Yamada

Our company consists of three major divisions: the Precision Equipment Division, which handles machine tools and cleaning equipment; the High-Pressure Equipment Division, which provides solutions utilizing high-pressure pumps; and the PRI Division, which covers nuclear-related and robotics fields. Under our "Vision for 2029," we are promoting DX and data-driven management. Within this framework, our Sales Planning Department plays a role in cross-functionally integrating the sales activities of each division and advancing sales transformation through digital utilization.
While our company has grown based on its technical strengths, we felt that there was still significant room for digitalization in the sales domain. Our major mission is to build a system that accumulates and analyzes information obtained through sales activities, and leverages it for future proposals and marketing initiatives.

Yamada

That is correct. Because our company has long operated under a divisional structure, we inevitably faced a siloed state. Business card information and customer touchpoints acquired by one division were unknown to others. It was necessary to properly utilize information managed at the individual division level as a company-wide asset.
For example, even with the same heavy industry manufacturer, there may be departments involved in aircraft and others involved in nuclear power. The fact that one division could not see that another division was already approaching them was a significant weakness.

Yamada

Yes. We introduced kintone in 2017 and have been accumulating information related to sales activities, such as lead management, daily reports, and follow-up management after exhibitions. Information began to accumulate gradually, but as the number of apps and data increased, we needed to organize them in a way that made them easier to use for sales activities.
It is meaningless to simply record information; it must be linked to a customer master and made available for use across the entire company. It was necessary to accumulate business card information, sales reports, and project information by location and make them visible across divisions.

Yamada

Traditional exhibitions focused on displaying actual machines, exchanging business cards with visitors, and following up afterward. However, I felt that was not enough.
Depending on the product, it can take several years from initial contact to order receipt. With such long lead times, if we leave everything to individual sales representatives, omissions are bound to occur.
Therefore, we wanted to transform exhibitions from mere venues for acquiring business cards into places where we understand customer issues in advance and provide solutions on the day of the event. We call this pre-marketing, where we organize prospective customer information before the exhibition and manage the entire flow through to post-visit follow-up. To achieve this, we needed to connect accurate customer master data with sales activity data.

Yamada

Originally, we had multiple databases within the company and a vision to manage them using a common code. In that context, the idea emerged that uSonar's database, which holds codes at the branch level, would be an excellent fit. Our company wanted to manage customer information not just at the corporate level, but at the branch level as well. However, general database services tend to focus on corporate-level management, and it was difficult to find one that could manage data down to the branch level. Even within the same company, business activities, challenges, and the departments involved vary by branch or division. Since corporate-level data alone cannot capture the reality of sales activities, we needed to manage information by branch and visualize which business division is interacting with which branch. In that respect, uSonar's ability to manage codes at the branch level was a major attraction for us.

Yamada

At our company, we position kintone as the information infrastructure for our sales activities. We have aimed to consolidate daily reports, prospective deals, and customer information into kintone so that sales representatives and managers can work while viewing the same information. What was important was to ensure that sales representatives do not have to switch between multiple systems, but can reach the necessary information just by looking at kintone. By connecting uSonar's corporate information with the sales activity data on kintone, we believed we could go beyond a simple customer master and visualize which department has what kind of touchpoint with which customer. We also valued the fact that the customer master can be kept up-to-date as information is refreshed based on LBC codes. We felt that having data updated in near real-time, rather than just cleaning it once and being done, is crucial for its use in sales activities.

Yamada

It was important not only to digitize business cards but also to make it visible across the entire company who has connections with which companies and locations. By linking business card information with customer master data, sales reports, and project information, it can be utilized for sales activities across different business divisions.
Additionally, we anticipated leveraging the business card information accumulated in kintone for marketing initiatives. We aimed to utilize customer information company-wide and connect it to future targeting and sales strategies. We determined that uSonar was the most suitable foundation for this purpose. I believe that the corporate database determines the accuracy of business card management.

Yamada

First, the fact that we have established a foundation for utilizing data in sales and marketing is significant. By linking the business card information, sales reports, and negotiation history accumulated in kintone with uSonar's corporate information, it has transformed from mere records into data that can be used for analysis and strategy.
Under our "Vision for 2029," we are promoting DX and data-driven management. To achieve this, it is necessary to properly accumulate information obtained through sales activities and keep it in a usable state. With the customer master data organized and connected to sales activities and business card information, I feel that the groundwork for data-driven sales and marketing has been established.

Yamada

Yes. Business card information acquired via mSonar is stored in kintone and subsequently integrated with our MA tools. In the MA tool, we can segment audiences using LBC industry classifications and employee counts to refine our distribution targets. Previously, follow-ups for business cards and customer touchpoints obtained at exhibitions were primarily conducted after the event. However, we have shifted our process to organize prospect information and initiate outreach before the exhibition, allowing us to provide more concrete proposals during the event.

Yamada

I feel that cross-selling across business divisions is expanding. There are cases where multiple divisions can propose different products or technologies to the same company or corporate group. With customer information now organized, it has become easier to consider what proposals other divisions can offer to our existing clients.

Yamada

Compared to before the implementation, our system for integrating with internal systems has improved. As a next step, we intend to utilize our proprietary customer and sales data to extract prospects and perform AI-driven analysis. By analyzing the commonalities and trends of high-value customers that were previously unidentified, and reflecting those insights in our targeting, we aim to improve the precision of our Field Sales (FS), Inside Sales (IS), and marketing initiatives. Furthermore, by utilizing PLANSonar, we also intend to work on identifying white space and creating strategic lists that we have not had contact with before. By combining our internal data with external information, we aim to clarify which industries and sectors hold potential and which companies we should approach. We will continue to promote data-driven sales and marketing activities, and by communicating the value of our technologies and products more clearly to a wider range of customers, we aim to contribute further to society.