Employee Discussion

DOCOMO's Medium-Term Strategy 2020 "Declaration beyond" clearly outlines our future course of action and expresses our commitment to all stakeholders. To report the activity status to readers, we held a discussion meeting of employees representing the organizations implementing the six declarations made under our "Declaration beyond."

» Review of the First Year of "Declaration beyond"

Individual Commitments and Initiatives for the Implementation of "Declaration beyond"

Sekizaki: In the Consumer Business Department, we mainly handle Declaration 2: Style innovation and our goal is "to provide the ultimate agent to all customers." I'm in charge of agent services, and my recent effort involved commercialization of a new artificial intelligence (AI) agent service called "my daiz," which was released in May 2018 after about one year of planning and development. In "my daiz," AI learns about customers' behavior and situation and provides matching information and services interactively or graphically through their smartphones and tablet devices. This new service is just a starting point, and we have a lot to do before achieving our goal. What we aim for is the ultimate agent, in which AI accurately understands individual customers based on the information gathered via smartphones, tablet devices and these new services and offers personalized contents to each customer.

Yoshida: The Corporate Sales and Marketing Division focuses on Declaration 5: Solution co-creation and uses mobile information and communication technology (ICT) to help resolve such social issues as a declining birthrate and an aging society as well as a decrease in the working age population. We are going a step beyond the previous B2B model that mostly deals with corporate customers and making a drastic shift to a B2B2X business model.

As an example, we rolled out an initiative in October 2017 to provide "LANDLOG," a platform that helps the construction industry, which is suffering from an aging workforce and labor shortages, to improve work efficiency and promote workstyle reform.

Another example is "AI Taxi" launched in February 2018. This service responds to issues in the taxi industry, including driver shortages, lower vehicle use efficiency and an expected surge in tourist demand toward the year of the 2020 Olympics, and supports efficient taxi operation by forecasting future taxi demand 30 minutes thereafter.

Hikuma: The Network Division had engaged in network expansion and enhancement even before the announcement of "Declaration beyond," and our efforts mainly correspond to Declaration 3: Peace of mind and comfort support. Mobile phones play an important, "lifeline" role to collect information particularly as part of a disaster countermeasure and during a typhoon or earthquake. As such, we are making all-out efforts to maintain resilient telecommunications networks to bring a sense of security to customers.

Also, individual customers have been the main users of mobile phones. With 5G, we hope more companies will become users of 5G networks as well to support the B2B2X business model. I think increasing their understanding of the 5G network will lead to industrial innovation.

Kitamura: With a focus on Declaration 3: Peace of mind and comfort support, the Sales Promotion Department started an initiative in January 2018 to enhance the docomo Smartphone classes held at docomo Shops. The aim is to make customers' lives more convenient, joyful and enriching. As a first step, we provided training to the shop staff to improve the class quality, and in tandem, totally revamped the class curriculum and textbooks. We also increased the number and frequency of classes so that customers can freely choose when and where to participate. Against the annual target number of participants of 1 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019 (FY2018), more than 90,000 persons joined the class in April alone.

Ueno: The Digital & Marketing Department is promoting a shift from the existing customer base centered on mobile phone subscription to a customer base centered on members regardless of subscription and is working to expand the membership of the d POINT CLUB. As the definition of a customer changes, we are placing greater emphasis on activities to increase the attractiveness of "d POINTs," which are awarded as a member benefit, and enable the members to use these points in an easier and more convenient manner.

By turning our total customer base into members, we aim to achieve a membership of 100 million in the future. The number could be infinite if we count foreign tourists visiting Japan and customers living overseas.

How "Declaration beyond" Is Regarded by Customers and Partners

Ueno: Customers are providing favorable feedback on the "d POINT" program, saying it has become easier to earn and use points. The number of partner companies has also grown steadily to over 200. We aim to increase the number to more than 300 companies in 2020.

What is important for and very appealing to partners are customer referrals. We can guide more than 65 million DOCOMO members to their real and online shops, including convenience stores, hamburger shops and department stores. We intend to bolster our membership base to provide even more customer referrals to partners and deepen our relationship with them.

Yoshida: For the "AI Taxi" service, we engaged in feasibility tests as well and feel confident that we have achieved some positive results in terms of the accuracy of demand forecasts and increased sales. We expect a further expansion of usage as we roll out the service nationwide.

The "LANDLOG" platform is in a business start-up phase and is still soliciting partner companies. We have already received inquiries from nearly 200 companies. This is another promising field.

Sekizaki: Our concept is to deliver services deeply rooted in daily living. We have divided people's daily lives into four categories: going out, buying, enjoying and living. With partners in these four categories, we intend to roll out a diverse range of services through "my daiz," which is equipped with an interactive interface and information distribution feature.

Kitamura: The results of questionnaires on our "docomo Smartphone classes" show 90% of the participants were either satisfied or very satisfied with the class. More than 90% also stated they wanted to participate again. Of the more than 200 comments on the class we gathered through our call centers and by other means, 70% were compliments, saying they were glad to have participated in the class and the class provided a sense of ease when buying smartphones. The remaining 30% requested us to open the class on weekends and make it more accessible.

In response to the feedback, we are making preparations, including setting up a required system, to receive class reservations over the telephone at call centers in addition to shop counters to increase accessibility. We are also enhancing our safety and security program to better protect elderly smartphone users against the increasing cases of phishing and other scams.

Moreover, in collaboration with the Digital & Marketing Department, we are preparing a program for use in the Smartphone class to explain to docomo Shop customers the benefits of becoming members and how to use earned points. We hope to expand our membership base by increasing their understanding of DOCOMO to make an informed decision to join the membership.

"Declaration beyond" to Expand and Change DOCOMO's Business

Nagatsuma: As we shift our customer base from one centered on subscribers to one comprising members, we have to pay more close attention to the distance between DOCOMO and customers. Previously, we had carried out rather "fits-all" type operations for subscribers. With members, we need to have more timely and varying interactions matched to each. This will be a challenge, but taking on that challenge will make DOCOMO more attractive to partners who will be sharing our membership base. Also, joint efforts with partners to build in such a challenge is a very unique initiative among telecommunications companies around the world.

Hikuma: From a partners' perspective, DOCOMO is a network company with sound operations and excellent shop staff, has strong brand presence and is trusted by customers. Our strength lies in our ability to offer true value to customers while upholding these traits as a basis of our operations.

Nagatsuma: I've been engaging in operation of a data management platform (DMP). It is a system to consolidate the data accumulated in-house into a single platform for easier utilization. The purpose is to increase customer satisfaction, and our task is to decide how we should put together and utilize data.

For example, we have to seek ways to utilize our accumulated data in customer response. Also, in promoting co-creation with partners, the key will be to start up a new business based on our customer data and the data we accumulated through our operations and create new things together.

Yoshida: As Mr. Nagatsuma just said, accumulation and utilization of data are essential in conducting business in the future. Our "LANDLOG" platform can collect various data of workers, including their biological data, and there is an idea to use such data to determine insurance premium rates.

Hikuma: With 5G, how we create a network will be driven by customers' preferences. Up until now, DOCOMO had provided a ready-made network for use by customers. This will change, and we will create a network where necessary in accordance with individual requests of corporate customers.

For customers needing advanced solutions, we will provide specialized networks tailored to their respective purposes. For example, we may see growing demand for a mission-critical network with a shorter latency, which can shut down a plant immediately when a problem occurs.

Sekizaki: Capturing data of additional value will lead to the advancement of systems and services that consolidate and utilize the data. Growth in 5G-based networks will expand the possibilities of solutions we provide. In such a process of change, DOCOMO's business should evolve in line with the changing social environment and on the basis of the "Declaration beyond" strategy.