Noritz Corporation introduces UPWARD Sales Engagement Service

UPWARD Corporation (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Ryusuke Kaneki; hereinafter "UPWARD"), whose mission is to "innovate the last mile in the workplace", announces that on 25 April 2023, its sales engagement service UPWARD has been adopted as a sales support service by Noritz Co.

BACKGROUND OF THE INTRODUCTION OF UPWARD AT NORITSU

‍Noritsu has been using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales (hereafter Dynamics 365), a business app provided by Microsoft in the United States, as a CRM (customer information management system) since August 2020. Noritsu has been promoting digital transformation (hereafter referred to as " digital transformation ) with the aim of building a new sales model that emphasizes "connections" with customers by utilizing information on customer contacts obtained through distribution channels. The company has recently adopted "UPWARD" with the aim of improving sales quality by promoting digital transformation the sales frontlines. UPWARD AGENT," which enables "automatic detection of log stay" (patented Note 1) via smartphones and tablet terminals, reduces the time required for sales activity reporting without burdening the field, and aims to improve the productivity of the sales field. In addition, customer touchpoint information is linked to and stored in Dynamics 365, enabling visualization of sales progress linked to customer information on the "UPWARD MAP" (map). This will improve sales quality and promote further sales digital transformation through the formulation and execution of data-based sales strategies and plans.

JIRO HOSHINO, STRATEGIC PROMOTION PJ LEADER, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, PLANNING & ADMINISTRATION DIVISION, NORITSU CO.

‍We at Noritsu have been contributing to the improvement of living standards through technological innovation since our establishment in 1951, based on the principle that "baths make people happy. Therefore, we conduct our daily corporate activities with a strong sense of mission as a company that is responsible for lifelines. Nowadays, the way and speed of changes in the market environment are drastically changing along with innovations in digital technology. At the same time, the economic, environmental, and social values required of companies are changing dramatically. We are required to change on a daily basis, and we believe that we cannot continue to provide value that satisfies and even inspires our stakeholders unless we can change. Our decision to introduce the "UPWARD" platform is part of this transformation. We expect to be able to transform our business model into a "proactive sales force" that can provide the value sought by customers while reducing the workload on the front lines.

MR. TORU YOSHIKAWA, LEADER, SALES PROMOTION GROUP, PLANNING OFFICE, MARKETING PLANNING DEPARTMENT, NORITSU CO.

‍Even as the market environment continues to change, we aim to provide value that will be chosen by our customers. In this context, we have adopted the policy of "creating mechanisms to be chosen again" and are promoting the transformation of our corporate activities through the promotion of digital transformation. We decided to introduce "UPWARD" in order to change our sales style from conventional sales activities relying on experience and intuition to a sales style combining visualized data and real sales. We believe that visualized data will enable anyone to know the "targets to go to" from the "targets to go to," leading to an improvement in the overall quality of sales activities. digital transformation sales through UPWARD, we hope to build strong relationships with our customers and evolve into the Noritsu of choice by providing them with high value-added products, functions, and services.

MASAKI HONDA, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GENERAL MANAGER OF CORPORATE STRATEGY DIVISION, GENERAL MANAGER OF PARTNER BUSINESS DIVISION, AND GENERAL MANAGER OF ISV BUSINESS DIVISION, MICROSOFT JAPAN K.K.

Microsoft Japan sincerely welcomes the adoption of UPWARD's sales engagement service "UPWARD" as Noritsu's sales support service. By integrating "UPWARD" with "Dynamics 365", which Noritsu is using as its CRM, sales sites will be able to execute activity reports without any burden, and visualize accumulated customer data and sales progress on a map. We expect that further utilization of CRM and data-driven sales strategies and planning will lead to the promotion of the digital transformation sales frontline. Microsoft Japan will continue to collaborate with UPWARD to promote the digital transformation its customers.

Strengths of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and UPWARD

By combining UPWARD's services, which have provided sales digital transformationsupport to approximately 400 companies, mainly major corporations, with Microsoft's cloud services such as Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft Teams, Microsoft's recommended "Digital Feedback Loop," which turns data into intelligence, can be realized in the sales domain. The UPWARD service, which has been supporting the sales field, and Microsoft cloud services such as Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft Teams, will work together to realize the "Digital Feedback Loop" in the sales domain, which Microsoft recommends turning data into intelligence. We aim to spread more advanced sales engagement services by "building a data-driven sales organization" starting from customer touchpointdata from the sales field and "providing insights (awareness) to the field" by utilizing sales activity information and customer information on CRM.

・About UPWARD

UPWARD" is a sales engagement service that maximizes sales activities of field sales representatives by utilizing advanced location information technology to automatically detect and log sales activity data to CRM. By automatically displaying accumulated sales activity data and CRM data on a map and automatically notifying the most appropriate approach destination, UPWARD supports the formulation of strategic sales plans utilizing CRM data. For more information on "UPWARD," please visit https://upward.jp/feature/

1 UPWARD has been granted a patent for "automatic detection of stay log " (announced on October 29, 2021). Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Microsoft Teams are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Microsoft Teams are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.