Ever since its first establishment of ‘Café Rigoletto’ at Tokyo Kichijoji in 2005, HUGE Corp. has been operating more than 20 restaurants nationwide. We interviewed Matsuo Junzi from HUGE Corp. headquarters, who is in charge of LINE WORKS introduction, about the overall introduction process and following effects. We also interviewed Sekine Masakazu, an Okinawa store manager, about the LINE WORK use cases and their impressions on the tool.

Tell us about your company and individual roles

Mr. Matsuo :

With the motto of ‘Creating the restaurant in which the vibrant from the street is all gathered up’, we have been doing restaurant and wedding business. We are eager to make restaurants with the ‘quality that can be last more than 100 years’. As a leader of Information Systems department, I am the manager of every IT-related affairs in the office.

Mr. Sekine :

I am the manager of ‘POSILLIPO’, which is located in Senagashima , Okinawa Prefecture.

How did your company share information before LINE WORKS integration?

Mr. Matsuo :

Only part of the employees in the office were using communication tools like email, LINE, and company SNS. However, we had trouble unifying those communication tools to one channel. Also, we often used phone calls.

We guided our employees, specifically the part-time workers as well as general employees, to use computers that are located in each store when checking the company sent notices, since we did not provide email accounts to them. By doing so, we could not find out whether the notice is successfully sent to those employees or not, and we could only be relied onto the store managers for such management.

What were the issues before the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Matsuo :

We first integrated company SNS for better communication. However, employees were using LINE, instead of using SNS. We had to admit that using LINE is comfortable for inviting others to the messenger. Also, the UI and user instructions of LINE were easy to learn. But because LINE is B2C service, operated with users’ personal accounts, there were high chances of losing the data if they change the mobile device.

Further, we had trouble archiving the data collected on the application as well as saving the photos and videos shared due to its limited time provided for saving. Moreover, there were a few employees who updated their LINE profiles with their nicknames as well as photos of their pets. With this, we found troubling to take LINE as our office communication tool.

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

Mr. Matsuo :

Like I mentioned previously, our company was already using LINE as office communication tool. As an extension to this, we implemented free version of LINE WORKS and validated its properness. As a result, we found that there was no need for extra manual on LINE WORKS for employees, and we could also assure ourselves that immediate LINE WORKS integration could be possible with its LINE-like operation methods. At the end of this validation, we finally decided to introduce LINE WORKS to our company.

The thing which captivated us was that LINE WORKS exactly knew and understood the enterprise security and its managements and provide functions and supports accordingly. Even if LINE WORKS is a young blood in the business chatting industry, it already has the every function needed. With this, we, as a client, can further expect that LINE WORKS will fully be able to handle our functional development inquiries in the future. Not only the faithful features which impressed us, but also the reasonable rate was enchanting factor for choosing LINE WORKS.

How was your LINE WORKS integration?

Mr. Matsuo :

We thought that it would be difficult to implement the new collaboration tool just by preparing the system. For flawless introduction, the admin office prepared for the LINE WORKS accounts. First, we inserted photos and organizational information and set the initial password on each account. By doing so, the employees did not find any trouble utilizing the tool from their first time.

What are the responsibilities with the employees utilizing LINE WORKS?

Mr. Matsuo :

Currently, there are about 1,200 employees, including 300 regular employees and 800 temporary employees, utilizing LINE WORKS. We registered accounts for the temporary part-time job employees since we have to share work-related information with them as well. It is possible to operate LINE WORKS in various fields such as the providing supports after hiring process, since LINE WORKS messenger allows us to have 1:1 communication even with those potential candidates.

Were you be able to use LINE WORKS smoothly?

Mr. Sekine :

Yes, because LINE WORKS has similar interface to LINE app, we did not find any hardship. I believe that other employees will think the same way as I do.

How exactly LINE WORKS is being used?

Mr. Sekine :

We are utilizing LINE WORKS when sharing information to the members and the groups who need to know about the company decisions right away. Before LINE WORKS integration, we used to utilize LINE as a means to share such information. But, as soon as we implement LINE WORKS, the clear distinction between work and private communication has been created. I believe that such distinction is loved by our part-time job employees than myself.

Please tell us the most effective use case of LINE WORKS

Mr. Matsuo :

What we enthralled the most about LINE WORKS is that it enables the messages from the company representative director to be well delivered to all the employees, even to the part-time job workers. We believe that ‘temperature’ matters the most when it comes to the information. For example, it is important to share information directly with LINE WORKS, especially when we want to communicate on ideas or good practices to all the employees during the meeting. We all believe that it is very important to express one’s thoughts and feelings right away, even if it is not in well written or organized sentences.

Aside from that, we are using LINE WORKS as a substitute for the organization chart. We can check the contact information immediately when we want to find out who belongs to which store, when newly entered employees are first introduced, and when part-timer becomes a full-time employee. Because LINE WORKS profile provides the name and the photo that perfectly matches the actual person, it is making our work much easier to find out the colleagues and the peers. And, LINE WORKS definitely helps us improve our in-house communication and organizational relationships.

We used to have so-called “Profile Book”, which we collect all the employee profiles. We have now posted that at Home, instead of printing out the book and distributing the copies to everybody in the office. That means, LINE WORKS helps us identify who are the employees that work together.

What are the effects after the introduction of LINE WORKS?

Mr. Matsuo :

The speed for internal communication and information sharing has accelerated dramatically.

Also, we are now transforming into the shared organization since we can restore or reuse the information saved in LINE WORKS and use them as a manual. Personal communication and connections made in between employees have increased. Also, we can now archive all the shared data and knowledge.

Mr. Sekine :

Because Okinawa is geographically far from other stores, it was hard to deliver accurate information. Before we introduced LINE WORKS, we had to go ask them in person and obtain information. As a result, it was also hard for all employees to share the same consciousness. However, since we introduced LINE WORKS, we have been able to hear information from other stores fluently, and it also aids to develop employees’ self-consciousness.

For example, other store’s business meeting minutes are shared by all employees, including part-timers, and it is convenient to check them anytime, anywhere. In fact, we recognize that it is very helpful to improve our services as one of the employees, who have found shared good ideas from meeting minutes, try voluntarily to introduce service.

HUGE has the same brand name but it is not a franchise store and it does not possess a written manual. So every store has to build its own unique service from the beginning. To maintain this process, you always need to innovate in the way you work and not to be complacent. For the company’s point of view, it is important to have innovative tools to not miss the proper time.

Please let me know if there is anything you would like to try through LINE WORKS

Mr. Matsuo :

I want to utilize the Bot function. Currently, we are trying to link the POS system with LINE WORKS’ Bot to automatically send daily sales to the chat room. Moreover, I want to prepare a method for acquiring format by writing Q&A, like FAQ, using Bot or searching for necessary documents.

It would be great if the work-flow could be accomplished on LINE WORKS. My ultimate goal is to abolish company-email.

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