Please tell us about your business, roles, and responsibilities

What challenges did you face in construction sites, and what was the decisive reason that drove your company to introduce LINE WORKS?

Mr. Miyaji:

In constructing a shield tunnel that easily covers several kilometers in length, about 20 employees are stationed on site, and about 50 other contractors work on a site-by-site basis. As the operation manager, I am in charge of overall management—I check up with the people in charge to grasp the progress in field. However, I felt it quite cumbersome to check up on each individual through a phone call or an email, and again deliver the information to other employees. I thought we needed a safe and more convenient tool for communication.

 

Mr. Sato:

With the number of employees decreasing due to a shortage of workers, and with the recent situation of reducing overtime work and providing holiday leaves, the construction industry is striving to reform the way we work. In order to drive for the same results as before, we need to increase work efficiency to improve the overall productivity.

We thought that reducing the waste of time through seamless communication on site was absolutely necessary. Especially at construction sites, people working in remote locations have to collaborate very closely. So, after examining various communication tools, we concluded that LINE WORKS is the most suitable because of its easy-to-use interface and its renowned security equipped with a system that prevents information leakage. Up until now, 84 out of around 200 workshops in the Civil Engineering department of Taisei Co.,Ltd. have introduced LINE WORKS, and are utilizing it.

Do you have any tips for using LINE WORKS in construction sites?

Mr. Miyaji:

Since various associate companies take part in construction sites, we used a design that can remind us of the work content for the message room icon. For sites where personnel change frequently depending on the progress of the project, we made a special rule that all workers use their face for the Contacts profile icon. This enabled our workforce to easily recognize which group message room they are in, and who is in it.

 

Mr. Sato:

Since radio waves cannot reach some spots inside the tunnel, we installed Wi-Fi to enable communication. Moreover, since it is quite inconvenient to type a long message with a phone in construction sites, we installed a shared PC that enables employees to log-in to their accounts in major locations in the field.

How exactly is LINE WORKS being used?

Mr. Miyaji:

Employees working in the field can now quickly report various issues with LINE WORKS instead of a call or an email. We can grasp the situation more clearly and vividly with attached photos and videos. Moreover, since we can now identify safety issues at a glance with a video, safety managers like myself no longer need to visit the scene in order to inform other employees of what we have learned and what to be careful of. It is almost like going on an online ‘safety patrol.’

As we can now deliver information through group message rooms at once, I can deliver the project’s progress to the employees or relevant personnel much faster than before. Thankfully, I no longer need to explain the project’s progress in detail during morning and evening assemblies when everyone gets together. Now day time workers transfer their duties to night time workers through LINE WORKS, instead of paper transition documents. LINE WORKS is easier to read than the paper document, and we can also check for the ‘read‘ notification. This has enabled employees to be clearer in the transition process. Furthermore, another big strength of LINE WORKS is that you can gather members and create message rooms to share information with only members who need them. Sparing the cost of delivering information to irrelevant workforce has contributed to improving work efficiency.

 

At sites where various companies work together, each company has to share where and what they are doing everyday with blueprints and progress schedules. Before, these documents were delivered in paper during morning assemblies; yet now, even employees who missed an assembly can access the information because we deliver them to everyone through attached files. It has even become possible to distinguish who has checked the information and who has not, so there is much less anxiety about whether the information is being delivered.

What changes did LINE WORKS bring to the field?

Which features other than Message is your company using?

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

Mr. Miyaji:

I would like to try its various features and further streamline the entire field communication, improving work efficiency and productivity.

 

Mr. Sato:

In order to utilize LINE WORKS more effectively, I believe that it is important for the headquarters to regularly exchange feedback with each work station, and listen to actual use cases and feedback. After hearing feedback, we will encourage employees to utilize LINE WORKS according to the size and characteristics of each field.

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

Tell us about your company and individual roles

Mr. Yoshida：

I am in charge of systems-related works, and also general affairs.

 

Ms. Takakura：

I am in charge of office works at the Headquarters.

 

Mr. Tanaka：

I am in charge of truck management at the Headquarters.

What were the issues before the introduction of LINE WORKS?

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

What did you consider the most when introducing LINE WORKS?

Ms. Takakura：

After the introduction decision was made, I took part in actual introduction work for each employee. We were able to reduce the burden in the administration by sending out documents on installation and password setting to the drivers and let them set up the account on their own. Due to its similarities interface with LINE, we found it easy to use. About a week after, all the employees successfully finished their account setting.

Tell us the specific use cases for LINE WORKS

Mr. Tanaka：

We are sending photos of requested documents that specify which parcel to deliver, and where to deliver. Requested documents, which are sent from the customers, should be delivered to the drivers in real-time. In case of long-distance delivery schedule, there is a case where the loading schedule is not determined when returning from the departure point. In such a case, the driver must contact again after departure. Instead of verbal communication, if we send photographs taken through the messenger, we can communicate more clearly and we can also share information quicker than before by using LINE WORKS.

What are the effects after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Ms. Takakura：

Up until now, each individual had to call one another even when working together. But today, multiple employees can communicate simultaneously using LINE WORKS group chatting room. Due to this, we feel like our teamwork has become greater than before. With LINE WORKS sticker, communication is becoming more active and therefore, the work progresses smoothly.

 

Mr. Tanaka：

After LINE WORKS introduction, rate of phone call usage reduced by half. We rarely use SMS thesedays.

Mr. Yoshida：

As we can share information accurately and promptly, the problems such as ‘we did not hear it’ or ‘we did not know’, which we used to have are eliminated. LINE WORKS Calendar feature enables us to send notifications to important information. With this, all the employees gained a habit of checking notifications every morning, endeavoring not to miss any of the schedule. And this definitely is a positive change made to our company.

 

Overall processing time on customer inquiries has reduced as we introduce LINE WORKS. As we can either directly send photos which received from the drivers to the customers or ask drivers to take photos again if the resolution of the photos is not clear enough, the overall processing time has reduced, while accuracy has increased.

 

This field is all about ‘deduction’. It is natural to send customers’ items to the place as specified at the designated time. If delayed, the deduction happens. ‘Next level of logistics’ policy, which our representative director promotes includes speed and quality of transport. To do so, information sharing is the most important factor. As we are sharing information in a prompt manner, the possibilities to prevent ourselves from deducting to minus in advance has increased. After LINE WORKS introduction, not only working efficiency has improved, but also quality of the service we provide. We think it is a great evolutionary change at the company level.

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

Please tell us the details of the business and your roles

Mr. Iwasaki :

Since its foundation in 2008, our company has been manufacturing and delivering company meals in the form of lunch boxes. From areas nearby, to far away, we deliver different meals every day that are focused on variety and nutritional balance to customers throughout a broad region. 75 of our delivery personnel deliver about 18,000 meals each day to more than 2,000 customers. As the one in charge of general affairs and deliveries, I communicate with delivery personnel daily to manage accurate delivery of meals to our customers.

 

Mr. Sasaki :

I currently work in the delivery division, in charge of deliveries to customers. It has been 3 years since I began working at the company.

What were some of the issues prior to using LINE WORKS?

Mr. Iwasaki :

There had been only 1 computer in our company and a few people used it. It was an analog environment in which most of the work was performed on paper, and through phone calls and FAX. For communication, not only between headquarters and delivery personnel, but also among the delivery personnel, phone calls and short text messages were used through basic mobile phones provided by the company.

 

Every morning, calls or faxes come to headquarters from customers regarding meal orders of the day. For most cases, however, couriers have already started their delivery routes at the time orders are received. So we have been using the method in which a headquarters employee manually writes the details of an order on an order sheet and reads it to a courier via phone. The couriers then deliver the orders after hearing the number of orders for the day.

 

When conducting work via phone, deliveries are made by mistake from time to time. Also, since couriers leave after the number of orders is finalized, it is often discovered during delivery that the number of meals is insufficient. In such cases, the courier and the general manager individually communicate by phone to adjust the number. I currently manage 35 couriers and often receive too many calls from them, which causes other calls to be missed and on-time responses to be delayed. From 10 to 10:30 AM, in particular, all couriers make interim reports so the phone line during this period is nearly paralyzed. Since the meals must be delivered before lunchtime, the percentage of morning work is overwhelmingly great. We receive about 200 phone calls in the morning alone so we experienced limitations with communication by phone.

 

One courier is responsible for deliveries to 20 to 30 companies, and there is even one courier who is responsible for 70 companies. We think that couriers have also felt stress when calls do not go through or it takes a while to contact.

Please tell us how you have introduced LINE WORKS

Mr. Iwasaki :

When we were experiencing the limitations of phone communication, we reviewed changing the mobile phones provided by the company to smartphones. We thought about taking a picture of the order sheet received by headquarters and sharing the image with couriers, instead of verbal transfer via phone. This was when we were introduced to LINE WORKS from another company that we know.

First of all, we thought that we would become familiar with it quickly, as its interface is similar to that of LINE. We also had expectations that, if information regarding insufficient or excess meals can be shared among couriers in LINE WORKS Group Chat, they may voluntarily adjust and transfer quantities among themselves without myself working as a mediator.

When we used the trial version, we designated a few couriers in their 20s and 30s, along with some couriers in their 50s who do not normally use LINE, to verify if they would be able to use the app well and what inconveniences there might be prior to a company-wide introduction. Since we also thought of using LINE WORKS on their own smartphones, we wanted to check if they might feel any resistance to using personal smartphones for work. The important point to determine was if communication that had been mostly call-based can now be executed smoothly by messages.

The results showed favorable feedback from most of the employees regarding LINE WORKS. The younger generation is already familiar with LINE, so it seems that they do not see sending messages via LINE WORKS as a hassle. Couriers in their 50s also had no problem using the app. Based on the outcome, we decided to introduce it about one month after we began the review.

Please tell us about your considerations prior to introduction

Mr. Iwasaki :

Currently, 75 of our couriers and 45 office and manufacturing employees utilize LINE WORKS. Before introduction of LINE WORKS, the company proposed two options: using smartphones provided by the company or BYOD(*). The former option was proposed as we thought there may be many employees who would resist using their own smartphones for work. Surprisingly, however, about 70% of the them chose BYOD, though differences exist among regions and age groups of the employees. For those who chose the BYOD option, we offered subsidies in the form of communications expenses so that employees would not face any disadvantages in using personal items for work purposes.

* BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Utilizing employees’ own personal devices for work

Please tell us detailed cases of using LINE WORKS

Mr. Iwasaki :

After introducing LINE WORKS, employees at headquarters take photos of order sheets with smartphones and share the images with couriers using the LINE WORKS chat feature. Efforts and time are both saved compared to verbally delivering the details of orders, and accuracy has also been significantly improved. Couriers and the general manager in charge of a particular region have group chatrooms to make real-time reports on insufficient and/or excess meals. If there is an area with an inadequate number of meals, another courier assists immediately by delivering the amount of shortage.

Even if an accident or another issue occurs, information can be quickly shared through photos, and the location data can be shared in a chatroom to inform the current location to other couriers in the same region. Precautions in deliveries, notification of driving classes, and other news and notices to be shared with all of the couriers can be posted on Home(message board). The app is also used conveniently to communicate with manufacturing employees to, for example, urgently change the quantity to be manufactured.

Mr. Sasaki :

Ever since we began sharing order sheets using images, the mistakes that often occurred when communicating and delivering order details by phone disappeared to prevent any errors in delivery. For urgent cases, the Call feature of LINE WORKS is also being utilized.

Interim reports at 10 AM every day are conducted in a group chatroom of 3 couriers responsible for the same region and Mr. Iwasaki, the manager-in-charge. Even when we get a report that there is a deficiency of meals, couriers can now immediately respond among themselves. Compared to the analog method in the past, LINE WORKS is a remarkably innovative tool, which has dramatically transformed the efficiency of our work.

Adjusting the delivery quantity among couriers via chatroom

What changes have you seen after introducing LINE WORKS?

Mr. Iwasaki :

In the past, there used to be 200 calls made every day in the morning alone, but after introducing LINE WORKS, the figure significantly dropped to below 30. Thus, the time we had been spending on the phone decreased drastically and delivery mistakes that occurred from verbal exchange were also reduced, which we think helps contribute to improvement in customer satisfaction.

Once someone types via LINE WORKS regarding “delivery delays” or “insufficient quantity”, other couriers can now provide assistance. As situations are shared among relevant people in real-time, couriers can act quickly on their own, without waiting for instructions given by the managers, which has reduced the amount of burdens the headquarters had previously shouldered. If an issue is handled among the couriers, the headquarters may still check the background and outcome through LINE WORKS, so we can all feel more relieved about it.

Mr. Sasaki :

Because the number of calls I have had to make on the mobile phone has decreased significantly, I can now concentrate on driving and delivering meals in a safer manner. Introduction of LINE WORKS has allowed others to immediately provide assistance if an issue has occurred for a courier and, thus, a strong sense of cooperation has formed among the couriers. I think it has enabled us to take actions on our own instead of waiting for orders from headquarters. I believe it is a remarkably great change that not only our work has become more efficient, but also teamwork has been further strengthened.

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

Tell us about your company and individual roles

Mr. Kojima :

We are a consulting company based in UK. We are carrying out global and neutral consulting business focusing on architecture, office transfer, and IT. We are mainly responsible for infra systems and its related projects which are the base of the enterprise as well as strategy and project management, introduction and management for daily tasks. The scope of our work ranges from IT, and facilities to audio visuals.

Mr. Kudo :

One of our strengths is that we can suitably make response to the IT-related construction projects. When creating a data center or server room, we also provide consulting services on ordering or managing the budget for vendor companies.

What were the issues before the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Kojima :

Since 2/3 of our employees reside and work at client companies, communication with those employees were not fluently made than we expected. Also, because of those employees who are residing at the client companies use the email domain of the client, they had to login to our company account with other electronic device to check the internal emails. With the tendency of checking the business-related email first, instead of checking the internal email, the employees could not answer to internal emails promptly. It is true that we have global information portal sites, which are commonly used by our employees. However, since its major language was English, it was hard to use the tool in Japan.

We also used Skype or SMS for internal communication. However, because each employee uses all of the different means of communication, they had to call each other if they had to make urgent contacts.

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

Mr. Kojima :

Until now, we have been renting out 2G phones to employees who reside outside the company. But, we changed the mobile device from 2G to iPhone recently. Based on its change, we came up with an idea that we should introduce a new tool to our company as well.

Mr. Kudo :

When using SNS which are commonly in use, we had to ask contact information to each employee. With LINE WORKS, however, we could find out the contact information of all the employees even without asking for them. It was appealing for us to be able to start with the least explanation on the first introduction of the LINE WORKS since it has same method of usage as the LINE, which is used by as many people as the infrastructure of society already. When introducing the tool, it was almost mandatory to make usage guide or manual of the newly introduced tool. However, there was no need for us to make documents on the tool when introducing LINE WORKS. We found shortening of such unnecessary work was great benefit of LINE WORKS.

Mr. Horiuchi :

We have went through several tools. But, we chose LINE WORKS because it is easily adopted, provides service with low cost, and employees were already used to its usage. In fact, no inquiry was received from the employees on the very first day of the introduction. We thought that employees were not using the tool well. We even worried and considered further about the utilization of the tool. Yet, we soon found out that all the employees were already got accustomed to the tool, and therefore, there was no question drawn from the users.

How does the internal communication at your company changed after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Horiuchi :

It has become easier for us to communicate with the employees dispatched and working the client office. Until now, communication has been inconveniently held since the employees were using different communication tools. Specifically, we had the employees who mentioned that they ‘have not read the internal PTS emails’ or there were the employees who are reachable through Skype and vice versa. After the LINE WORKS introduction, it became clearer to find the right person to contact. Also, even though we do not receive the response in a prompt manner, we can assure that the message was read through ‘Read’ notification.

Being able to handle the problem immediately is another point which has improved. For example, there are at times when the employees dispatched to the client office. sometimes accept the offer which goes beyond its original scope of the work and as a result, it gets harder for field workers to handle the issue. Even in that case, we can quickly receive contacts regarding the issue and manage it. We did not even know that there was a problem in the past. So, we believe that there were a lot of cases when the employee handle the problem alone. As can communicate under the better circumstance, the volume of the communication has increased as well as clarity of the conversation has improved.

How does the internal communication at your company changed after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Ms. Susa :

We often have communicate with the employees stationed at the client office using the group chatting room made by team basis. In some cases, one manager take on a number of projects and its members. By creating groups on a project basis, manager can both manage the project and share information much easier than before. Also, we are writing contents what is called ‘Monthly report’ on the board such as notice on the virus or company news using Home feature. On company news, we publish contents like internal office event or introduction of the hard working teams and so on. By frequently sharing such news, we are reinforcing the employees’ sense of belonging to our company, even though they are working outside the office.

Mr. Horiuchi :

We are frequently using the chatting room made by project basis. Because most of our work is with regards to office infrastructure, we are mostly using the chatting room when sharing photos taken at the field and ask our engineers for opinion. It is convenient since we can share the situation immediately. If we only communicate through texts, there is possibility of communicate partners feel offensive during the conversation. Using stickers, however, we can also express our feelings and emotions, which enabled us to share messages smoother than before. Of course, foreign employees have naturally been using the tool as well.

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

Ms. Susa :

Basically, it is the field with high mobility rate of the labor and most of the employees are dispatched to clients’ office, it is inevitable for them to have low sense of belonging to the company. We are hoping to increase the sense of unity for the entire company by actively carrying out company vitalization policies such as company news, events or even clubs with LINE WORKS. We would also like to use LINE WORKS for individual human resource supports.

Mr. Horiuchi :

We would like to introduce usability of LINE WORKS to as many employees as possible. We also want to develop a bot which handles company FAQ.

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

Headquartered in Osaka, iTEC Hankyu Hanshin Corp. is a system integrator of the major railway company. As a part of work style reformation, the company has established remote telecommuting option(work flexibly regardless of place or time using the telecommunication technology) and introduced LINE WORKS. iTEC Hankyu Hanshin Corp. also provides suggestions on the ‘Remote working solution’ to other companies and enterprises, based on their knowledge accumulated during LINE WORKS usage. This time, we interviewed the employees who were responsible for making suggestion on remote telecommuting solution, employees who are actually do remote working and the field working developers who are using LINE WORKS about the LINE WORKS introduction and its effects.

Tell us about your company and individual roles

Mr. Kakinouchi :

Our company is a subsidiary company of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Group. We provide IT supports to each company inside the group and we provide know-hows which we gained to the other companies.

 

Business Solution headquarters mainly responsible for provision of systems and services for each company in the group, and the development of infrastructure systems related to railway services, accounting, and personnel and so on. Headquarters Administration, in which I work for, is responsible for new solution planning and one of the projects was the introduction of LINE WORKS.

 

Ms. Nishisaka :

I am mainly responsible for system maintenance for estate-related clients. I gave a birth to my child and used parental leave at the end of 2015, when the project was progressing actively. Currently, I am using short-time work after I came back to office.

Please let us know the background behind the introduction of a chat tool for teleworking

Mr. Kakinouchi :

Starting from August 2016, our company ran the pilot operation for remote telecommuting system, to support employees who would not be able to work at the office due to childcare, nursing care, injuries or illness and so on. Since January 2017, our company introduced the system office-wide and actively promoted for teleworking. Our aim is to help employees, those who were away from office for a while, smoothly return to work, by establishing a flexible working style. In order for employees to work flawlessly at their house or outside the office, it is very important to maintain the high level of communication is mandatory. For this reason, we started to consider about introducing a chatting tool which help reinforces smooth communication.

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

Mr. Kakinouchi :

Most of our employees either visit and work at the clients’ office or give consulting to the clients outside the office. Due to this, ‘mobile-work’, which means work outside the office, was already settled down at our company. We have used free chatting tool for communication with the members working far away from the office. Also, we found the chatting very convenient since we did not have to start the conversation with the formal greetings like “Thank you for your work”.

However, using the free chatting tool as a company communication tool had a one critical huddle to solve, the security. To solve this, we tried various chatting tools for enterprise Among those tools, LINE WORKS has received the highest scores from our employees and eventually, we decided to introduce LINE WORKS. The decisive reason for choosing LINE WORK was that its interface was easy to use, we can save the archived messages, check who read the message, and connect to the LINE easily.

What impressions did you receive after introducing LINE WORKS chat on the teleworking?

Ms. Nishisaka :

As the fall of 2016, we started telecommuting as a part of work style reformation and use the chatting as well. Unlike phone, we can continue our conversation even after leaving a seat for a while. For example, when I have to communicate on the phone while taking care of my kid, it is hard for me to talk calmly. With chatting, however, I can continue the conversation even sometime after. Also, it is very convenient to ask for confirmation or materials necessarily needed at the time when I am comfortable.

 

We have regular video conference. However, we have to wait until the conference to ask questions and also takes time to receive the response. But chatting not only have the time limits but also more comfortable than emailing when sharing the short notice. Furthermore, I can easily send request to the others when there is something to ask.

 

Also, since I am participating in one of the group chatting rooms, even without staying at the office, I can keep the track of the issues and its situations just by reading the messages according to the timeline. As I shorten up my working hours, I leave the office faster than other employees. But with LINE WORKS, I can see the overall situation at the office even after I left, and also find out what should I do the next day at work. I feel so relived with the fact that I can check the messages at the right timing, not worrying too much about the time.

Mr. Ishida :

As a boss of Ms. Nishisaka, it became a great help to be able to keep the track of the situations during her teleworking. It is possible to check all the minor details about the work, which are not necessary to call and make deliberate inquiries. Also, it is possible to naturally share the situation with the team members via group chatting room. It seems like LINE WORKS plays a big role in terms of being enable us to check the overall situation with minimal communication. We believe that it is great pleasure to the company to have the opportunity to have smart and talented employees return to the office and show their ability with the work.

Example of chatting with teleworker

What was your impression when you utilize LINE WORKS chatting for your telecommuting?

Ms. Sakakida :

We are utilizing LINE WORKS when creating the chatting room with other members and check detailed specifications or receive instructions from our boss. Because we sometime have obstacles for collaborations such as, seats of the participating members are located far away or the member is absent, there were the cases when neither confirming the work nor adjusting the opinion did process well enough. Ultimately, delayed time in development as well as re-do the work were unavoidable sometimes.

 

After the LINE WORKS introduction, we felt that the unnecessary time wasted while waiting for the response or reworking rate have been reduced than before since we can still share opinion regardless of its physical distance. Waste of communication has also reduced as the checking process with the employees is now simplified. As we can contact each other more often than before, we feel that the cohesion of the team got better.

 

Mr. Endo :

Mistakes made from inadequate communication have reduced dramatically. When writing email, we have to start with ‘Thank you for your work, this is Endo’, and also have to check the overall content of the email before sending it. This may sound simple, but it is actually burdening job, which makes the overall communication cumbersome and hard. But with chatting, however, we can communicate with short sentence.

Mr. Kakinouchi :

A number of meetings and in-house extension calls have been reduced. Especially, the extension call, which we have been frequently dialed, has been significantly reduced. Also, as a Headquarters Administration, coordination with each division head in business management is frequently made. If we use LINE WORKS, we can deliver the semantic grasp level of information can be shared quickly before we report officially. There definitely is a difference in the feeling during the reporting just by sending the detailed changes beforehand. We are getting the impression that we are getting closer to the person whom I report.

Also, LINE WORKS has a feature to save the achieved chatting log. Thanks to this feature, the employees’ awareness of information accuracy and response speed has been increasing, and we think it is very beneficial from a business point of view.

Ms. Tanaka :

Work processing time has been speeded up. If we forward questions or issues need to be checked via LINE WORKS, we can do our work before receiving the response. Since we can also response to the received messages immediately with LINE WORKS, we are able to use our time efficiently. Up until today, it took time to communicate with the boss who are working outside the office regarding small issues and checks, since we only had phone or email for communication. With LINE WORKS, however, we can ask any question without feeling burdensome and our boss can also give simple reactions like ‘OK’.

 

And, this ultimately shorten the time took during the decision making. As we have more communication with the team members, feeling of unity has increased and the overall atmosphere of our office got warmer and welcoming to all the employees than before.

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

We are planning to establish a system which support LINE WORKS introduction and provide the after service such as user/log management and so on. After this, we are also going to suggest and introduce LINE WORKS as an enterprise-level of solution tool, targeting teleworkers. In fact, many companies in our group have already conducted a trial operation for telecommuting and distance communication. Also, we will continue to utilizing LINE WORKS as a business tool between LINE WORKS Japan or develop the automatic response system based upon AI. We want to propose new value that goes beyond the meaning of communication tool.

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

What is Intensive Care Unit at Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine at Chiba University Hospital?

Dr. Taka-aki Nakada :

Chiba University Hospital’s Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine serves as the disaster hub hospital of Chiba Prefecture, as well as seriously ill patients within the city. Additionally, it provides immediate response to any events occurred within the institution related to seriously ill patients through a professional team called “MET (Medical Emergency Team).”

Please tell us how you used to communicate prior to LINE WORKS and what were the common issues

Dr. Taka-aki Nakada :

At night time or on holidays when patients visit the hospital or those with serious conditions are transferred, there is sometimes shortage of labor and thus, have to make calls to doctors and other members of the medical staff. In the past, we operated a shift system to ensure that someone was on standby in case of emergency. However, there were often cases we could not get an immediate or enough response and would have to call them.

In such circumstances that require urgent and prompt treatment, a significant amount of time and manpower is required to call each and every person, making it difficult to conduct a proper response. Thus, as a countermeasure, we then tried sending group messages to everyone. Although people replied whether they can come or not, it was hard to organize automatically who is available or not, which lead to even more confusion. The problem was that no one could accurately and immediately understand the entire situation.

In an attempt to solve this issue, we requested for the development of a so-called ‘doctor assembly request system’ to Cereja Technology. Once a group email, stating that doctors are requested to assemble when needed, is sent to the entire staff of doctors, the system would allow each person to respond with pre-defined replies, such as “I can go right now,” “I can be there in a few minutes” or “I cannot go,” and registered them as data.

As a result of using the doctor assembly request system, we could find out who is able to attend after summoning the entire medical staff. However, there were new issues such as the inability to quickly figure out what actions to take post-call. Whether or not more people were needed or the current number of medical staff is enough.

How did you come to introduce LINE WORKS?

What was the decisive factor in selecting LINE WORKS?

Dr. Taka-aki Nakada :

I once saw a renowned doctor exchanging messages with a young doctor through LINE, to make comment on details of consultation related to specific treatment methods. Then I realized just how ordinary communication– the seeking and providing of advice and information—takes place in the medical field. The biggest reason was that LINE WORKS is similar to LINE. Since LINE is familiar to everyone, I thought LINE WORKS would incorporate smoothly into operations. Additionally, the fact that LINE WORKS was able to integrate with our doctor assembly request system, and provide a strong, guaranteeing security also played a big role in making our decision.

So what are your thoughts after actually using it?

Dr. Taka-aki Nakada :

Not too long ago, when many people were injured at the Makuhari Messe convention center, we received a request for dispatch from the Fire Department of the city of Chiba and activated the doctor assembly request system. After the request, messages were sent through LINE WORKS’ bot API and responses were collected in less than a minute and the dispatch members we able to gather at the hospital immediately. Even as we were heading to the site in an ambulance, the wireless information coming from Chiba’s Fire Department was shared via LINE WORKS. Upon arrival at the site, the members shared in real-time, all the necessary information and photos with those who were not on-site. By exchanging details of the rapidly changing situation in the field, even the members who were not on-site or at home, could figure out the circumstances and determine the type of responses to take.

Dr. Shigeto Oda :

I believe that it is innovative. It is incredible how the details, which had previously only been able to be communicated one-on-one by word-of-mouth, could now be shared with everyone at the same time.

 

There was recently an incident in which about 50 people were injured at the Makuhari Messe convention center. I was on a business trip to a different region for an academic conference, and Chiba’s Fire Department sent me a call for COMET (Chiba Outreach Medical Emergency Team).

 

Until now, the dispatch of COMET was only determined after identifying a particular situation through a phone call, which was very time-consuming when trying to figure out the current conditions and make the right decisions. This time, however, all pertinent information was shared and exchanged moment by moment through LINE WORKS chat. From details of the conditions shared, we deemed it to be a serious crisis, and thus allowed COMET to be dispatched right away. We could give orders anywhere in the world while continuously checking upon the current situation via LINE WORKS. This allowed us to maintain more situational control. It was remarkable.

 

Emergency events taking place in the hospital can be responded in an identical manner. There were two MET calls within the hospital, and for both calls, I was in my office, not in the ICU. However after receiving calls through LINE WORKS, I was able to head to the scene right away. I believe LINE WORKS is an innovative tool able to provide great amount of assistance.

What were the benefits after introducing LINE WORKS?

Dr. Taka-aki Nakada :

Although the number of employees has not changed, we were able to care for more patients (especially seriously ill patients) while maintaining high performance.

MET calls are to call the needed staff urgently to treat patients whose conditions have undergone sudden changes. However, even after MET is dispatched, LINE WORKS provides a variety of information, such as current conditions of the patients or action plans, such as, “Prepare ICU as patient is in need of urgent care!” or “MET activities may cease as patient is showing signs of recovery”. I cannot emphasize enough that communication is extremely critical between the hospital and the emergency site, ambulance and hospital and the site to which MET has been dispatched and the ICU. LINE WORKS enables information to be shared with everyone, at once. So that assistance is provided when needed and the right preparation is made in advance to treat patients. As a result we can provide higher-quality, yet more efficient, medical services.

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

Dr. Taka-aki Nakada :

We have been focusing on the research and development of a smart patient data collection, processing and sharing system. So we have coined the Smart119 Project, to achieve fast and accurate emergency medical service through the medical device and system R&D project by Japan’s AMED (Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development) in hopes to realize the future of medical care. We wish to utilize the experiences gained from LINE WORKS to emergency medical sites, to continue to develop an innovative system and accomplish accurate emergency medical care.

– Mr. Yamao :

There was a comment on whether or not CT or Röntgen images may be shared on LINE WORKS, so we are currently reviewing with our technicians on how to make it possible.

Also, if there is an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5.0, big hospitals must summon all their employees and staff members. Although the basic structure is identical, I want to take on the challenge of developing a call system via LINE WORKS or LINE in such emergency cases as well.

Medical field has not yet fully introduced IT technology. There are still some inconvenient aspects that remain in terms of chatting tools and other forms of communication. Thus we would like to continuously propose systems and solutions that can help enhance medical sites.

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

Tell us about your company and individual roles

Mr. Sato :

Our company mainly designs, manufactures. And sells nail guns and various types of equipment for manufacturing companies. For the nail guns, we are occupying more than 90% of overall domestic demand. With more than 40 years of experience, we have been supplying factory facilities for manufacturing companies.

 

Mr. Ebi :

I am in charge of planning and supporting sales activities of each department, and making promotion tools. Moreover, I am responsible for managing company infrastructure, website, as well as filming product videos.

 

Mr. Haneuda :

I am mainly in charge of designing, producing, and installing the factory facilities.

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

Mr. Sato :

Even with trivial troubles and issues occurred at the site, it may be regarded as major and important for the company, and eventually become important ‘issue to be solved’. I think that the value of the company is determined by how quickly does the company identify the issue and cope with it accordingly. For this reason, we are countlessly encouraging the site staffs to ‘correct the issues as soon as possible’, and ‘those who are at the site should collect the issue and report to the office’.

 

In order to do so, we are providing cellphones to every employee. Also, we have been thinking that information sharing and collaboration tool as the most important factor for flawless and fast communication.

Before LINE WORKS integration, we used to have phone call, email, cell phone, and SMS as company communication tools. With the help of cell phones, it was easy and comfortable to report and contact the office. At the same time, however, the problem with the cell phone communication was that we sometimes forget the contents shared (if not written somewhere) or have to contact each individual. To solve this issue, we once established a rule to write email when submitting reports. As a side effect to this, there was ‘an era in which everyone extraordinarily use emails’. By encouraging the entire employees to submit their report by email, and seniors give instructions through emails, I even had an experience of receiving and replying more than 100 emails a day.

There was an incident in which an employee mistakenly sent an email to somebody outside the company. Because the content of the email itself was classified low in confidentiality, it did not lead to a big problem. But, this has become a turning point for us to reconsider about our way of collaboration. While searching on the internet, we accidentally encountered LINE WORKS and find it suitable for our use. We first introduced the tool to the five employees, representative from each department, as a trial.

Mr. Ebi :

What were the issues before the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Ebi :

One of the obstacles for collaborative work was that we could not share information fluently under the environment in which computers cannot be used. For example, when employees are out for either long-term business trips or construction sites, we could not find out if the collaborators checked the email or the information in properly shared until receiving the response from them. For this reason, there were delays in response as well as a number of employees were involved to solve the issue. This was so inefficient in every aspect.

 

Mr. Haneuda :

Before LINE WORKS integration, we used to contact each other through phone calls or emails. Using email as a communication tool was burdening and ineffective since we could use it only after successfully setting the network. I think this was one of the reasons causing delays in the response.

Why did you choose LINE WORKS?

Mr. Sato :

LINE WORKS provides every feature that we need for the collaboration and nothing was unnecessary. Especially, in the perspective of manipulability, we found that the integration happens so instinctively since LINE WORKS operating method was twin to that of LINE. ‘Read’ notification was also the core reason for the LINE WORKS integration. We have also compared LINE WORKS with the other competitive tools in the past. However, we found more advantages on LINE WORKS by actually operating the tool, and our employees were favorable to LINE WORKS, even during their trial period.

It is true that there are many free chatting tools. For the free tools, however, we were feeling unsure about the services available for the users. For example, we were specifically unsure about whether we could get supports when the issues occur during operation or not. Also, we were not even sure when this service will be terminated. When compared with free chatting tools available, we could ensure about the customer services provided by LINE WORKS, since we pay reasonable price. Such secureness has led us to introduce LINE WORKS to our company.

How exactly LINE WORKS is being used?

Mr. Haneuda :

We have created the chat rooms for each construction plan or project, and encouraged the employees to both share information and report the issue there. We are mainly utilizing LINE WORKS when reporting the construction status while working outside the office, or consulting the troubles occurred.

 

We do collaboratively work with other franchisee offices located in Saitama, Nagoya, and Doyama. Even with the physical distance, LINE WORKS enables us to instantly share the current status of the situation by sending photos or videos on the chatting room. With LINE WORKS, we can also download the structural drawings and continue our work smoothly in real time. Unlike computer, using smartphone version of LINE WORKS allows us to check the message straightaway. Further, we can notify and share information with a number of employees at once just by sending messages on the group chatting room, and we found that pretty efficient.

What are the effects after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Sato :

After discouraging email communication between employees, we established a complete digital communication ecosystem by integrating LINE WORKS. As a result, the emailing rate has decreased dramatically. Instead, we found out that the rate of the productive and useful communication has increased. With this, the overall mood of the office has changed positively and actively. For example, if one of our employees send message saying that the order was successfully made, the others in the chatting room congrats the person by sending the messages like ‘Congratulations!’. I feel the great joy when feeling that we are all collaborating and sharing feelings.

We have also created the chatting room for newly entered employees. New employees are now instructed to write and upload their training report on LINE WORKS messenger. This way, it becomes much easier for the new employees to submit their report, as well as receive as many comments as possible from their colleagues, including the boss, who joined the chatting room. Receiving comments from the seniors would definitely help new employees to develop their career even better.

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

Emails and phone calls are inadequate for communication with the field in which prioritizes efficiency

At the construction site for line installation, we have various communication rules to follow. For example, we have to leave ‘arrival contact’ when first arrive at the construction field such as customer’s house, ‘depart contact’ when leaving the site after work has done, and ‘field research report’ when visiting the field before the actual construction. Before LINE WORKS integration, we mostly collaborated with the phone calls. Because the other collaborator is not always in a position to receive a call, it was inevitable to encounter delays in overall working due to the longer standby time at the site.

Also, if we were to report the condition of the communication equipment or wiring at the site, we had to take photos and send it to the office. During so, we had to go through burdensome process that took a lot of time, meaning that we had to open up our laptop and download the photos taken from the phone, and attach the photos to the email and send it. Efficient working is the most important especially when working at the customers house. However, the process refrained us from working proficiently.

Started to use LINE as a collaboration tool, but only for the limited occasion

We tried hard not to implement LINE to our office communication because LINE increases the chance of security issues including information leakage. However, it was inevitable to use LINE since sharing work-related information like photos through phone calls, smartphone email, and SMS was not comfortable enough for our collaboration. When first integrating, we created a company group and share information there. While doing so, we made a rule not to mention or handle confidential issues. As a result, we still had to use phone calls or emails even if we utilize LINE anyways.

Standby time at the construction field has decreased dramatically

One of our clients, who ordered the construction to us recently, recommended LINE WORKS to us. Not long after, we integrated LINE WORKS. Because efficient operation in the field is the most important factor, we are feeling the change most in terms of ‘standby time at the field reduced dramatically’. Prior to introducing LINE WORKS, field employees had to wait for response if the collaborators at the office did not realize whether they receive the call or email. It was because the contact was often made via phone or email. For this reason, after receiving the LINE message like “I sent the email”, we proceeded to check the email with the computer.

If we use LINE WORKS chatting instead, we can contact our collaborators regardless of the situation. Also, we will be informed through our smartphone or the computer if using LINE WORKS, which helps us to make response in real time. With less time waiting in the field, we can focus more on what we really need to do; that means, we can work harder without wasting our time.

With LINE WORKS ‘Read notification’ feature, we can quickly and efficiently share the information sent by the original company

“LINE WORKS is the best collaboration tool. Among provided features, ‘Read notification’ is my favorite of all. At the moment when the ‘Read’ function is working is the time when an accident occurs and an announcement from the company is sent to the workers. When the company sends an e-mail to each employee, it was obliged to send the confirmation message within the deadline. “The moment when the ‘Read’ function came through is when an accident occurs and the ordering company send out the announcement. When the original company sends an e-mail to each worker, it is obliged for all the employees to report that they have checked the announcement within the specified time frame. With this, the company can check whether the announcement is thoroughly notified to all workers.”

“When we receive an announcement related to the accident, we used to forward the accident-related messages to the LINE group chatting feature. Even though LINE can check the total number of readers, it does not provide any further information about the read and unread members. In the end, we had to contact each person who had no answer. This, of course, took a lot of time, and it was cumbersome”.

With LINE WORKS, we can not only check the number of the readers, but also check unread members at the chatting room. After LINE WORKS integration, we have created a group chatting room called ‘Chatting room for announcements’, and deliver the entire notification at once. By allowing us to select only those members who have not yet read the message, LINE WORKS made it possible to contact the targeted employee only, which saves us the troubles of message transferring information, and also enables us to deliver the message safely and speedily.

We can simply take photos of labels with the wiring number and send it to the message room! Both processing time and mistake have reduced!

In addition to this, Force Net is said to use LINE WORKS in a special way. For example, during the opening line process, a tag or label should be attached to the device or cable with the line number. The line number is very important because it is information used for identifying the problem and its cause within the line. In the past, it was verbally checked through the phone calls. But, verbal checking might take time and sometimes, it could be misleading. To solve such issues, we started to take photo of the label attached to the line and send it via LINE WORKS chat room to make sure the issue to be visually confirmed. As a result, both processing time and mistakes could be reduced.

With the LINE WORKS introduction, Force Net has been able to realize efficiency and enjoy the high working process speed at the field, where both efficiency and safety are required. In the future, we hope to have a feature which makes us to write the field investigation report easier.

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