Case Overview
End user: ASTOM R&D
A company that supports digital engineering in manufacturing through CAE software development and sales, contract analysis, contract development, and AI solutions.
Partner company: SACCSY Inc. — NO kintone, NO LIFE.
SACCSY Inc. is a partner company specializing in kintone-based business improvement and system development. Handling everything from requirements definition through design and development, it keeps projects on a steady course by basing decisions not only on day-to-day operations but also on a management perspective.
The Challenge: Scattered Entry Points for Inquiries
Scattered inquiry handling and support work increased the operational burden
ASTOM R&D provides end-to-end services, from CAE software sales to maintenance, and handles support work such as answering inquiries from users across Japan.
With multiple inquiry channels, including phone, email, and web forms, the company faced challenges such as:
- Routing inquiries took time
- Inquiries were often left waiting for transfer or missed altogether
- Support history was hard to keep track of
In addition, because the website was not linked to maintenance contract information, inquiries not covered by maintenance contracts were mixed in, increasing the burden of managing support operations as a whole.
Looking ahead, the company also envisioned building a My Page for inquiry management and customer support linked to contract status as an ongoing point of contact with users across Japan.
Background to the Adoption
Aiming for a higher level of support experience
The main reason the company considered switching to kintone was to build "a user-facing My Page with self-service and shared history that enhances the user support experience." The company had previously introduced another system, building databases and sharing emails, and had already taken steps to keep internal information from depending on specific individuals. At the same time, there was a growing shared recognition within the company that its support system could be taken to the next level.
The goals were:
- Creating paths that let users find the information they need on their own
- A mechanism for sharing inquiry history with users as well
- Appropriate, consistent support linked to contract information
The company positioned this adoption not simply as a way to improve operational efficiency, but as an initiative to raise the quality of support itself and keep building better relationships with users.
At the initial stage, we held an overview interview and introduced SACCSY as a partner well suited to this vision. We also attended the first meeting to share the desired outcome and the underlying assumptions, and then handed over the subsequent requirements definition, design, and development to the partner.
SACCSY's Proposal and Project Management
Realistic support improvements that take hold on the front lines
SACCSY handled everything from requirements definition through design and development.
Communicating carefully with the end user, they moved the project forward by confirming points one at a time, such as:
- What are the real pain points in current inquiry handling?
- Taking future operations into account, how much should be systematized?
Although the system could have been extended with additional features, SACCSY organized the configuration so it could be achieved within the standard plan, making a realistic proposal that put the emphasis on balancing cost and benefit.
The System: A kintone-Integrated My Page
A kintone-integrated My Page that underpins the support experience
What was built is a user-facing support My Page with kintone as its foundation.
The key points are as follows:
- My Page display linked to contract information
Users can smoothly access the information they need based on their contract. - Centralized inquiry management
Inquiry details and response history are managed in kintone, unifying support work. - Inquiry history shared with users
Users can review past exchanges themselves, and internal information sharing and handovers also run more smoothly. - Navigation designed to encourage self-service
FAQs and related information are easy to find, so users can resolve issues on their own without getting lost.
Results
Results that take support to the "next level": faster, higher-quality responses by consolidating inquiries
Consolidating the inquiry channels into the My Page eliminated the individual email handling and fragmented response flows that had occurred before.
As a result:
- Fewer inquiries left waiting for transfer or missed
- Faster responses to inquiries
- Less individual email handling
These are among the benefits the company expects.
The company currently receives 30 to 50 inquiries a month and is targeting a reduction of about 30%. As more users resolve issues on their own, it is moving toward a setup where support staff can spend their time on the work they should really be focusing on.
Routine tasks that previously required individual handling, such as notifying users of license renewals at version upgrades, can now be completed on the My Page as well. As a result, the workload for these tasks is expected to be cut by more than half.
This initiative goes beyond simple efficiency gains: it is positioned as the next step toward a support experience that is easy for users and lets them ask for help with confidence.
SACCSY's Strengths from Our Perspective
Through this project, we found SACCSY to be a highly reliable partner that combines:
- Strong relationships with end users
- The ability to organize issues and propose solutions
- Realistic judgment grounded in a management perspective
Their approach of asking "Is this really necessary?" and delivering results without needlessly expanding the scope is one of the reasons we can recommend them with confidence.
Looking Ahead
Taking support operations further through data
Going forward, the company plans to grow the My Page into a point of contact users rely on every day, rather than just an inquiry desk. Using the inquiry data and support history consolidated in kintone, it is working toward:
- Analyzing trends in inquiries
- Improving support initiatives
- Raising customer satisfaction
These are the outcomes the company aims to achieve.
Summary
Key Points for Improving Inquiry and Support Operations with kintone
- Unify inquiry handling to reduce management workload and missed responses
- Manage inquiries and share history through a kintone-integrated My Page
- Achieve support improvements that take hold on the front lines through partner collaboration
See It in Action on the Actual Screens
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