Bewith's Digital Transformation (DX) Strategy | Corporate Information

Digital Transformation Basic Policy

A company that continues to grow healthily from its roots to budding leaves
"Creating budding leaves in society" and "Strengthening the roots of society."

Our management vision is to be "a company that continues to grow healthily from its roots to budding leaves." Through the sale of Omnia LINK, our budding new business, and the operation of advanced contact center and BPO services utilizing Omnia LINK, we will "create budding leaves in society" by improving productivity and fostering human resource development in Japan.

Recently, we have observed a shift toward labor-saving measures driven by digitalization and brick-and-mortar store closures. Even in such times, we remain firmly aware of the role of contact centers as a social infrastructure that provides equitable services to all customers regardless of where they live, and we will continue to adapt accordingly. Another key feature of our Company, with its cloud-based Omnia LINK system, is that we provide an "environment where employees can work from anywhere."

As Japan enters an era of declining birthrates and an aging population, the number of working caregivers is expected to increase. Bewith Group companies are uniquely positioned to provide a work environment where employees can balance family care and career development. We believe these initiatives are the values that we provide that represent our vision of "strengthening the roots of society."

A diagram illustrating how the Company contributes to social issues through social value—strengthening the foundation of society (supporting services in Japan, bridging digital and human resources)—and economic value—creating new opportunities in society (expanding sales and operating income, maximizing corporate value)

Scenarios illustrating the impact of digitization on our business

The contact center/BPO business accounts for the majority of Bewith's sales.
Due to digitalization, this business faces the threat of being replaced by automated responses and AI. Here at our Company, we saw these threats as opportunities and, early on, pursued strategies to enhance the value and differentiation of our service model, including the development of the Omnia LINK cloud PBX and UnisonConnect, an online customer service system. We expect that AI will increasingly automate simple operations, while areas requiring human intervention will become more complex and, thus, more valuable.

The importance of digital technology and the direction of digital utilization within our management vision

Bewith places digital development and technology at the core of its management strategy. We focus on providing advanced operations as a service—operations that cannot be replaced by AI—while leveraging systems and human expertise to expand the market and acquire new customers. We aim to increase company-wide profit margins by selling in-house digital products such as Omnia LINK and UnisonConnect, which offer higher profit margins than contact center and BPO services.

Use of AI in Contact Center BPO

One of Bewith’s greatest strengths is Omnia LINK, a cloud PBX developed in-house.
Omnia LINK is an all-in-one system that covers all the functions required for a contact center, and more than 80% of our contact centers use Omnia LINK.

Use of Speech Recognition

Speech recognition technology, which converts customer-operator conversations into text, is already in use in more than 25% of the market and is becoming increasingly common. Omnia LINK has speech recognition as a standard feature, making it easy to implement. The benefits of using speech recognition are as follows:

1. Visualization of operations: Converting speech into text makes conversations with customers visible and easier to analyze. The "Keyword Alert Function" enables immediate identification of responses that require follow-up.
2. Analysis of customer feedback: Converting large volumes of speech data into lightweight text data enables analysis based on real customer feedback.
3. Interaction with applications via speech text: Converting speech into text makes it possible to integrate with various applications, such as FAQ recommendations, automatic response evaluation, and automatic summarization of response logs. It also expands options in the use of generative AI.

Visualization of operations through Speech Recognition

Bottom-up DX improvement system

Bewith employees work on the front lines of operations, which gives them many ideas for improving operations using robots and AI. Initially, the headquarters' Digital AI Function Development Department collected these ideas and supported DX (Digital Transformation) initiatives. Now that the front line staff understand key points of DX improvement, we have assigned promotion leaders to each site and shifted to a bottom-up approach for improvement activities.

Improvement examples and ideas from each area are consolidated at headquarters, where a system is in place to manage the use of robots and technology while providing resources and training opportunities to each department.

In a bottom-up improvement structure, the COD and Digital AI Function Development Department are responsible for providing each site's environment, training, and management. Promotion leaders and members at each site collaborate horizontally, sharing ideas and case studies, which are then validated, used for training, and incorporated into management.

Proposals that utilize DX

In contact center BPO, proposing improvements through the use of digital technology is essential. At Bewith, sales engineers accompany client visits from the proposal stage, listening in detail to their vision and challenges, to provide the best digital solutions. We then propose the best solution for our customers.

Furthermore, when necessary, we collaborate with our group companies, iBRID and Do-I-Net, to provide contact center BPO services, including system development.

Sales engineers provide advice based on interviews

Sales engineers begin the consultation process with requirements definition, followed by system design, development, and implementation support. We then design, build, and operate call center and BPO services.

Organizational structure to support DX

At Bewith, various departments work together to support our clients' digitally DX in their operations.

1. Sophistication and DX of functions in contact center BPO: Digital AI Function Development Department: This Department performs business DX to improve on-site productivity, such as RPA and AIOCR.

Do-I-Net: An IT company based in Nagasaki and a consolidated subsidiary of Bewith. Responsible for developing CRM and other systems tailored for each
customer.
2. Upgrading of Omnia LINK: iBRID: Consolidated subsidiary of Bewith, in charge of Omnia LINK development.

Omnia LINK Business Division: Responsible for system configuration and customer support for Omnia LINK external sales business clients.
3. Infrastructure development: IT Infrastructure Department: Responsible for the development of networks and other infrastructures
4. New business stimulation: Alliance Promotion Department: A department that creates new value through collaboration with companies that have technologies that we do not have

Digital Lab Nagasaki: New product development by hiring a certain number of new graduates from universities in Nagasaki Prefecture every year
5. Training system: Quality Management Department: A department that supports the UX program and a new business development program

Responsible for designing training programs to teach foundational DX knowledge to contact center and BPO supervisors

DX Training Structure

We have established the following five stages of digital human resources.

1.

Understanding DX
2.

Tolerance and acceptance of DX
3.

Problem Solving with DX
4.

Value Creation with DX
5.

Commercialization through DX

Of the above, the goal is to have 80% of employees (contract employees and above) to reach a proficiency level 3 where they can solve problems using DX. This improvement is expected to be achieved through employee training.

We plan to have 15% of the total workforce capable of level 5, value creation and commercialization through DX. This will be achieved through training by internal transfers and external recruitment.

Chart of what we consider different DX levels to be and understanding/proficiency with DX

Efforts to create the next Omnia LINK

Bewith considers Omnia LINK, developed for its existing business, a success story and is continuously exploring new ventures that could become the next Omnia LINK.

Online customer service system

As banks and securities firms continue to downsize their branches, we anticipated a "service gap" in rural areas. To address this, we developed UnisonConnect, a system that enables online "business negotiations, applications, identity verification, and contracts," ensuring that rural areas receive the same level of customer service as urban areas.
Regional banks and consumer electronics manufacturers are utilizing this system, driving a shift toward consolidating in-store customer service into contact centers.

UnisonConnect Product Overview. Customer benefits: no need to visit a store, same-day processing, and well-informed guidance. Company benefits: reduced travel time and trade area expansion, reduced contract lead time, and quality assurance by professional personnel

Online training system

Bewith was among the first to launch home-based contact center operations, but the final challenge was system training. Operator training requires carefully monitoring each operator's system interactions. To address this challenge, we developed Be-mon, a system that allows remote monitoring of both home operators' system interactions and facial expressions.

Additionally, this system includes a feature that allows instructors to address a specific participant during training, a capability that was difficult to achieve with conventional online conferencing systems. This online training system was made possible by Bewith's experience in contact center management.

Supervisors utilizing the online training system

Omni-Channel Solutions

In response to consumer feedback that "chatbots have never solved my problems," Bewith began developing Tetory, a highly accurate new omni-channel solution. The solution enables AI to quickly handle text-based customer interactions and seamlessly transfer to a human operator when AI cannot resolve the issue.

Through this system, companies not only enhance productivity but also empower end-users with self-service options, leading to an improved customer experience. Smooth connection to operators via chat or phone allows users to resolve issues without stress.

Illustration of the Omni-Channel Solution