Mr. Ono：

Located in Kanagawa, our company operates the visiting rehabilitation massage business by a masseur who owns national certificate. We also operate stress-relieving salon that lessens daily tiredness or muscle stiffness using five senses and other related business. We are operating 8 visiting rehabilitation massage stores and 5 stress-relieving salon stores.

 

Mr. Takeuchi：

I am part of the General Affairs Department, and responsible for managing the company’s vehicle, PCs, and company borrowed cellular phones.

 

Mr. Hasegawa：

I am in charge of visiting rehabilitation massage business. In addition, I visit customer’s house as a masseur and I manage the schedule of staff members as head of the office, simultaneously.

Mr. Ono：

The number of employees who were only a few at the company’s foundation year in 2000 has now grown up to 130 employees. As the company’s size grew year after year, we believed that the speed of communication would become more important than before. Also, we value people as we put a company’s fundamental policy. Especially, in hopes of improving capacity and becoming outstanding individuals, we actively have been conducting the training workshop for executive staffs.

 

We all felt that, in order to work faster, it is important to make quick responses to the contacts. We think that there are limitations to enhance response rates using communication tools like email or telephone. Until now, the employees have used bulletin boards on the company’s website installed by each Department manager. Field employees, those who have hard time to meet each other due to different work time, used company’s SNS to contact each other. We thought that introducing a convenient communication tool may enhance communication speed than before.

 

Mr. Hasegawa：

It was only morning hours that I can physically meet the employees. For this reason, I basically contacted them through company mobile phone or personal mobile phone. However, I often felt uncomfortable with this due to time limitation.

 

Mr. Takeuchi：

We have used SMS since we rented out 2G phones to our employees up until now. However, I felt that SMS as well as 2G phones were inconvenient to use because contacts need to be re-registered every time when device changes.

Mr. Takeuchi：

In the fall of 2017, the company introduced LINE WORKS as we changed the company rental mobile phone from 2G phone to smartphone. LINE WORKS, an application available both on the PC and smartphone, was very attractive because we wanted to create an environment where office employees can easily communicate with field employees. I looked over several different tools. However, I gave up on introducing them because employees were unable to get used to them in the trial and there was a need for the training session in order to make every employee member be proficient.

 

Mr. Hasegawa：

LINE WORKS provides video call feature, and it has been a crucial factor to introduce it since Mr. Ono wanted to hold a video conference. LINE WORKS, unlike other traditional communication tools, was also very attractive because it provides Read notification feature to find out whether a message has been read or not.

 

Mr. Ono：

When we introduce LINE WORKS, the internal IT Department set up rules such as ‘Messages that arrive after 8 p.m. can be answered the next morning’ or ‘No need to use closing remarks at the end of the message’ to make LINE WORKS usage pleasant. In addition, each business unit came up with different ideas to make a variety of uses of LINE WORKS.

Mr. Ono：

Currently, a total of 32 employees in administrative positions like senior executives, director of each sales office, and store manager are using LINE WORKS. we can send opinions to the executives easily as well as accommodate with executives’ opinion better than before. Also, there are executives who exchange personal information like ‘My baby has born’ or upload company PR videos via LINE WORKS to share information actively. Our company values ‘A well-communicated environment’ as the most important measure and we think that LINE WORKS is making a huge contribution to create such environment. Up until now, we have been hearing from employees through face to face interviews or written survey. However, I think we will be able to take advantage of LINE WORKS Form functions near in the future.

Mr. Hasegawa：

If the customer is in bad condition and cancel the visiting schedule on that day, we need to make contact immediately to field employees, who are assigned to visit the customer’s house. We can make contacts faster through LINE WORKS than by phone or email. Also, if the sent messages are notified as read, we can assure that ‘the recipients have read the message’, even if there is no reply.

 

There are times when we care for customers with a team of external physical therapists or occupational therapists whom are contracted by care managers. And we are mostly using LINE WORKS to make connection to their LINE account and exchange information in real time. Up to this point, the telephone calls have been central to our communication. But, there was a limited amount of time to receive the call and communicate through the phone. Therefore, we often had to call several times to find the most suitable time for communication. After the introduction of LINE WORKS, communication became smoother.Also, we can share customer’s health status and family situations on team’s group chatting room, which enables to achieve care system with better customer satisfaction measurement.

 

Mr. Takeuchi：

Because LINE WORKS enables us to find out whether the message has been read or not, we can make decisions faster than before. If an emergency situation occurs at the field we visit, we have to contact our boss about the issue and ask for the solution. When doing so, if we find out the message is not read by the boss, we can immediately make judgement to contact another boss and ask for the resolution. And this is very convenient.

Mr. Takeuchi：

LINE WORKS made company’s overall communication more active than before because it is easier to express an opinion than email or telephone. In order to confirm each other’s opinion, we use LINE WORKS, which has fast response speed and we can use the appropriate tool for purpose with the contact that needs searching or accumulation can be done by email.

Mr. Hasegawa：

We have discussed various company-level agendas such as new plans and responses through face-to-face meetings. But, now we are actively using LINE WORKS Message function to do so. As a result, face-to-face meetings have turned from a discussion to decision making and final confirmation, allowing more time to spend efficiently. The introduction of LINE WORKS created an atmosphere for the new director to express their opinion freely.

 

Mr. Ono：

We believe that the adoption of LINE WORKS enabled us to achieve a ‘well-communicated environment = better working environment’ and strengthened the connection between our executives. As more and more employees are now expressing their opinions, I think I can hear about them more when compared with past years. Communication and decision-making procedures are certainly faster than before, and we expect that these changes can lead us to better performance in the future.

Mr. Maruyama：

Our company raise milk cow and deliver 13 to 15 tons of milk daily. Myself, as a leader of the farm, I am taking leading roles in financial and production management.

 

Mr. Okada：

I am in charge of overall management of the farm, including taking care of the calves and cows, as well as the employees working on site.

 

Ms. Hasegawa：

I am in charge of managing feedstuffs for milk cows.

Mr. Maruyama：

Since the average age of the employees is about 25-26, which is comparatively younger generation, we previously used LINE as a company communication tool. What was the most problematic at that time was sending the wrong messages. In the past, because we were using the LINE for both private and business purpose, there was problem like sending the message to the colleagues, instead of sending it to the friends. It was risky and unstable in security perspective since we often share confidential information through messenger.

 

Also, in order to notify the symptom of the diseased milk cow in detail as well as to share professional information about the machine and facilities, we often share photos and videos through LINE. However, what we found problematic with LINE was that it was impossible to archive those attachments. For this reason, we hoped to use the business version of LINE if launched.

Mr. Maruyama：

Our company is planning to expand the business, and in the same sense, we are planning to increase the number of employees up to 100 near in the future. To build an organization and make improvements to the communication tool, we have been thinking that an IT tool should be introduced to our company.

 

While searching for a business communication tool that is similar to LINE, we found LINE WORKS on the internet. Because LINE WORKS enables us to manage all the employees based on their positions, we believed that this would help us constructing organization. Also, as a ‘business version of LINE’, it sounded interesting to us. Those who are working at the farm are not all IT intelligent, and therefore, maybe a few employees who are having hard time memorizing the usage of the new tool. If it were LINE WORKS, however, we believed that employees soon be able to get accustomed to the tool due to its similarities of LINE.

Ms. Hasegawa：

Honestly, I was a bit nervous about having another application since I am not good at using machines and internet. But, as I start to use LINE WORKS, I realized that it was easy-to-use. Also, it was not having group chatting rooms inside LINE, but having them inside the LINE WORKS. This enabled us to share information much easier. Because we are using two different applications, it was good to have different notifications, since it allows us to find out whether the message is for private or business purpose.

Mr. Maruyama：

Our company encourages not only the employees but also mechanics and vets to make LINE WORKS accounts. If one of our machines is broken, we can directly send messages to the chatting room, in which mechanics as well as related people are also participating. This way, everyone can figure out the issue immediately, and does not forget to order pieces for repair. In addition, as all the employees share both symptoms and medical record of diseased cow through LINE WORKS, even with those who were not at the office could respond promptly to such issue. This has also contributed to maintain the health of the cow.

Mr. Okada：

We share information about milk cows’ childbirth as well as daily issues through messenger. We also upload meeting logs to the board. Previously, if we had a meeting with specific employees or project members, we used to print out the computer-written meeting logs and told the employees to write names on the paper if they read the log. With LINE WORKS board, however, it allows us to read the meeting log whenever we want and we can also find out whether every employee has read the log or not.

 

Ms. Hasegawa：

I am sharing information with all the employees with regards to feeding the milk cows. We decide the amount of the feed to give to the milk cow next day, based on how much did the milk cows eat their feeds on the day. And bad conditioned feed is one of the reasons to consider. We constantly share information in order to track what are the ingredients are included in the feed and act accordingly to it.

After the introduction of LINE WORKS, various changes are made to our company, and it helped us with efficient working as well as human resource management.

 

Because it is a tool that we use on a daily basis, we can follow the rules regularly

In order to keep the resting place for cows as clean as possible, we put sawdust on the cow bed. Before using LINE WORKS, random employees, who thought about changing the sawdust did the cleaning once in two years. But, after the introduction, we started to write the cleaning schedule on the Calendar to do the cleaning once every three months. As a result, we could sustain the beddings for the cows clean and ultimately, we could also reduce the possibilities of cows getting diseases.

 

 

We can save unnecessary time for travel since we are able to check about 200 manuals using smartphone

We have about 200 manuals on the works needed in the farm, such as milking and coping method for cow disease. Before the introduction, all the manuals are saved on the computers located inside the office. For this reason, we had to go to the office to check the manual. After introduction, however, it became much comfortable for us since we can save all the manuals at the drive and download them on my smartphone whenever wanted.

 

‘Listening to opinion’ has become our new culture. And, with this, we could successfully finish our cleaning project!

We had a problem keeping the farm clean and neat for a long time. After the introduction of LINE WORKS, however, we came up with a goal to make a successful story of making our farm clean. We immediately started an organization and cleaning project using the Note feature. The employees first visited and inspected the clean farms as an example, and we shared reports with photos attached to the Note in order to decide which farm to take it as an example. Furthermore, we conducted a survey asking questions like what are the problems at our farm and which part of our farm should be cleaned. Two months later, we could successfully finish our cleaning project and keep our farm clean. In fact, the project was meant to be started 3 years ago, but it did not go well at the time. Because we could gather up all the employees’ ideas and thoughts in one place, there was no detailed idea made regarding the project. With Note and Survey feature, we could share thoughts and ideas and listen to others as well. We believe this motivated all the employees in our company.

 

We were able to create a business credo that reflects the will of the employees

As the number of employees increase, we were constantly thinking about documenting the company’s business credo as well as value of the farm with the aim of keeping our corporate climate strong and tight. To do this, all the employees gathered through the LINE WORKS Survey feature. All the employees answered what they thought about the social significance and responsibility of Asagiri Maple Farm. Before the introduction of LINE WORKS, employee’ comments were received via written memo or verbal communication. Also, we had to fill the excel form to accumulate the survey result. The overall process was burdening for all of us. We also had difficulty communicating opinion with others. LINE WORKS survey, however, was very easy to use. Because collecting and sharing opinion became so easy, the feature has enabled us to create our business credo together with our employees.

By sharing and checking up calves’ birth in real time, the calves’ fatal death rate has been reduced from 10% to 5%.

Our company had a mission to reduce the calves’ fatal death rate since we had a bit higher rate when compared with other farms. For this reason, we started to use LINE WORKS Messenger feature to increase the frequency of observing cows and share the situation in real-time. As all the employees are able to acknowledge about the condition of the cows, we could be more cautious and pay more attention to those cows. About 6 months after the introducing LINE WORKS, we could reduce the fatal death rate from 10% to 5%.

Mr. Maruyama：

As information sharing became smoother, we can process all the projects harmoniously. In corporate perspective, growth rate as well as group gathering force have also increased. Moreover, as we can now manage our work, efficiency of production management has improved, which is positive change made to our company.

Mr. Takeshi：

Our company is a welfare-related business that operated more than 200 nursing facilities and care homes in Saitama, Tokyo, and Kanagawa. I am at the business management department, which mainly focuses on operations management. In our company, there is a System Department and the main job is to manage company network maintenance, nursing fee charge, accounting system planning and management. ICT maintenance has just taken its first step. So, the president Miyazawa asked me to take charge of ICT related planning and implementation. For this reason, I am in charge of the introduction of LINE WORKS.

 

Mr. Kunio：

Our company is divided into three different headquarters, Saitama, Saikyo and Kanagawa. I am a member of the operations department of the Saikyo Headquarters. There are seven supervisors in the operations department and I work with them to manage about 70 offices in the Saikyo headquarters. Up to this point, we have been communicating mostly by phone or e-mail. There were some employees using their personal LINE accounts. But, due to security policy issues, the company did not recommend using LINE accounts. Whereas, LINE was convenient when you have to contact in a hurry. For this reason, I was worried that I could not ban LINE unconditionally. For example, if you call a sales representative, he or she will not be able to answer the call while that sales representative is driving or with a facility attendance. Even if I send an e-mail, I could not verify whether the receiver has read or not so information was not delivered smoothly. In addition, there were some misunderstandings in the process of one employee delivers a message to another employee like a relay. And sometimes information got lost in the middle so our task was to adapt communication tool that enabled accurate information sharing.

Mr. Takeshi：

Up to this point, we have been communicating mostly by phone or e-mail. There were some employees using their personal LINE accounts. But, due to security policy issues, the company did not recommend using LINE accounts. Whereas, LINE was convenient when you have to contact in a hurry. For this reason, I was worried that I could not ban LINE unconditionally. For example, if you call a sales representative, he or she will not be able to answer the call while that sales representative is driving or with a facility attendance. Even if I send an e-mail, I could not verify whether the receiver has read or not so information was not delivered smoothly. In addition, there were some misunderstandings in the process of one employee delivers a message to another employee like a relay. And sometimes information got lost in the middle so our task was to adapt communication tool that enabled accurate information sharing.

Mr. Yuichi：

The purpose of LINE WORKS was to provide candid communication between the superior and staff member. Employees can get close to someone who has been difficult to communicate with. Before joining ALSOK group, ‘Top-Down’ culture existed in our company because the founder was the CEO. In the nursing business, the most important thing is work done in the field. So, it is our job to listen to the field staffs and make the working condition better. But because I was in the manager position, which is difficult to find our information besides peripheral information. I wanted to hear the real voice on the field.

 

 

Mr. Takeshi：

While we were providing mobile phones and tablet computers to outside workers like headquarters, manager of headquarters, sales representative and supervisors, we changed mobile phones to smartphones in the fall of 2016. When I was thinking of adopting a more work-friendly chatting tool that can be easily used on smartphones, one of our telecommunications companies introduced LINE WORKS to me. I found this tool was originally made for the company and therefore, security features were well-established. This led me to feel assured about integrating LINE WORKS to our company.Moreover, this tool has the same UI with that of LINE. This implied that there would be no trouble in terms of availability. I made a decision to adopt LINE WORKS after having a conversation with President Miyazawa and we did not have to review the other chatting tools.

Mr. Takeshi：

As we prepared for the adoption, about five employees, including Mr. Miyazawa and I, used LINE WORKS first and checked manual or application methods. We prepared by organizing the order of use and etc. by the manual. About a month later, we introduced LINE WORKS to 95 employees. Once LINE WORKS fully introduced to employees, we encouraged employees with less activity on LINE WORKS to use more frequently. Employees who do not send messages first or in areas where it is unnecessary to keep in close contact, there may need to make urgent contact through LINE WORKS so it is It is important to encourage employees to understand the information in advance.

Mr. Takeshi：

Specific use cases for LINE WORKS are daily reporting, contact, and consultation related to work. I think more than 50 percent of the information that I have been sharing by phone or e-mail have been exchanged by LINE WORKS. Not only you can share your work progress at once, but also you can assure that you have confirmed it with ‘read’ sign on message even you did not get a reply. Because message com in text-form, other employees think they don’t have to take notes and this reduced simple verification errors.

 

Also, I like the fact that you can exchange small talk with LINE WORKS, which is hard to do with computer mail. I also find difficulty facing with my superior but the president Yuichi is actively using stickers in LINE WORKS in order to change the company’s communication in a casual direction.

 

We also created a group to share supplies. Up to this point, if a single business place had closed and generated large quantities of supplies that had to be disposed of, it had been disposed of as industrial waste. In contrast, if we opened a new business office, we were buying the supplies we needed each time. It was a cost-effective procedure for both the disposal and the purchase. But now on when we get supplies that we don’t need anymore, we post a message to our group chat room, ‘Is there any office needs these supplies?’ to confirm or ‘I’m looking for ○○’ to transfer supplies among business offices. You can attach a photo using LINE WORKS so it is easy to recognize color and size. We are saving at least 10% by eliminating almost no disposal.

Mr. Kunio：

The nursing field is open 24 hours and 365 days. According to the care insurance policy, the number of employees should be arranged according to the area of the facility or the number of tenants and if there is a vacancy, we need to get help from another facility to make up for it. LINE WORKS is very convenient to communicate in an urgent situation like that.

Mr. Kunio：

Nursing field often deals with confidential information like the residents’ personal information. There are things that residents can’t say over the phone because the people around them will be able to hear. Until now, residents have to meet the person in charge face to face in order to figure out what’s going on. After LINE WORKS was introduced, by using personal contact via chat room, it made easier to recognize a situation and instruct orders. ‘Human’ is the core of the nursing business operations so there are human-centered troubles occurred. LINE WORKS improves the precision of communication so it can enable detection and response at an early stage before troubles become more serious.

 

Mr. Takeshi：

The biggest effect is faster response speed in an emergency situation. A few days ago, we had an infection at one of our offices, and we created a group chatting room to deliver a necessary message to employees who needed to be contacted at once. The one-day response process, such as who would response in the field, preparation of necessary supplies, and checking the nurses’ response, was completed within 10 minutes using LINE WORKS.

Also, the operation of nursing facilities provides the residents an invisible time and space. Nursing staffs have responsibility for supporting residents in a communal life to have a smooth daily routine and for excluding any distraction as soon as possible. In another business perspective, when we have on-day contact related to facility tours or urgent issues from hospital or care managers, it is important to contact rapidly with sales department representatives because it directly related to company’s reliability and sales. With LINE WORKS, employees are able to get in touch and response faster than before.