NEW FEATURE "PHONE ACTIVITY LOG" ADDED TO UPWARD AGENT

～ACCELERATE THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SALES FORCE BY STREAMLINING THE LOG VISIT AND CALL ACTIVITIES.

(Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO & President: Ryusuke Kaneki; URL: https://upward.jp), whose vision is to "Innovate the Last Mile in the Field," announced on March 1, 2021 the addition of a new "phone activity log" function to its mobile sales support app "UPWARD app " that combines CRM and location information. UPWARD AGENT", a mobile sales support app that combines CRM and location information. This new feature allows users to easily keep a phone activity log in addition customer touchpointlogcustomer touchpoint visits, which has been emphasized up to now, to accurately log "when, who, and what kind of customer touchpoint was made" at the sales site, even under remote work conditions, to maximize sales time, and to improve sales efficiency. This system maximizes sales time and accelerates the digital transformation sales field with the Corona Disaster.

・BACKGROUND ON THE ADDITION OF UPWARD AGENT'S NEW FEATURE "TELEPHONE ACTIVITY LOG".

UPWARD HAS BEEN PROVIDING SOLUTIONS FOR FIELD SALES TO MANAGE AND LOGOFFLINE CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINTDATA USING LOCATION DATA.

HOWEVER, THE SPREAD OF THE NEW CORONAVIRUS HAS DRASTICALLY REDUCED OPPORTUNITIES FOR DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES, ESPECIALLY IN THE TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA. 87% OF CUSTOMERS IN UPWARD'S OWN CUSTOMER SURVEY CONDUCTED IN MAY 2020 HAD REFRAINED FROM SOME OR ALL OF THEIR DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES ACTIVITIES.

WHAT FUNCTIONS DO CUSTOMERS NEED NOW THAT FACE-TO-FACE SALES OPPORTUNITIES ARE DECREASING AND CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT CHANNELS ARE BECOMING MORE DIVERSE? WE BELIEVE THAT THE TELEPHONE PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE, SECOND ONLY TO THE VISIT, IN BUILDING RAPPORT, COMMUNICATING DETAILED NUANCES, AND MAKING THE FINAL PUSH, ALL OF WHICH ARE INDISPENSABLE IN CLOSING A BUSINESS DEAL. WITH THE CORONA DISASTER, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "PHONE" CHANNEL HAS BEEN INCREASING AS THE NUMBER OF IN-PERSON VISITS HAS BEEN REDUCED. THE "TELEPHONE ACTIVITY LOG," WHICH IS VALUED BY MANY SALESPEOPLE, BUT WHICH COULD NOT BE ENTERED INTO THE SYSTEM BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM, HAS NOT BEEN RETAINED. BY EASILY CONVERTING THEM INTO QUANTITATIVE DATA AND LOG THEM, IT IS POSSIBLE TO PERFORM PDCA BASED ON REAL ACTIVITY DATA BOTH ONLINE AND OFFLINE. WITH THE MORE POWERFUL UPWARD AGENT, WE WILL REALIZE A SALES STYLE SUITED TO THE NEW NORMAL ERA.

FOR FRONTLINE SALESPEOPLE, THE TELEPHONE IS THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT CHANNEL AFTER THE VISIT.

With the mission of "Innovation of the last one mile," we have been providing solutions mainly for field salespeople. Last year, we released "UPWARD AGENT," which automates field sales activities, and has been well received by many customers as a SaaS that promotes digital transformation the field. For salespeople working in the field, the telephone is the second most important channel after the in-person visit. We are confident that the addition of a new function to UPWARD AGENT that automatically registers telephone activity log, such as telephone calls, to the sales force (CRM) will further accelerate the "visualization of customer touchpoint " in the sales field in the new normal era.

WE WANT TO MAXIMIZE THE VALUE OF UPWARD AGENT BY BEING ABLE TO MAKE THE PHONE CALLS THAT ARE ESSENTIAL TO SALES AT LOG." - MICHIAKI WATSUDA, TECH TEAM, UPWARD CORPORATION (NEW FEATURE DEVELOPER)

This feature has received a great deal of attention within the company, and from the early stages of development, we worked with our Sales Department and Customer Success Department to review and develop the proposed specifications. By obtaining feedback from the departments that are in daily contact with our customers, we were able to create a function that not only automatically log phone activity, but also makes it easy to make phone calls and to report on them after log. We hope you will take advantage of this feature. We are very happy if UPWARD AGENT can help you accumulate smart activity data and concentrate on your creative sales activities. We will be very happy if UPWARD AGENT allows us to store activity data in a smart way so that we can concentrate on creative sales activities.

WHAT IS "UPWARD AGENT" AND THE NEW FEATURE "TELEPHONE ACTIVITY LOG"?

UPWARD AGENT, an app released by UPWARD Corporation in July 2020, is a mobile SFA that reduces the stress of reporting and ensures smooth management of activities by connecting highly accurate location information using patent-pending technology to CRM. By increasing data entry rates and the accuracy and immediacy of information, it provides suggestions on what action to take next. With this new feature, users can make calls to contacts registered in Salesforce from the UPWARD app. The results of the call are automatically log into Salesforce, and the information obtained from the call can be entered with a few taps on the app. If the caller is not available, an activity log is automatically log to indicate that the caller is not available. Combined with the automatic location detection function of the existing app, salespeople can maximize their sales time by streamlining both visit and call log. Managers can also monitor sales activities in real time, allowing for appropriate management even when working remotely. UPWARD AGENT is a "personal sales assistant" that accompanies salespeople on the sales floor.