Validation of Technology Solutions for Contact Centers

「This service combines Zoom Contact Center, a cloud-based contact center provided by ZVC JAPAN Corporation, the Japanese subsidiary of Zoom Communications Inc. of the United States, with Zoom Virtual Agent, a conversational AI chatbot that provides automated responses 24 hours a day, to support municipalities in transforming their contact centers into AI contact centers on an end-to-end basis.」

「We completed development of “Knowledge Generator,” the first solution created by extracting part of the process from “Hybrid Operation Loop,” a contact center automation solution under development through the activities of Generative AI Co-Creation Lab.」

「During the interim consolidated accounting period, as part of our “standardization” initiative, “BUJIDAS,” an AI service providing voice prompts to prevent cattle from becoming unable to stand, developed by NTT TechnoCross Corporation and provided jointly with us, received the Excellence Award in the Sustainability Transformation (SX) category of the Japan DX Awards 2025. The service was recognized for its unique and practical solution and its focus on preventing specific losses in the livestock industry, namely livestock deaths, using AI technology.」

「In November 2024, we began developing “Hybrid Operation Loop” for provision through this program, a solution that uses generative AI to automate contact centers. This initiative combines the latest technologies held by technology companies, including Microsoft Japan, with the Company’s diverse contact center expertise to design our proprietary hybrid human-and-AI operational loop process based on the concept of “Human-in-the-Loop,” in which AI and people jointly perform tasks, thereby achieving contact center automation adaptable to the individual environments of various industries.」

「We launched Generative AI Co-Creation Lab., a program in which user companies participate and share case studies among participating companies, with the aim of building a hybrid contact center combining generative AI and people. We aim to introduce this service at approximately 10 companies by fiscal 2025.」

「We also entered into a business partnership agreement with Taiwan-based Intumit Inc., which develops and provides cutting-edge AI platforms, for the joint development, provision and operational collaboration of solutions that automate customer support. In addition to developing new joint services for Taiwan initially and subsequently for Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries, we will expand sales channels to customers of both companies.」

「During the cumulative third-quarter consolidated period, we jointly conducted a proof-of-concept project with Microsoft Japan and Google Cloud using generative AI for contact center operations, with the aim of transforming the contact center business. Based on the results of this project, we will promote the development of hybrid contact center automation designed to achieve the “almost fully automated” operations we seek through collaboration between people and AI. As part of our further use of generative AI, we have also begun internal use of “GPT-4 Turbo,” the ChatGPT API newly released by OpenAI (U.S.) on 7 November 2023, for 10,000 employees, including those of domestic group companies.」

「Amid expected growth in demand for services for foreign visitors to Japan, we partnered with KONICA MINOLTA,INC. and began providing a hybrid human-and-AI, three-way multilingual interpretation service using its “KOTOBAL” multilingual interpretation system. Users can choose between AI-based automatic translation and accurate, attentive interpretation by an operator. Online interpretation by operators is available in 13 languages, including English, Chinese, Korean and Spanish.」

「This service uses voice data solutions such as speech recognition, text mining and data analysis to process telephone interaction histories and deliver optimal customer support, thereby increasing customers’ willingness to purchase and directly contributing to client companies’ business challenges, including marketing activities and higher sales.」

「The number of implementations of “AmiVoice® Communication Suite,” an AI speech recognition solution for contact centers provided by Advanced Media,Inc., exceeded 1,000 seats, including use by client companies and internally. Based on this track record, we will expand AmiVoice® Communication Suite as a standard contact center function and aim to reach approximately 2,000 seats by the end of February 2023. Accordingly, our contact centers will provide a system environment based on “BellCloud＋,” our proprietary next-generation cloud platform, combining a speech recognition system with AI-based automation functions such as chatbots and voicebots, and we will expand our outsourced contact center services as next-generation contact centers using increasingly advanced IT.」

「As part of our collaboration initiatives, we began providing a next-generation personalized contact center service with Treasure Data株式会社, based on the customer data platform “Treasure Data CDP(*) for Service” for contact centers.」

「During the cumulative third-quarter consolidated period, we began providing a data-driven “inside sales outsourcing service” jointly with RevComm, Inc., which develops and provides software and databases based on AI and voice technologies. The service uses “Miitel,” the AI-equipped cloud IP telephone service provided by RevComm that enables voice analysis, and provides one-stop support ranging from launching and operating inside sales operations (non-visit-based sales) to improving and increasing the efficiency of sales activities through analysis of conversations. The service specializes in outsourced telephone sales for new customer development, an area of inside sales where specialized personnel are in short supply and initial setup is difficult, and can be established with just 1 seat. In addition, Miitel enables all voice data to be visualized and know-how to be accumulated, supporting not only higher conversion rates and service improvements but also product development and the planning of new services.」

「During the six-month period ended the second quarter, we jointly developed and began providing “ekubot Voice PRO,” a total solution that supports customers on a one-stop basis from introducing to establishing the operation of voicebots that automatically respond by voice to telephone inquiries at contact centers, using speech recognition, conversational AI and speech synthesis technologies, together with ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation, a comprehensive IT services company.」

「In our business operations, as consumers’ lifestyles, workstyles and values concerning services and products undergo major changes, we agreed with BellSystem24, ITOCHU Corporation and BrainPad Inc. to collaborate on creating new services that support companies’ digital transformation (hereinafter, “DX”) in marketing. The aim is to analyze and utilize in real time vast amounts of unstructured data, including digital data such as behavioral data on websites, particularly social media, as well as “dialogue data” accumulated at contact centers, which includes qualitative information specific to end users, such as their hobbies and preferences, in order to understand consumers’ increasingly complex needs.」

「During the cumulative second-quarter consolidated period, we established the Innovation & Communication Science Laboratory (hereinafter, “ICS Lab.”) within the Company to create a “next-generation contact center” that combines people with new technologies, through the proprietary development of “Machine Intelligence,” which integrates our years of operational expertise in contact center operations with new technology fields including AI, natural language processing, analytics and big data. Accordingly, we began providing proprietary AI technology services designed to improve the efficiency of responding to customer inquiries by email. These services comprise “Mopas™,” a highly accurate AI search engine specialized for contact center use, and “Knowledge Creator™,” an AI knowledge maintenance function (patent pending). We also began providing “ekubot™,” the entry-level model of a voicebot product that can automatically handle routine reception tasks, such as initial contact center inquiries, requests for materials and reservations, using automated voice responses without human intervention, tasks that previously required telephone support by communicators.」

「In anticipation of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we also began collaborating with Veeva Japan株式会社 to promote the appropriate use of pharmaceuticals through remote detailing, in which medical representatives (MRs), mainly employed by pharmaceutical companies, remotely provide information on pharmaceuticals to physicians and other healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting a healthcare system adapted to the “new lifestyle.” Through this collaboration, we will develop and begin offering this summer a joint solution that enables the rapid establishment, even during emergencies, of a remote detailing channel for secure communications between healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies.」

「We also launched the “Call Center Work Style Innovation Project” with our client De'Longhi Japan Co., Ltd., in collaboration with Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. and DataMesh Co., Ltd., to realize new ways of working in call center operations beyond constraints of time and location by using the latest digital technologies. Under the project, we will jointly develop and conduct demonstration testing of a solution using the MR technologies of Microsoft Japan and DataMesh, enabling customer support for De'Longhi products to be provided outside the call center.」

「We also began providing a new solution using “Help Lightning,” a remote-support tool based on mixed reality provided by Communication Business Avenue Inc., to remotely support complex tasks such as customer support in remote locations that are difficult to handle using voice alone, through integrated video streaming and other capabilities. We aim to use this solution in support operations across various fields, including consumer support in B2C businesses and complex maintenance work.」

「We have also begun introducing RPA for various routine operations, including contact center services provided to client companies, management of more than 30,000 personnel, and the issuance of applications and certificates, and will further expand its scope of implementation.」

「We have also begun introducing RPA for various routine operations, including call center services provided to client companies, management of more than 30,000 employees, and the issuance of applications and certificates, and will further expand its scope of implementation.」

「During the first quarter, we began jointly developing a digital customer service with Toppan Printing that enables the design and delivery of optimal customer experiences by integrating and analyzing customer feedback from word of mouth and chat through purchasing activity.」

「By leveraging the respective solutions and customer bases of Toppan Printing, which specializes in media production and back-office operations, and our group, which specializes in contact center operations, we will provide new services for companies across a broad range of industries and promote advanced BPO businesses using AI, RPA and other technologies.」

「Through this capital and business alliance, we and Toppan Printing will combine our respective customer bases, technologies and business expertise developed to date. In the BPO market, which is expected to expand further, we will work to enhance the corporate value of both companies through broad-ranging collaboration, including expanding existing businesses and researching and developing new services using technologies such as AI and RPA.」

「Through this acquisition, we aim to expand our business and accelerate expansion into new fields by incorporating into “Advanced CRM” and “Advanced BPO” the BPO business combining IT technologies promoted by CTC and the high-quality service desk and knowledge-management methods of CTCファーストコンタクト.」

「Through this acquisition, we aim to expand our business and accelerate expansion into new fields by incorporating into “Advanced CRM” and “Advanced BPO” the IT technologies promoted by CTC and the high-quality service desk and knowledge-management methods of CTCファーストコンタクト.」

「We also strengthened efforts to realize the “Advanced CRM (a-CRM) concept,” which provides solutions that use AI and other technologies to combine our group's operations with customer data, with a view to deploying marketing initiatives and using the solutions for automated responses.」

「We also strengthened efforts to realize the “Advanced CRM (a-CRM) concept,” which provides solutions that use AI and other technologies to combine our group's operations with customer data, with a view to deploying marketing initiatives and using the solutions for automated responses. In the BPO field, together with ITOCHU Corporation, CTC and others, we began validating new contact center technology solutions, including emotion-analysis technology that monitors the other party's emotions on screen and the introduction of AI technology, using speech recognition and text-mining technologies. We also agreed with ITOCHU Corporation and NTT DATA Corporation to acquire shares in Sorairo Co., Ltd., which provides AI-based web customer-service solutions, through a third-party allotment and form a capital and business alliance to expand the AI-enabled BPO business.」

「Specifically, the company began selling eBellCloud, a call center construction and operations service newly developed with ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) based on its BellCloud® platform, primarily to customers in the financial services, retail and distribution industries.」

「We also strengthened initiatives to increase value in communications with consumers by improving operational efficiency through the use of the latest IT technologies. Specifically, in the BPO field, together with ITOCHU Corporation, with which we entered into a business alliance agreement in July last year, ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation and others, we began validating new technology solutions for contact centers suited to consumer needs, including emotion-analysis technology that monitors the other party's emotions on screen and the introduction of AI technology, using speech recognition and text-mining solutions that we had already begun providing.」