Nihonkai Gas adopts AI voice bot “commubo” for Service reception

Softfront Japan Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Softfront Holdings Co., Ltd., is pleased to announce that its AI voice bot “commubo” has been adopted by Nihonkai Gas Co., Ltd.

Background of introduction: Promoting cloud computing and automation to solve medium- to long-term management issues

Nihonkai Gas, which has been working to solve medium- to long-term management issues in order to achieve its NEXT Vision for 2030, replaced its traditional on-premise PBX with BIZTEL, a cloud-based CTI system, in its call center division, aiming to reduce the costs and burden of equipment upgrades, implement BCP measures, and accommodate diverse working styles.

After introducing BIZTEL, the company branched between directing customers to the website via IVR and having a human respond. However, in order to encourage customers to resolve their issues themselves and reduce the burden on operators, the company considered automating the process using cloud tools as its next step. Given the high volume of calls for routine tasks, the company decided to consider introducing a voicebot.

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Selection points: BIZTEL integration, scenario customization, speed of implementation and operation, etc.

Nihonkai Gas placed importance on speed in order to achieve the goals set in its medium-term management plan within three years. After receiving proposals from multiple vendors, the company evaluated commubo based on the following points, leading to its selection:

Collaboration with BIZTEL (prerequisite for selection)

Ability to customize and build scenarios in-house

Inexpensive and good performance

Short implementation period

Thorough support

High voice recognition

Effects of implementation: Maintaining response rate despite reduced seating capacity, and responding to increased call volume during busy periods

To automate the process, the call center started small, focusing on the reception of requests for starting gas service (turning on) from among their routine tasks. In cooperation with the DX Promotion Group, which is the support department, they worked to adjust the scenario with knowledge of both DX and the field. As a result, by not only implementing commubo’s response content but also separately building automation using RPA linked to commubo, they were able to simplify work, including post-processing, and put in place a system that comprehensively reduces operational burden by having operators only double-check the reception content and respond to customers who require additional contact.

As a result of the implementation, despite the reduction in the number of seats compared to last year, the response rate has remained roughly the same, and a system has been created that can handle increased call volume during busy periods. It is expected that employees will have more time to focus on complex responses and handle irregular work.

The company’s mid-term management plan includes many customer-related initiatives, and as the number of points of contact between the call center and customers is set to increase in the future, it plans to further promote the automation of routine tasks so that manned operators have more time to handle tasks that should be handled by humans.

SOURCE: PRTimes