mr. Shinya:

The most decisive point to use LINE WORKS was its simple introduction. LINE WORKS is a communications tool that follows LINE, a well-known communication tool in Japan. Creating an user account is extremely simple when comparing with other systems currently-in-use. That is, it reduced the burden on the employees in charge of our systems. Phone calls or emails are 1:1 communication methods. In contrast to this, LINE WORKS enables simultaneous communication with multiple users. Moreover, email and other groupware systems require a person to obtain information on his/her own. However, LINE WORKS sends alarms as well as immediately notifies the users via app. I believe this notification service is desirable for sales.

 

Hinokiya Group is listed in the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange this year and strives to improve its compliance. Before using LINE WORKS, some employees responded to customers from time to time by using their personal LINE accounts in the past. After implementing LINE WORKS, which provides great security, conversation history monitoring feature and archives option that helps preserve up to 10 years of audit logs, it allows managers to quickly respond once issues occur in communication between employees and customers.

 

Furthermore, enabling us to check the log history as well as the conversations between employees and customers in case of emergency also led us to use LINE WORKS.

Have there been any changes since introducing LINE WORKS?

Mr. Shinya:

Many employees stated their opinions on “Connect with LINE” feature on LINE WORKS. They mentioned that it has made customer communication extremely convenient than ever before. Notable comments, such as “The feature enabled us to drive good impressions from the clients by allowing us to quickly reply and respond to clients’ requests”, and “As LINE WORKS is compatible with LINE, we can not only browse and archive all the conversations made in between the two services, but also can easily follow up for the communication histories.” were also mentioned from the employees.

 

The sales division also gave positive feedback, mentioning that as LINE WORKS became the company’s communication tool, communicating with the clients, those who are using LINE, got much easier.

 

Also, sharing information as well as communicating among employees in the field, including the sales division, on-site supervisors, and members in exhibits, became much more convenient. The “Read Confirmation” feature is also useful whether to find out if others have read messages. The app is actively used for communication among executives in different sub-companies of the group. For phone calls or emails, communication cannot be made if you do not know the contact information of the other party. However, LINE enables you to search all the registered users, meaning that contacts and calls can be conveniently made with members although the contacts have not been available to your mobile devices. LINE WORKS has made communication and information sharing with those outside the company much smoother.

 

Moreover, communication can also be carried out with regards to design drawings, and etc.. In this sense, LINE WORKS “Video or Voice call” feature is well utilized from design firm of Hinokiya Vietnam, at which in charge of housing design. Even when performing activities overseas, we can freely communicate with other colleagues anywhere, anytime with Internet connection. That is, LINE WORKS can be used as an effective communication tool.

Please share if you have any specific use case you found effective

Mr. Shigekazu:

We use LINE WORKS when communicating with customers who visit the exhibition. When the customer visit and begin conversation, we normally ask for their email address. However, there were issues such as having trouble with writing down the email promptly or asking for their email later when the customer don’t know their email at the moment they visited. With LINE WORKS, however, it allows both us and the customers to start communication smoothly. The customer can use his or her own smartphone to scan the QR code and immediately connect and start conversation with us via LINE’s “Add Friends” feature.

 

To do so, we inserted QR codes linked to LINE WORKS accounts on our business cards. Moreover, since LINE WORKS IDs are designated by the company and not by individual employees, we can present it as a part of company’s effort to sensitively handle personal information. We think this could also leave a positive impression on our clients.

 

For communication afterwards, I believe that loss of opportunities due to time differences must be eliminated. With LINE WORKS, we may read messages and emails and reply in a timely manner. When we communicate via LINE WORKS, we think thoroughly before writing the sentences. When comparing with emails, however, messages can be sent in a more frankly manner and customers can also respond easily to them. Compared to the days when email addresses were exchanged for customer communication, the likelihood of acquiring contacts has doubled, and the amount of conversations after beginning communication has tripled.

 

I think when communication has carried out, quick response to the customer requests will help us build trustworthiness with the clients, and eventually lead us to acquire more chances to work with them.

 

In addition, utilization of LINE WORKS is not limited to the process up to acquisition of deals. Even in housing design and the construction phase after order acquisition, on-site supervisors are connected to customers’ LINE via LINE WORKS to share the current progress and status of the construction sites with photos, which helps in construction completion as well as the after-case process. In case something happens, LINE WORKS allows us to receive a related contact and respond immediately or ask for assistance to other teams. Customers who have eventually selected our company instead of other competitors are primarily satisfied with “quick replies” and “fast responses”. Thanks to the remarkable advantages of LINE WORKS, we believe that we could be different from our competitors in these areas.

 

Also, communication and sharing of information between headquarters and the exhibit halls located far away became much easier. For example, there was a housing event in which I was stationed in headquarters. To proceed a project, we had to communicate with a construction supervisor, employees at other exhibits, in other divisions, as well as other companies. Because it was extremely difficult for everyone involved to gather for a meeting and communicate via email, LINE WORKS came to be perfect solution for such circumstances.

 

Example of a situation in which information is shared from a remote location,
such as an event hall or an exhibit

 

 

※ The details, affiliations and positions specified is the information gathered at the time of reporting.

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Edit We deployed LINE WORKS for store management. With the help of LINE WORKS, efficient communication with stores and customers has enabled, and this resulted in an increase in employee consciousness https://line-works.com/en/cases/misugiya/ Thu, 17 Jan 2019 06:17:14 +0000 https://line-works.com/en/?post_type=cases&p=4808 Taking ‘Freshness’ as their key strength, Misugiya Corp. have been operating more than 20 stores called “Misugiya” in Hyogo, Osaka, and Tokyo. They integrated LINE WORKS to operate and manage the stores. We interviewed Otomo, who was in charge of the LINE WORKS introduction, about the implementation process and its following effects. We also interviewed the employees to listen further about how LINE WORKS is being operated and its effects.

What were the issues before the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Before LINE WORKS integration, we used to hold headquarters-store and inter-store communication using emails, phone calls, and fax. Of course, we did not have such thing as groupware. Each store has 1 to 3 public PCs. Since daily sales management is important for supermarkets, we required all the store managers to send daily sales condition on each store through cellphone email. When receiving lengthy emails, it was cumbersome to read them all through, scrolling the page to the bottom. Further, when asking store manager about the sales condition of other stores, we often failed to receive the response from them.

 

Because email is one-way communication tool, there was a lot of obstacles to counter back and we all felt that it was not effective enough.

 

For this reason, we started to look out for groupware and enterprise-level messengers for 2 years. We have went through several tools for their suitability, but we found that most of the tools are based on the PC version and some of the our employees could not even type down the words on the computer. With this, we were feeling that what we believed to be ‘understandable to use’ is not always ‘understandable’ to everyone. This brought us to consider further about implementing the collaboration tool if it were to require guide our employees.

What was the decisive reason that drove you to turn to LINE WORKS?

We thought about introducing LINE because we have been acknowledging that employees have already been using LINE as the office communication tool, and also, a lot of the employees felt burdensome utilizing the computers on their work. However, because LINE is a personal account, it was difficult to specify who the person is only with the account information. Also, we could not force the resigned employee to leave the chatting room. Furthermore, there were voice from the employees mentioning that they do not want to hear from other employees when they are off the work. This was understandable complaint since all the shift workers have different time schedules.

 

While struggling so, one of our IT partners introduced LINE WORKS to us. As LINE-like tool, there was no need to give extra education on its usage. Other than this, every account is manageable with the admin account, as well as device-friendly application enables us to send confidential information through devices. With those reasons above, we have decided to immediately introduce LINE WORKS.

How was your LINE WORKS introduction?

We first started with free trial version of LINE WORKS. We registered every employee at once and encouraged them to use the tool at the site. The registration process was not difficult at all because LINE WORKS allows batch registration using CSV file. We both used LINE and LINE WORKS together for about 2 weeks. At the end of this trial period, we came up with the conclusion that LINE WORKS is that we were looking for, and suits our needs. Finally, when the branch manager said ‘Let’s try with LINE WORKS’, we quitted LINE use and moved on to LINE WORKS.

How exactly LINE WORKS is being used? Also, what are the effects after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

We are currently using LINE WORKS for communication between headquarters and stores including butcher’s’, fish, and fruit stores, and inter-store communication, and contact with customers and shipping companies.

We can contact the person in charge of purchasing goods directly for any damage or accident.

Because it is our job to deal with the fresh goods, it is inevitable to have the goods either destroyed or damaged during shipping. In such case, we can deal with the problem in real-time just by taking photos of the goods right at the moment of import, and send it to the delivery manager. It has much easier for the employees to report such incidents much more conveniently with LINE WORKS.

 

Healthy rivalry has increased by sharing daily sales report PDF file through LINE WORKS.

The lengthy sales report, which had to be emailed by the phone once a day, was tabulated by store and shared in PDFs in the chat room. Until now, we didn’t even know who read the message because it was one-sided communication for the most of time. We think the biggest improvement is that we can now use ‘Read notification’ to find out who read it. In addition, it has become intuitive and easy to read, making it easier to compare the report to other stores. As a result, there seems to be a healthy rivalry created between the stores, leading to a sense of improving the sales of their stores.

 

With LINE connection features, we are sharing photos of the goods with our clients prior to the actual delivery.

With the functions connected to LINE, we are communicating with our clients as well. Although the product information to be received is basically written in the pre-emailed specification sheet, it is still difficult to determine only by the text alone because there are a lot of information that cannot easily be recognized.

 

After using LINE connection feature, however, we could directly receive photos of the goods the day before the actual delivery date. For example, information that had not been known until actually receive the goods like the color or the size of the apples, can now be known intuitively with LINE and LINE WORKS. Overall buying process has changed very efficiently.

 

Since we are actually feeling the changes made with LINE WORKS use, we are planning to broaden up the utilization field, such as use it to contact with the deliverymen.

What are the changes at the sites after integrating LINE WORKS?

Mr. Tsue :

We are utilizing LINE WORKS the most when contacting with the butcher department. LINE WORKS helps us to easily find out the information of other stores. For example, when holding an event, we decorate our store. And, as a part of our search for the helpful idea, we take the photos of other stores as reference.

 

In case of the meat product, the method of processing, selling, and price adjustment are not uniform.

 

So, for the most of time, the price is highly subject to the person who decides its price. In this case, it is often studied just by looking how other stores are dealing with the price. Also, we receive the daily sales report of other stores as an urgent message. In this case, we either promise to work harder, or ask the high-scored sales store manager for the tips.

Mr. Miyata :

Before LINE WORKS integration, it was mandatory for us to call back, even if we sent the email, whether to find out the communication partner have read the email or not. That means, we had to make contacts twice on one specific work. LINE WORKS, however, helps us a lot with the ‘Read notification’ by enabling us to check all the employees read the message.

 

For department taking in charge of side dishes, they have become much accurately managed the products with LINE WORKS by sharing photos of the product, related materials, and description stickers and more, when new product is introduced.

How do you want to utilize LINE WORKS in the future?

Mr. Otomo :

We are striving to convey information in more helpful and readable manner, because we are not achieving 100% on the read confirmation in messages such as sales reports and reminders from the headquarters. Also, our current information sharing is often initiated from the headquarters sending out the information to the stores or the employees. With LINE WORKS, we would like to structure a collaboration flow which we gladly receive suggestions from each store and share the idea together with the stores. Not only with the work-related communication, we would like to utilize LINE WORKS, as a tool directly related to our revenue, in sales perspective.

 

 

※ All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.

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