Please tell us about your business, roles, and responsibilities

Mr. Hiroi:

Our company operates ‘Atema Kogen Belnatio’ accommodating a hotel, a golf course, and various nature activities in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture. As a manager of the Management Department, I am in charge of general affairs and human resources, system operation, facility management, etc.

 

Mr. Kanazawa:

As the General Affairs·HR manager of the Management Department, I take care of system -related management such as salary, attendance check, and introduction and maintenance of PC. I am also involved in operating and managing LINE WORKS.

 

Mr. Saiki:

As a manager of the Guest Relations Department, I am in charge of overall customer service for resort facilities including hotel and restaurants.

What were some difficulties that you had before introducing LINE WORKS?

Mr. Hiroi:

Our resort started getting more spotlight after winning Gold for the ‘Rakuten Travel Award 2017,’ an award given to accommodations with exceptional user reviews. In order to provide and maintain quality service, employees need to communicate closely and share information seamlessly. Nevertheless, the risk of ‘shadow IT’—confidential information being leaked while employees share work-related information through mobile devices— has emerged as an important issue to be solved.

Mr. Kanazawa:

We used groupware technology to announce various kinds of information in the office, but checking them frequently was a challenge since information could only be accessed through a PC in your designated seat. As prompt sharing of information with employees in reception is a must to manage a resort, we had to consider an additional communication tool.

 

Mr. Saiki:

In the Guest Relations Department, we adjust the shift schedule of about 50 employees to match the number of customers each day. In order to do this, we contacted employees through phone or mail, but some staff off-duty could not be reached, and some employees who did not own company-provided mobile phones felt burdened to share their private phone numbers.

Please tell us why you chose LINE WORKS, and how your LINE WORKS integration was

How exactly is LINE WORKS being used? Please tell us more about its effects

Mr. Kanazawa:

We have naturally come to use LINE WORKS when making work-related personal contacts, and groupware when delivering information across the enterprise. It is a rule not to carry a mobile device in reception except for the staff in charge of emergency contacts, so we asked employees to use LINE WORKS in the back yard. As a result, we could feel that information we needed to share with reception employees was being communicated faster than before.

 

Mr. Hiroi:

Unlike groupware where you have to access it to check information, we can receive a LINE WORKS alarm anywhere in the resort. This has significantly reduced the time it takes for sharing information, and in turn sped up the general work process.

Mr. Saiki:

Every day, our resort runs five shuttle busses that connect hotels to various regions such as Tokyo and Niigata, and when the number of passengers increases due to sudden bookings, we also need to increase the number of customer service employees to prevent chaotic situations. After introducing LINE WORKS, it has become easier to ask night-duty personnel to come to work early, on bus arrival time. We can also contact employees with much ease and clarity when we urgently need to change work shifts, due to emergencies like sudden banquet reservations.

 

When we notice any damage in the facility and need to get approval for repair and changes in room layout, we send photos to our supervisor and ask for judgement. Before, we used to print out the photos or send them through groupware, so sometimes it took us two to three days for the supervisor to reply if he was on a business trip. After introducing LINE WORKS, we can get real-time instructions, as supervisors can immediately reply wherever they are.

 

Moreover, we created an ‘emergency network‘ group that includes every employee in the Guest Relations Department, and could quickly share information by contacting everyone at once at times of customer emergency like illness or injury. When calling an ambulance, we managed to build a system where employees with spare work time can quickly collaborate and handle the situation. We believe that boosting the speed for information sharing through LINE WORKS is also helping to make customers feel safe and reassured.

What kind of changes did you experience after introducing LINE WORKS, in terms of work environment and work style?

Mr. Hiroi:

With LINE WORKS, you can call someone whom you don’t have the number of. Moreover, I believe that there is more communication now with the use of message rooms, and teamwork improved.

 

Before, employees used to make reports and ask for consultations mostly through phone calls, but after the introduction of LINE WORKS we are using phone calls only in times of emergency—most other issues are delivered through messages. As we receive less and less work-related calls on the holidays, we can sense quality improvement in personal time.

How would you like to utilize LINE WORKS in the future?

Mr. Saiki:

I think we might utilize the integration feature for external conversations. Then we will be able to use the service for contacting buyers in the beverage sector. At the moment we are making contacts mostly through the phone, but if we could keep such conversations in record, we would be able to manage the order-to-delivery process more efficiently.

 

Mr. Hiroi:

I would like to use ‘Form’ and build a system where we can check employee status in case of emergency.

 

Moreover, every week, the management staff get together to report on what happened during the week— I would like to utilize voice and video call feature so that even employees in the Tokyo branch can take part and share information face-to-face. I believe that the risk of ‘shadow IT’ that has been a big challenge has decreased, but since it hasn’t been long since the introduction of the service, we plan to continue in our efforts to establish regulations to use LINE WORKS more safely, and to utilize its various features.

Eyewear brand ‘Zoff’

Based on the management philosophy ‘Serve our customers with care and contribute to our society through glasses’, the company is aim to provide quality service as well as customer service by taking care of the entire production process, from design to manufacture. The company operates about 180 stores nationwide in Japan with 1,800 employees. The company has also international branches in Singapore and China. Centered in Shanghai, the company operates about 20 stores in China, and we opened our first Singapore store on April, 2017. We are planning to open a new branch in Hong Kong as well.

Ever since its establishment, the company has been providing quality eyewear products with reasonable price for 15 years by pursuing manufacture retail SPA model, which the company covers the entire production process including design and manufacture. Based on our action guide and keywords which are, Japan Quality: Monozukuri (Craftsmanship), Always Fresh: Launch 2 new products every month, and Fast Service: Provide the service within 30 minutes, we are providing the service with ‘reasonable price’.

3 problems that eyewear brand ‘Zoff’ was experiencing with regards to ‘work style’

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.

Kumamoto earthquake accelerated the maintenance of means for emergency communication.

One of the momentums was the Kumamoto earthquake occurred in April, 2016. After that, building up the emergency contacts including part-time staffs became the important task to solve. And, urgent review was carried out to ensure the communication between individuals. During the review, we have verified various aspects on the communication tools including the third-party products, and ultimately decided to choose LINE WORKS.

First reason why we chose LINE WORKS is that chatting and calling features are integrated into one service and the tool is smartphone-based. It may sound obvious, but in fact, there were not many tools that could be used smoothly on both PC and smartphone. Second reason is that although it is part which almost every enterprise-targeted tools have, LINE WORKS enables us to both manage and take bulk actions on all the accounts at once, and also provides smartphone notification alert. There were not many tools which push notifications on a number of alerts received. Last reason is that ‘because it is LINE’, and therefore, we can easily use the tool. This was the part that we all found very ‘persuasive’ about the introduction.

Take Kumamoto earthquake as an opportunity, we have decided to strengthen the foundation of store-related communication in order to solve the problems on the way of making emergency contacts as well as working style. Since we did not have an official office communication tool, we were at the state of shadow IT. Employees have used their personal LINE accounts to contact their colleagues. We also had a privacy problems such as employees refusing to open up their personal LINE account ID as well as the phone numbers. There was no way to contact one another if it is hard to ask for their contact information or expect to share it voluntarily. Even with trivial contacts, when thinking about all the 180 stores, the waste of communication soon becomes a serious loss for us. One of the reasons for our decision was to prevent our company from such loss by introducing the official communication tool.

‘Zero inquiry’ was received from 1,800 employees including part-time staffs during the introduction

We provided LINE WORKS accounts to every employees, including staffs from headquarters and store as well. Actually, we have more than 1,800 LINE WORKS accounts since we have given the accounts to the international store staffs as well as part-time staffs. Because our biggest goal for LINE WORKS introduction is to have emergency contact for employee safety confirmation, store staffs are using LINE WORKS with their own device (BYOD). Also, we have given the LINE WORKS accounts to those company-provided smartphones located in each store.

After trying out free trial version for about a month, we have decided to introduce LINE WORKS to entire company. Furthermore, he have completed introduction of LINE WORKS to every store and the employees located in Japan within 3 months after. As we expected, LINE WORKS was well introduced and used by our employees. We neither received any inquiry from our employees nor prepared for a manual or presentation during the introduction since usage of LINE WORKS is similar to that of LINE. Other tools would not have been so easy like this. Once again, we felt that such part was good enough to choose LINE WORKS.

It does not take a long time to get used to it with its simplicity. Sharing know-hows can be casually done!

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.

Expecting for a combination with new technologies like AI near in the future

We think that LINE WORKS has a high possibility of making further development near in the future since it is a high quality communication tool for enterprises. If LINE WORKS can be easily connected to other tools like Active Directory, the admin for the each enterprise would feel less burdened. Moreover, what we expect from LINE WORKS is the possibility of connecting the original in-company systems with the incorporation of the new technologies, while keeping the user interface and functions those are similar to LINE. Lastly, it would be better if LINE WORKS provides international level of supports and maintenance as global market strategy to reach out for the international market.

※ 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.