We interviewed WEST Co., Inc., the company, in which dispatched the Assistant Director (AD) to the broadcasting company, about LINE WORKS implementation. The company first introduced LINE WORKS for communication between AD employees working at TV program production field and sales coordinators. We listen further from Mr. Shimazaki and Mr. Onose about the LINE WORKS integration.
Each Sales coordinator takes care of 30 dispatched AD employees!
Impossible to figure out whether messages are properly delivered to each coordinator due to an absence of unified communication tool
WEST Co., Inc., well known for offering delicate care to AD employees, sales coordinators meet each AD employee at least once a month to ask for concerns they encountered while dispatched to the field. Since it is standard for AD employees to work at each broadcasting company, they normally did not have company-issued email account. For this reason, before enterprise communication tool was introduced to the company, either work rescheduling or communication have been made through email, SMS, and LINE. Each sales coordinator takes care of 30 AD employees. However, there was a problem that the contact method was all different for each AD, and the mail sent from the computer was often declined or not properly received by mobile phone. Also, sales coordinator could not figure out whether AD checked the email. This has caused the overall communication burdensome and definitely took a lot of time.
We first introduced other enterprise communication tool, but integration has failed
About a year ago, WEST Co., Inc. introduced enterprise-level communication tool, hoping to hold more efficient communication. It is true that the company achieved their goal in the perspective of making their communication more effective than before. However, the tool could not successfully be integrated into the company due to its difficult operation method. There were a lot of AD employees who failed to utilize the tool. The situation that not being able to check whether the employees read the message was not improved as they wished. For this reason, the company decided to introduce LINE WORKS, which has easy usage, interface, and ‘Read confirmation’ function like LINE. This was also believed to be the right choice for younger AD employees in since most of them are the active user of LINE.
After integration, we could immediately feel how comfortable LINE WORKS is
Just by transforming their communication tool into LINE WORKS, WEST Co., Inc. has been able to add employees to the company contacts as well as start group chatting much easier than before. Furthermore, the AD employees who had trouble using the messenger or those who only use LINE, could also easily been adapted to LINE WORKS with no extra training or education. Particularly, Mr. Shimazaki, a sales coordinator who had to contact many AD employees, is deeply feels the convenience of the ‘Read confirmation’ function. If the employee instantly checks the message he sends, he considers the moment as the right time to make a call. On the contrary, if the employee does not read the message for a long time, he considers the employee as busy and wait for a reply. Like this, communication has become possible to be made according to the situation of the other party. Because LINE WORKS provides ‘Read notification’ feature, its usability is going beyond that of LINE in terms of finding out who read the message or not.
We can concentrate more on work-related communication by distinguishing it from the other
For Mr. Onose, who works at the TV program production field, had to use various communication channels including LINE and smartphone email to communicate with employees or directors from different program production teams. After LINE WORKS integration, office communication has centralized into one collaboration app. It has caused him to be able to distinguish work-related communication from other personal ones. This has also caused him to hold active communication with the clear understanding of the purpose.
The introduction of LINE WORKS has reduced the sense of distance and we can still grasp the situation even if we cannot meet in person
In the field of broadcasting production, where the intensity of work is high, it is most important to quickly identify and improve the anxieties or the tangled relationship of AD employees. In WEST Co., Inc., the sales coordinator must meet with the AD employee once a month to hear their story. For example, the change of the assigned program or work shift schedule of the week may cause the employee problems related to human relationships. And, this may have never been heard unless meet them in person. Regarding this issue, Mr. Shimazaki, a sales coordinator, feels that LINE WORKS has close the distance between the AD employees, and made it easier to hear the relationships and troubles at work from the parties and the surrounding friends of AD employee. As an AD employee, Mr. Onose feels that it has become comfortable holding casual conversation with LINE stickers. Also, he believes that it enables communication with the sales coordinator to be made easier, even when there is no scheduled meeting. LINE WORKS is being used not only for business contacts, but also utilized as an ideal communication tool that helps communicate emotions among the employees. With all this, more delicate care is possible.
※ All details, affiliations, and positions specified were gathered at the time of interview.
