Case Study｜CentCare Holding K.K.

*Scenes of the application of the system in the sales field can also be seen in the video.

To break away from manual work and promote a change in work style.

-What is the nature of your company's business? 

Mr. Shiozawa: We mainly provide home-visit services such as home-care, home-bathing, and home-nursing services, multifunctional services such as small-scale multifunctional in-home nursing care, and home-care services such as day care services.
There are 31 group companies, 901 offices, and 12,000 employees involved in the provision of services. 

-What prompted you to introduce UPWARD? 

Mr. Shiozawa: The nursing care field is really a "paper" culture, and there is a lot of handwritten work. In addition, Excel is used to create handwritten forms. One of the reasons for this change was the desire to get rid of paper and Excel, even if only a little.
I thought that this would change the way staff members work, improve their work efficiency, and allow them to spend more time on customer care, including conferences, and improve the quality of care while generating time for work. 

Support system and stay detection functions were decisive factors.

-Were there any deciding factors in your choice of UPWARD? 

Mr. Shiozawa: There were three major deciding factors in choosing UPWARD. The first was the support system. It would have been difficult for us to promote the project on our own, so it was reassuring for us to have someone with a variety of knowledge and experience to support us.
　We also chose UPWARD from the viewpoint of how secure it would be in terms of security, including information leakage, by converting from paper to ICT. 

Mizuno: UPWARD's patented stay detection function is a great match for the way we work in the field, regardless of the nursing care industry.
　We chose UPWARD because we felt that the system's ability to automatically list the places visited and report from that list is a great match for the nursing care industry. 

Communication with both field and leadership to promote retention and utilization

-What steps have you taken since the introduction of the new system to make it take root? 

Mr. Mizuno: This time, four group companies were implementing the system at the same time, and the number of users was about 180. Because of the large number of users, we felt it was necessary to take a step-by-step approach.
　We started by creating a common manual for the entire group, so that users could learn how to use the system from initial setup to simple usage.
　After that, we held several hands-on in-house briefings focusing on basic usage, and our first priority was to ensure that users could use the system in their work. 

-What are some of the most important innovations you have made? 

Mizuno: After the hands-on training session for the entire group, we held a separate training session for the on-site leaders, focusing on how to utilize the data obtained through the dashboard and reporting functions.
　I am glad we did this, because now that the leaders understand how the data accumulated in the field will be used, they themselves are taking a direct approach to the field, saying, "Make sure you put the data in properly. 

No more input work after returning to the office, and overtime hours are reduced in a short period of time.

-How do you currently use UPWARD in your business? 

Mr. Umezu: We are using mobile phones to input the details of our visits to care managers with one-touch operation. Also, we used to look for the next destination on the spot, but now we open the map on UPWARD and use the 5 or 10 minutes we have left to visit the destination displayed on the map. 

-What are the effects of the introduction of the system? 

Mr. Umezu: It was a pleasant change to be able to visit offices with which we had not had a relationship before.
　Also, until now I had to visit each business office one by one, make notes in a notebook, and enter them into Excel when I got back. By inputting the information in real time, we are now able to make clear entries about the situation at the time of the visit. 

Mr. Shiozawa: Data from before and after the introduction of the system is beginning to emerge. As for changes in terms of numbers, verification shows that the amount of overtime per person has decreased from about 13 hours per month to less than 10 hours now, even in such a short period of time. Although the number of departments that have introduced this system is still limited, we believe that horizontal deployment of this system will lead to reforms in the way we work. 

To continue to provide services that delight the community

-Please give us a final message. 

Mr. Shiozawa: I am very glad that we introduced UPWARD, as I have seen how it is being used onsite. The nursing care industry is still very much a paper-based industry, but we are reforming the way we work while introducing this kind of system. We must also continue to provide services that please our clients and the community. We believe that this will lead to more satisfaction for our staff, and although the reforms are still in the process of being implemented, we would like to continue to promote them.