Migrating from Groupware Workflow

POCKE, INC.

Established

March 2, 2009

Number of Employees

89 (as of September 2022)

Business

Planning, production, and sales of various contents using the Internet and other media, as well as operation of services related to these contents.

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Industry

Hitech

User Departments

Approval Flows

Renewed upon the transition to Google Workspace

Q. What kind of work are you using Questetra for?

At POCKE INC. we provide content services related to fortune telling, child-rearing, weight loss, weather, etc. based on the concept of creating a smile in the world.

Our fortune-telling service has been very popular thanks to collaboration with fortune-tellers who frequently appear on TV and various media. Also, a headache forecast service, “Zutool“, which was derived from our weather service has been featured in the media, making it a popular service. In addition to providing content, we have also recently begun to offer a “trading desk” service that uses our expertise in attracting customers through content to manage advertising.

We are using Questetra for various application approval tasks within the company, such as decision-making requests, applications for general affairs, accounting, and legal affairs.

Q. Please tell me how you are using it specifically.

Previously, we were using a Workflow system which had been included in a groupware package. Since it was functionally simple there were many jobs that had yet to be digitised and were still carried out on paper.

We decided to migrate our groupware to Google workspace (at that time Google Apps), and so had to replace the Workflow system accordingly. At that time, we compared several workflow services that can cooperate with Google workspace by evaluating the following:

• The ability to handle loops, such as returning to a specified process, rather than simply returning to the applicant
• The ability to organize and visualize workflows
• The ability to handle complex content creation flows

Based on these factors we decided to adopt Questetra.

Work that had to be done on paper up to that point could proceed with the transition to Questetra, and now there are only very few operations still done on paper.

Secure collection of Individual Numbers

Q. I heard you are also using it for the collection of Individual Numbers.

In addition to our employee’s Individual Numbers we also need to manage those of the self-employed who we deal with for fortune-telling services, etc.

Because I wanted to avoid building a new system just for collecting Individual Numbers, and I knew samples were prepared for it, so we made it possible to collect Individual Numbers with Questetra.

It was a great help that I could build a system that can securely collect Individual Numbers in the short-term at a low-cost by slightly modifying the samples prepared by Questetra. Even now we are using that flow as part of our induction process.

Q. Please tell me anything you have devised.

When collecting the Individual Numbers of external business people, I tried to link to Questetra from the web form created in-house. By doing so, we are able to carry out processing without delays or omission. Also, there are operations in which we keep the master data used by Questetra on a Google Spreadsheet, since Questetra has a high affinity with Google workspace. In addition, day-to-day internal communication to prompt the submission of overtime work applications, and regular contact at the end of the month have been automated by Questetra to make it more efficient.

Although I am using Questetra quite a lot with the help of Questetra’s customer support staff who taught me a lot, I would like to use it more extensively in the future.

Respond to Advertiser’s Workflow Requests

Silver Egg Technology CO., Ltd.

Established

August 26, 1998

Number of Employees

50 (as of May 2024)

Business

Development and provision of web marketing services based on AI (artificial intelligence) technology

Website

https://www.silveregg.co.jp/en/

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Industry

Hitech

User Departments

Marketing

Integrated Management from Application Acceptance to Service Provision

Q. What kind of business are you using Questetra for?

Silver Egg Technology Co. Ltd. develops and provides artificial intelligence (AI) based Web marketing services.
We mainly offer the “Aigent Recommender” which is a real time recommendation service.

A recommendation service is a system that recommends goods and information that match the user’s preferences on EC sites and various other services. Our recommendation service is based on our uniquely developed AI algorithm, which understands and analyzes the site access, purchase status and the behavior flow of each user in real time, so that it can display recommended products and information suitable for each person’s preference instantaneously.

We are using Questetra for the management of our ad-serving service, from the application to the implementation (server setting, parameters, banner creation, etc.).

We are managing the progress of each task starting from service application acceptance to implementation work (server setting / parameter arrangement / banner production etc.). We have been using it since the launch of our advertisement distribution business in 2012, and about 20 people manage hundreds of cases per year.

Q. What kind of challenges did you have?

Prior to launching the advertisement distribution business we had been managing issues with Excel.

When an application was made, it was filled in the application sheet in Excel and the person in charge of the implementation work viewed it periodically and carried out the work. However, with Excel-based management there was often missing entries, errors and delays, so it was not possible to accurately grasp the status of the work being carried out and respond the delays in the progress.

In addition, since the implementation process requires multiple tasks being carried out concurrently, it was difficult to understand which tasks were affecting the overall progress. Therefore, we needed a tool that would allow us to understand the work currently underway in the flow diagram.

Stable Utilization for about 6 Years from Launch of New Business

Q. How did you develop the Workflow at the time of its introduction?

Workflow design was the responsibility of just one person.

We designed the workflow to coincide with the launch of our ad serving business. After three months of trial work, we made some minor changes to the workflow and finalised it. The system has been in full operation since December 2012 and we have had no significant problems in the six years since then.

Q. Is there anything you have devised?

In order to grasp the progress status of a project at a glance we have devised a way of drawing flow diagrams.

We were careful not to reduce the visibility of the workflow diagram by not intersecting the arrow lines (sequence flow) that connect the Steps, and not dividing the Process more than necessary. By doing this, we can easily grasp the backlog status of detailed issue information.

We have also made it more convenient by promoting the use of Questetra using smartphones, so that those on business trips can get access from outside the office.

Improved the productivity of sales activities!

InfiniTalk Co., Ltd.

Established

June 16, 1994

Number of Employees

Full-time employees: 120, Operators: 800 (as of May 2024)

Business

Operation of call centers and back offices, Outsourcing of back-office (BPO) operations, Human resources, telecommunications, and content-related businesses, Various debugging services, Development, sales, and maintenance of call center systems

Website

https://www.infinitalk.jp/

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Industry

Hitech

User Departments

Marketing, Approval Flows

Reduced lead time for submitting estimates

Q. What kind of business do you use Questetra BPM Suite for?

We develop, sell, and maintain InfiniTalk, a telephone system used in call centers.

With InfiniTalk as the core, we have developed the “CTI solution” service that proposes the construction of the entire call center, and is being used by over 10,000 seats in 300 companies in 48 industries. Today, we also offer a cloud-based telephone system service which contributes greatly to the early launch of call centers.

We use Questetra for various application-related tasks across the company.

Q. What kind of challenges did you face?

For the task of purchasing hardware, etc. the salesperson applies for purchase, the superior approves it and the management department places the order. Prior to using Questetra, we used to have a paper a rule: application -> approval -> order processing by the Management department. However, it used to take time from the request application to order placement, since the superior was not available and the applicant himself had placed the order request after the approval.

Since we started using Questetra the superior has been able to give approval from anywhere, and information on the order request is now transferred to the Management department at the same time as approval, so the time from application to ordering has been reduced.

Furthermore, In addition to purchasing, work such as contract approval and expense settlement are subject to business audit, and since all the past processes are managed in Questetra it also leads to cost reduction for the business audit.

further productivity improvement such as automation of PDF generation

Q. Is there anything you have devised?

In the expense reimbursement process we have a “Receipt Attachment Form” which is automatically generated as a PDF.

On this form, information such as the application ID or applicant’s name is automatically filled in. After applying through Questetra the applicant prints out the automatically generated Receipt Attachment Form, attaches receipts to it and submits it to the Management department.

For the applicants, they don’t need to make the Receipt Attachment Form by themselves anymore, and for the Management department it became very easy to process because of the unified format.

Q. Please tell me about your expansion plan for the future.

I would like to make use of Questetra for further improvements in the operational efficiency of the Sales department.

We are using the Cloud SFA service and we manage information on business opportunities there. We are using Questetra to carry out the task of creating an estimate, but we are not yet able to link it with Cloud SFA.

In the future, I would like to make it possible to use the business partner information that has been stored in the cloud SFA in Questetra, or to make information of the estimates which have been approved on Questetra be automatically stored in the Cloud SFA.