Rinnai Corporation Promotes Sales digital trnsformation by Introducing UPWARD Sales Engagement Service

(Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Ryusuke Kaneki; URL: https://upward.jp), whose mission is to "Innovate the Last Mile in the Field," announced today that on June 7, 2022, "UPWARD," which automatically visualizes all customer touchpointdata logwithout any burden on the field, will be adopted by Rinnai Corporation (Headquarters: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; President & CEO: Hiroyasu Naito; URL: https://upward.jp; hereinafter "Rinnai") as its sales support service. (Headquarters: Nagoya, Aichi, Japan; CEO: Hiroyasu Naito; URL: https://www.rinnai.co.jp/; hereafter "Rinnai") as its sales support service.

BACKGROUND OF THE INTRODUCTION OF UPWARD AT RINNAI

IN ORDER TO ENHANCE PROFITABILITY THROUGH THE USE OF CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT DATA, RINNAI TOOK ON THE CHALLENGE OF EXPANDING THE BRAND EXPERIENCE THROUGH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND STRENGTHENING CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT SALES PARTNERS AND CONSUMERS AS A MEANS OF TRANSFORMING ITS SALES OPERATIONS. IN ORDER TO BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH CUSTOMER, WE WERE CONSIDERING THE INTRODUCTION OF A SALES SUPPORT SERVICE TO COLLECT ESSENTIAL CUSTOMER NEEDS IN ONLINE AND OFFLINE CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT THROUGH SALES REPRESENTATIVES. TO THIS END, WE INTRODUCED "UPWARD," A MOBILE APP THAT ENABLES EASY REPORTING OF ACTIVITIES FROM THE FIELD AND AUTOMATIC TABULATION AND ANALYSIS OF LOGCUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT DATA. THIS WILL IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION BY ENABLING MORE ESSENTIAL SALES MANAGEMENT AND BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, AND BY IMPROVING REPRODUCIBILITY THROUGH THE COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT INFORMATION.

Hideyuki Shiraki, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of Sales Division and General Manager of Sales Department, Rinnai Corporation, comments

We will celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2020, and last year we announced a new medium-term management plan, New ERA 2025. The key strategic story of the plan is "transformation of our corporate structure," and we aim to invest heavily in intangible assets, strengthen profitability, and transform ourselves into a consumer-oriented company. In order to steadily realize this transformation, we are now promoting a company-wide digital transformation. In order to become an organization that can move from the customer's perspective and increase the value we provide to our customers, we decided to introduce a sales support service. Using "UPWARD," we would like to properly accumulate and analyze customer touchpoint data held by sales representatives and turn it into a corporate asset to strengthen cooperation with our customers. We want to further strengthen our relationships of trust with our customers and have them say, "Only Rinnai can do that. UPWARD is accompanied by a well-developed customer success team, and I look forward to their support in helping us realize this vision.

MASAYUKI KAGA, MANAGER, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONPROMOTION GROUP, SALES MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, SALES DIVISION, RINNAI CORPORATION, COMMENTS

WE AT RINNAI ARE COMMITTED TO FURTHER IMPROVING OUR SALES EFFICIENCY AND THE VALUE WE PROVIDE TO OUR CUSTOMERS FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS. TO ACHIEVE THIS, WE WANT TO LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY AND DATA TO ENRICH OUR CUSTOMERS' PURCHASING EXPERIENCE. HOW CAN WE EFFICIENTLY HAVE REGULAR CONTACT POINTS WITH CUSTOMERS, LOG, AND APPLY THEM TO THE NEXT SALES ACTIVITY? WHEN WE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW WE COULD REDUCE THE WORK COSTS OF OUR SALES STAFF AND SPEND MORE TIME ON CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT, "UPWARD," A PLATFORM THAT IS EASY FOR ANYONE TO USE AND AUTOMATICALLY VISUALIZES THE INFORMATION ENTERED, WAS AN EXCELLENT MATCH. WE HOPE TO PROVIDE A HEALTHY AND COMFORTABLE LIFESTYLE TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE THROUGH THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SALES THROUGH "UPWARD" BY REDUCING THE WORKLOAD ON THE FRONTLINE WHILE IMPROVING PROFITABILITY AND THE VALUE WE PROVIDE TO CUSTOMERS.

∙ THE STRENGTH OF UPWARD, WHICH PROMOTES SALES DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONFOR MAJOR MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

FOR SALESPEOPLE IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY, WHERE REGULAR CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT ARE ESSENTIAL FOR GATHERING CUSTOMER NEEDS AND IMPROVING VALUE, THE COLLECTION AND ACCUMULATION OF CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT DATA TO IMPROVE TRAVEL EFFICIENCY AND COLLABORATION WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION UPWARD IS A KEY ELEMENT IN THIS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION. UPWARD" HAS BEEN DEVELOPED FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF FIELD SALES REPRESENTATIVES, FOCUSING ON THIS "LAST MILE IN THE FIELD" TO REALIZE DATA ENTRY THAT DOES NOT PLACE A BURDEN ON THE SALES FIELD. CURRENTLY, MORE THAN 300 COMPANIES, MAINLY IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY AND OTHER MAJOR COMPANIES, HAVE INTRODUCED THE SYSTEM AS A TOOL TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE SALES FIELD. BY PROMOTING THE USE OF MOBILE DEVICES ON THE GO, CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT DATA CAN BE LOG A MORE TIMELY AND ACCURATE MANNER, ENABLING A FASTER PDCA CYCLE OF SALES ACTIVITIES. IT ALSO SUPPORTS NEW SALES WORK STYLES, SUCH AS GOING DIRECTLY TO THE OFFICE, REMOTE WORK SUPPORT USING MOBILE DEVICE LOCATION INFORMATION, AND TELEPHONE ACTIVITY LOG. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT "UPWARD" CASE STUDIES.

https://www.upward.jp/case