Interview Participant:
Mr. Yuichi Sugiyama, General Affairs Section, General Affairs Department 2, Omaezaki Plant, Kimura Foundry Co.

Reducing the number of man-hours spent on internal inquiries not only for general affairs but also for all indirect departments

-Please tell us about the background of your decision to introduce AI chatbots.

We are making company-wide efforts to "improve operations" to reduce the number of man-hours required for routine tasks through business analysis. In spite of such efforts to eliminate waste and systemization every year, for some reason, the total working hours of the general affairs staff had not decreased. When we investigated the reason for this by analyzing daily reports, we found that an extremely large number of man-hours were spent on responding to inquiries from within the company. Most of the inquiries were simple ones, such as about the company's internal systems, which could be easily answered by looking at the employment regulations.
We were spending a lot of time making and returning phone calls and typing emails, so we became interested in chatbots as a solution to this problem. I had known about chatbots for some time, but I had the impression that their accuracy and mechanisms were still developing, so I had not thought about implementing them.
However, in the past few years, the accuracy of AI chatbots has improved dramatically and maintenance has become easier, so I thought it would be a good idea and decided to proceed with the introduction.

-How many people were making inquiries prior to the introduction of the system?

There were only two people in my production area. There are about 400 employees, so the volume of inquiries was too much for two people to handle. The situation was similar in other districts. In addition, there was no FAQ at the time, so there were cases where we could not immediately respond to inquiries, so we felt the need to introduce some kind of system that could handle the situation.

-AI chatbot is a new technology, but were you able to smoothly obtain internal approval for its introduction? What were your key points?

The introduction of the system was costly, and we did not get approval easily, but we had a presentation meeting where we brought our improvement ideas to the company, and we presented our current business issues and solutions in front of the president, senior managing director, and board members, to get them interested in the project.
What we tried to do was not to cover only the category of general affairs, but to solve problems together with other indirect departments such as legal, human resources, information systems, shipping, purchasing, finance, and quality assurance, which had similar problems with internal inquiries.

HUE Chatbot" selected from about 20 similar services

-How did you proceed with product selection?

We visited trade shows and searched the Internet to meet with about 20 companies, received presentations on each product, and compared them. First, we drew a line based on our budget, and then narrowed it down to five companies based on ease of use and ease of maintenance. We then conducted a two-week trial of each of the five companies' products. We asked not only general managers but also section managers from other indirect departments to participate in the trials as project members. As a result of the trials from the perspective of both the employees who would use the products and those who would manage them, the members agreed that Works' "HUE Chatbot" was the best, and decided to introduce it.

-What were some of the difficulties you faced in preparing for and informing the public about the introduction of the system?

Since we were collaborating with members from multiple departments, it was a bit difficult to keep our awareness at the same level. We held a series of joint meetings to gain awareness of each other's ideas and to bring our perceptions in line with each other.
We notified employees of the introduction of the new system through a bulletin board set up within the company, a bulletin board on the groupware system, and an internal newsletter. At first, some employees rang or came directly to ask about the original inquiry method, so we asked them to give the new system a try. Also, managers such as section chiefs took the initiative to use the chatbot, so I think it naturally expanded. However, there were some cases where the chatbot was used once but forgotten after some time had passed. To increase the frequency of use, whenever there was a system revision or amendment, we would issue an announcement saying that we had updated the system and that people should try it.

-How do you feel about the usability and convenience of the HUE chatbot, such as the ease of updating it?

Even when making updates, we are able to operate the system intuitively and without having to review the manual. Even now, we receive inquiries by phone, but in such situations, we can use the "HUE Chatbot" as our own procedure manual because we can immediately answer the questions while looking at the sample answers from the "HUE Chatbot" as the person in charge.

-From which devices do your employees most often use the HUE Chatbot?

The "HUE Chatbot" can be used from either a smartphone or a PC, so there is a possibility that the shared PC is busy when we want to ask a question, and even employees who are not good at operating PCs can use their own smartphones to ask questions whenever they want, 24 hours a day, wherever they are, This is one of the points we expected from the chatbot.
I think this is also a good thing, because they can ask the HUE chatbot basic questions that are difficult to ask in person, such as privacy-related questions or basic questions that they are embarrassed to ask now, without having to meet face to face.

The number of calls from 70 to 80 inquiries was greatly reduced.

-Do you feel that it has reduced the number of man-hours spent by those who receive inquiries?

In general affairs, the number of calls from 70 to 80 inquiries a day has been reduced to 30 to 40.
The fact that we were able to actually systemize something that we had thought of in our heads was very significant, and our frontline members are very happy about it. We also got a good place in the annual awards that are given to management within the company for their improvement efforts.

-What is your message to companies that are considering implementing similar chatbots?

With the introduction of chatbots, simple inquiries can be automated. I think it was a no-brainer to include it because it allows us to focus on our core business. From an employee's point of view, they can make inquiries 24 hours a day without hesitation, and there is no time spent waiting for a response. I would highly recommend the introduction of "HUE Chatbot" because it is a win-win situation for both the management and the employees.

-What are your future prospects and expectations regarding the use of "HUE Chatbot"?

I would like to see the FAQ automatically added when there are questions that are "unanswered" at this time. It's hard to maintain that kind of thing, so it would be great if you could add it.

-Actually, we are planning to release it as a standard service in the next version upgrade. We are planning to release it as a standard service in the next version of the HUE Chatbot.

That would be great. Since "HUE Chatbot" is linked to ChatGPT, it would be great if we could utilize it via "HUE Chatbot" instead of having our own separate Google account. I would like to give it a try.

*This article is current as of January 2024

[Reference] New feature to make suggestions for creating Q&A based on inquiries that could not be answered (Ver. 1.0.2312)

We have released a new function that analyzes inquiries that could not be answered and suggests the creation of a Q&A. New Q&As can be created from the suggested Q&As, making maintenance easier.

*The functions and scope available for the standard and optional services differ.

After the interview

◆Comments from Mr. Sugiyama, who actually experienced the new function after its release:

I found it very practical as it suggested several common candidate responses to inquiries that would result in "no response. I think we will consider the necessity of registration from there. I don't think there will be any problem with its usability as it is easy to understand.

*The post-interview report is as of February 2024.

For more information about the HUE chatbot introduced by Kimura Foundry, please click here.

HUE chatbot product page:
https://www.worksap.co.jp/services/chatbot/

HUE Chatbot Product Download the Brochure page:
https://www.worksap.co.jp/services/chatbot/#form