Mr. Utsugi：

I am in charge of the company information system and IT infrastructure and oversee the planning and development of business systems, as well as management and operations.

 

Ms. Omiya：

As a buyer in charge of new projects and goods, I am in charge of inviting businesses and brands, as well as distribution strategies in new stores.

 

Ms. Kashima：

I am the buyer in charge of confectionery and development and design policy for store operation improvement, floor remodeling, and the two largest events of the confectionery market: Christmas and Valentine’s Day. I spend a lot of time outside the office to meet with business partners and inspect other store locations as well as competing stores.

Mr. Utsugi：

Some stores used the SNS bulletin function, but mainly, stores used emails and phone calls for communication. However, it took a significant amount of time replying to emails because some employees would be out of the office and would have to return to the office in order to reply. Furthermore, when we wanted to share photos, we needed to move the photos from the digital camera to the computer, which was very time consuming.

 

 

_{* Shadow IT : Use of devices or services by an employee, in addition to the company’s IT system.}

Ms. Omiya：

We mainly used emails to contact one another. Sometimes we waited until there was a meeting where all employees would attend to share information with one another. However, there was always the inconvenience including delay or omission of information.

Mr. Utsugi：

There are currently twenty-five employees of the Food Management Department, nine employees of the Information Systems Department and a total of fifty-seven employees are using LINE WORKS. Buyers also use LINE WORKS to share information in real-time. Specifically, they share new goods they found at the exhibits, conditions of retail stores while on business trips overseas, and display techniques of other company stores as future reference as well. The buyers also use the tool to share inspection results from business partner workshops.

 

The Information Systems Department use LINE WORKS for video conferences with stores in Sapporo, overseas, or other locations in distance. LINE WORKS is convenient because it allows us to have meetings without requiring any travel expenses.

 

Ms. Omiya：

I visit every new store that opens, but I also receive immediate customer visit reports from employees through LINE WORKS. Because it is important to acknowledge the number of customers visiting the store on the opening day, the employees share photos through LINE WORKS to report condition of the store. Like this, prompt information exchange plays a crucial role in terms of establishing company strategies.

 

We can share information about the new stores which are collected during local and overseas business trips. In addition to this, we can also share daily report of out-of-office duties. Sharing images while holding consultations with business partners has also become more convenient. Actually, there was a buyer who visited a store and found out that one specific product was out of stock. With LINE WORKS, thankfully, he could quickly inform another buyer in the office and solve the issue immediately.

Ms. Kashima：

LINE WORKS is convenient because we can also share information in real time when inspecting stores in local communities. Being able to share photos of progress with cases of remodeling enabled us to send and receive more accurate and detailed information. Furthermore, since I am in charge of confectionery, I made a group with those who are in charge of side dishes and we could share opinions with one another. In the sake of spreading motivation throughout the team members, we either share success stories or improvements that need to be made. At times, store managers even share their own opinions about the store.

Mr. Utsugi：

A buyer must grasp the ever-changing market trends and immediately reflect them in stores, and real-time communication through LINE WORKS has been a great help. Real-time sharing of information, as well, has increased business efficiency, and buyers can now focus better on their duties. Communication has also become much more dynamic as members are contacting one another using softer wordings than emails.

Ms. Kashima：

Compared to the previous times when we shared information with one another at meetings, the speed has grown significantly faster after using LINE WORKS. Real-time information sharing has led us to experience positive changes on-site. Moreover, LINE WORKS stickers also help make communication livelier while creating a brighter atmosphere. LINE WORKS is not only used as a means of contact, but also as a means to establish better communication and motivate one another. The fact that anyone can share opinions and ideas is also a positive change.

 

Mr. Sawato：

Based on our company philosophy “Walk with the Sun”, we import clothing and goods from nationwide and sell them online. With the aim of making the company atmosphere more actively, we are striving to make changes to our company.

 

Mr. Satoshi：

As a Product Distribution Dept. head of Traditional Goods Headquarters, I am in charge of general management on warehouse, goods, and employees as well as general affairs. The warehouse that I am managing deals with every stock from our company, and it is more than 25,000 SKU(Stock Keeping Unit). Currently, we have about 100 employees. They are divided into Loading and Shipping department. They load and ship a large number of commodities everyday.

 

Mr. Shinya：

As a local manager, I am in charge of branches located in Kanto, Shizouka, and Karuizawa. I spend half a month in stores and the other half at the headquarters.

 

Mr. Masami：

As a member of Information Systems Department, I am in charge of company and branch systems as well as LINE WORKS operation management.

Mr. Sawato：

Before introducing LINE WORKS, we have been utilizing phone calls, emails, and computer messenger software as a means of interoffice communication. Official communication was mainly held with emails. However, because the emails could only be checked with a computer installed at each branch, a lot of employees felt uncomfortable with email communication. For this reason, shadow IT, using personal accounts such as using LINE for business purpose, has become serious problem to us. While searching for a resolution to solve this problem, we found LINE WORKS.

 

Mr. Masami：

It is impossible for System Management Department to manage the communication held through LINE. Also, if retired employee is still remained in the chatting room, there is a high risk of sensitive information leakage. Moreover, it was troublesome to share LINE IDs every single time. LINE was convenient to use for personal use, but inconvenient for business purpose.

Mr. Satoshi：

Previously, we used computers installed on-site and PHS to either deliver instruction or contact the employees outside the office. At that time, if we were to deliver detailed instructions on site, we had to go to the computer or print out the instructions. Thinking back to those times, it was a situation with full of unnecessary steps. For example, if our customer wants to make choices among the goods available in various color or pattern options, we had to actually print the attached photos and deliver it to the site. For this reason, we were finding a solution to reduce such work burden.

Mr. Shinya：

Scheduling with colleagues was very hard. Because we could only check the schedule through computers at the headquarters, I had to communicate with them through LINE.

Mr. Sawato：

Our company culture is to share information regardless of positions and this corresponds with strengths of LINE WORKS. Up to this point, we have been using all different tools such as email, messenger, and schedule. For this reason, we have been also thinking of adopting an all-in-one service tool that can manage everything at once. In this sense, we felt that LINE WORKS is a perfect fit for us. Since employees are already familiar with LINE, we thought that LINE WORKS can also be used without struggling. And eventually, this can lead to an overall communication and business efficiency of our company. We started to utilize LINE WORKS at the moment of the introduction by renting out the smartphones to the employees. We are currently using about 230 IDs for full-time employees.

Mr. Masami：

LINE WORKS is used mostly to contact the leader in the warehouse. I am basically working in the office, so it is crucial to keep in touch with the leader and get an idea of what is going on at the field. Currently, we use a group chatting room to manage what instructions the leader is ordering to each field employee. From loading to shipping, depending on its process, there are about 10 groups have been created with LINE WORKS. Each group includes leader, headquarters sales representative, Store Innovation Department, and product development members as necessary.

Mr. Shinya：

Managing schedule became much comfortable. I often have to closely contact and affiliate with the 9 local managers, managers of each branch, and colleagues from Store Innovation Department as well as from other Departments. While doing so, I also have to implement the business. After the introduction of LINE WORKS, however, it is now possible to check others’ schedules, making it easier for me to figure out their conditions of the working schedule.

Mr. Masami：

The biggest change is that we get more opportunities to make judgements at the field than before. Walking inside the big warehouse means that there is increase in walking time. Therefore, it is important point not to walk as much as possible. When we have to find the goods from the warehouse, we no longer have to go back to our office, in which the computer is located, to find out the location of the goods. Instead, we can now check the location through LINE WORKS installed smartphones. And we think this is the biggest advantage of the tool as well. Furthermore, if problem occurs, we can not only check the result but also the situation as well as the background of the problem through LINE WORKS chatting. This enables us to make decisions for problem resolution faster than before.

 

Mr. Shinya：

I believe that it became comfortable in every aspect. Previously, it was hard to continue communication since I could not find out whether the recipient read the email or not. After the introduction of LINE WORKS, however, it evoked a feeling of speed along with the notion that I can deliver information to the recipient in a prompt manner. Therefore, I feel like as if all the employees are connected through LINE WORKS. Efficiency has also increased throughout the working process. When using emails in the past, if there was an issue which needed to be discussed within all the employees, it took about half a day to come up with the final decision. After the introduction, however, it took only about an hour. We can also handle the work while heading to the branch offices.

Mr. Sawato：

I always thought that the communication which everyone can talk freely about the issues is very important. As office communication has become active than before, both quality and quantity of the communication has also increased. It is because LINE WORKS was well matched with our company culture, which is everyone participates in the communication regardless of the positions.

 

I think it is very important to share their own ideas or meeting logs with others, instead of keeping them on their own. It is also a great advantage that LINE WORKS makes it possible for us to make such information sharing possible. Unlike phone calls, LINE WORKS enables sharing information at preferred time frame. With this, I believe that LINE WORKS will be the main tool, which replaces the phone calls near in the future.

Mr. Kazuhiro :

Because our company mainly focuses on sales, most of our employees are salesperson and work outside the office often. As contacting tools, the salesperson took cellphone, PC, as well as mobile Wi-Fi which needed when connecting to internet at the field. We mainly used phone calls or email to share information. In order for us to check emails outside the office, we had to turn on the PC and use mobile Wi-Fi to access to company LAN. For this reason, it was uncomfortable when making contacts  and we were not well connected to one another.

 

Most importantly, as salesperson, we had trouble contacting our customers when we communicate through emails. Large portion of our clients are Large-scaled appliance stores and most the managers there are actually dealing with customers at the stores, not working at the desk. For this reason, it took a great amount of time for them to actually check the email. And, this was our great problem to be solved. We had several clients asking us to communicate via LINE. But, we could solely use LINE since there was a security problem of becoming shadow IT.

Mr. Kazuhiro :

The sales department activated connection with LINE and communicate with the customers including large-scaled stores via LINE WORKS. As an example of LINE WORKS utilization, when the area manager from headquarters send product distribution graph through LINE WORKS, the salesperson send the graph to the customer’s LINE account. Previously, we either printed the document or we turn on the PC and send via email. After the introduction of LINE WORKS, however, we can deliver the information to our clients without going back to our office. We started to lessen the use of papers since we no longer have to print out things.

 

We had to send emails for each purpose individually including simple greetings and contacts in the past. But with LINE WORKS, we could simply done it with stickers. The tool has also enabled us to finish our work at the field by allowing us to report the work log even without going back to the office. Also, we could shortened the wasted traveling time and use the time efficiently instead. That is, we could change the way of working.

 

In the communication perspective, as we can deliver the idea and thoughts to the entire company through push notification, delivery of idea and thoughts have become more actively held than before. We are feeling that every voice from our employee is well delivered to the whole.

Mr. Yukinori :

Contacts can be made simply and fast via LINE WORKS. We are utilizing the tool to communicate with the department in which support managing the order and delivery of the products. For example, we used to have phone calls and emails to make contacts like ‘Please check the order since we cannot dispatch the product due to its problem’. However, prompt reply to such message was often impossible, especially when the employees are giving out counsels. With LINE WORKS, however, we could immediately send the reply to simple matters, and eventually improved the contact speed.

 

Mr. Kei :

As we are responsible for supporting sales, we often share and communicate information about the order and delivery. It was unavoidable to experience delay in phone call communication if the communication partner did not answer the phone calls. It has become easier to prioritize tasks as we no longer have unnecessary waiting time. We are feeling that it is much easier for us to be connected to the sales after LINE WORKS introduction.

There were 3 missions which all the employees at out company were experiencing with regards to their working style. First problem was that communication, including emergency contacts, between headquarters, stores, and individuals did not work well. It was challenging for all of us to contact 1,800 employees including part-time job workers, share information on customer service, and communicate one another. Until the introduction of LINE WORKS, there was also a problem of shadow IT since employees sometimes used their personal LINE accounts for communication.

 

Second problem was that store telephone line was used often for in-company communication. Since each store has only one telephone line, if it was used as in-company communication, no other phone call can be received It is not a good idea to miss the phone calls from the customers due to the in-company communication. For this reason, we decided that it would be better to have a separate channel for communication with headquarters and leave the phone available for any possible incoming calls.

 

Last problem which we encountered was that we were lacking of communication tool that is ‘more than phone, but less than email’. In other words, we did not have enough means to communicate on the issue that is neither urgent nor sensitive. From globalization perspective, we have been thinking about how to realize such communication. For example, we even need a strategy when displaying glasses. If we want to check whether the display has been standardized for entire stores or not, we can simply take photos showing the condition of the display and share them through LINE WORKS.

 

I will tell you about the decisive factor which made us to turn to LINE WORKS under such circumstances.

Photo on a left side is a specific use case of LINE WORKS. Since contacts are displayed according to organization of the group, if admin from the headquarters manages the organization properly, LINE WORKS automatically reflects it. It is convenient to make group chatting room based on the groups made on either department or team basis. Even when the new employee joins our company, it is easy to find out the department assigned. Also, there is no need to hesitatingly ask for the contact information. With the smartphone notification, we can quickly notified and understand about the situation.

 

Photo on the right side is the example of LINE WORKS chatting. Almost same as LINE. While two participants were communicating through chatting, one participant called the other for urgent issue. The urgent issues was actually more like casual. Sometimes such communication, which seems to be so much obvious at the first glance, cannot be realized depending on the tool. Based its simplicity as well as short period of time required to get accustomed to the tool, the information sharing inside the store can now be smoothly made through LINE WORKS. For example, store staffs take photos of store displays and simply share the photos to the chatting room. Not having such situation like ‘Not knowing about the LINE WORKS usage’ is biggest contribution made to our company.