KUREHA TRADING CORPORATION INTRODUCES NEXT-GENERATION MOBILE SFA "UPWARD," BREAKING FREE FROM SALES PERSONNEL "GENTRIFICATION" AND MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT

(Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Ryusuke Kaneki; URL: https://upward.jp), whose mission is to "Innovate the Last Mile in the Field," announced that on September 13, 2021, UPWARD STANDARD Edition, a cloud service that detects activity from location information and automatically log CRM, will be launched at Kureha Trading Co. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Fumihiko Yamada; URL: https: //www.kureha-trading.co.jp/; hereafter "Kureha Trading") as a sales activity support tool. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Fumihiko Yamada; URL: 95, hereafter "Kureha Trading") as a tool to support sales activities. Kureha Trading, which develops business as a specialized trading company selling products manufactured by the Kureha Group, is replacing its existing customer management system with UPWARD in order to promote information sharing and communication among sales representatives.

BACKGROUND OF THE INTRODUCTION OF UPWARD AT KUREHA TRADING CO.

KUREHA TRADING HAD ISSUES WITH SALES REPRESENTATIVES' WORK BEING ASSIGNED TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS AND INFORMATION BEING SHARED, SO THEY INTRODUCED A CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. HOWEVER, THE SYSTEM WAS NOT WELL STRUCTURED AFTER INTRODUCTION AND WAS NOT FULLY UTILIZED. IN ADDITION, THE REMOTE WORK ENVIRONMENT AT CORONA DISASTER MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR SALES REPRESENTATIVES TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER ON A DAILY BASIS, AND UPWARD WAS INTRODUCED TO ENABLE AUTOMATIC AND EASY REGISTRATION OF ACTIVITIES FROM A SMARTPHONE. BY REPORTING ACTIVITIES AND COORDINATING INFORMATION WITHOUT PLACING A BURDEN ON THE FIELD, UPWARD WILL REVITALIZE COMMUNICATION AMONG FIELD STAFF AND STRENGTHEN ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES.

Fumihiko Yamada, President and Representative Director, Kureha Trading Co.

THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT FOR US IN IMPLEMENTING UPWARD THIS TIME WAS "TO STRENGTHEN HORIZONTAL CONNECTIONS AMONG EMPLOYEES EVEN UNDER REMOTE WORKING CONDITIONS. OUR SALES ORGANIZATION IS LIKE A "SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP" CULTURE THAT LEAVES MUCH TO THE DISCRETION OF THE INDIVIDUAL, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, AND STRENGTHENING ONLINE COMMUNICATION WAS AN URGENT ISSUE AS REMOTE WORK INCREASES. WE DECIDED TO IMPLEMENT UPWARD BECAUSE WE WERE VERY ATTRACTED TO ITS FEATURES SUCH AS AUTOMATIC ACQUISITION OF LOCATION AND TIME SPENT, THE ABILITY TO USE VOICE INPUT TO INPUT CONTACT REPORTS WHILE MINIMIZING THE WORKLOAD, AND THE USE OF CHAT TOOLS TO AUTOMATICALLY DISTRIBUTE THE INPUT INFORMATION TO THE ENTIRE COMPANY AND SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE REGARDLESS OF LOCATION OR TIME. WE DECIDED TO INTRODUCE THE SYSTEM BECAUSE WE FOUND IT VERY APPEALING. BY CENTRALIZING CUSTOMER INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE FIELD AND MAKING IT ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE IN THE COMPANY, WE HOPE TO MAKE IT EASIER TO GET THE WORD OUT AND RESPOND QUICKLY TO CUSTOMERS, LEADING TO GREATER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND IMPROVED BUSINESS PERFORMANCE.

UPWARD" IS BEING INTRODUCED ONE AFTER ANOTHER IN THE MANUFACTURING AND WHOLESALE INDUSTRIES.

UPWARD has been implemented by approximately 300 companies, mainly in the manufacturing and wholesale industries. With the Corona disaster and the trend toward fewer face-to-face meetings, sales representatives who need to dig deeper into the issues and needs of key customers are required to improve the quality of communication at each and every customer touchpoint. By promoting mobile reporting of activities, more timely and accurate customer touchpoint information can be obtained, and by utilizing UPWARD, the PDCA cycle of sales activities can be implemented. UPWARD also supports new sales work styles in the with-corona society, such as going directly to the customer's site, remote work management based on location information, and automatic activity log phone calls. For more information on UPWARD case studies, please visit https://upward.jp/case/