CX Consulting to Help Osaka Gas Marketing Improve Customer Satisfaction

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Tatsushi Shingu, President and CEO; hereinafter CTC) has provided Communication Design, our consulting service aimed at enhancing customer experience (CX), to Osaka Gas Marketing Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Osaka City; Takeshi Morisaki, President: hereinafter OGM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.,. CTC supported OGM by identifying and organizing challenges within its customer support operations, which have direct contact with consumers, and by examining and formulating measures to expand digital channels such as web-based support and chat services. By helping OGM make the shift from a large volume of telephone inquiries to digital channels, CTC supported improvement of its customer convenience to enable their self-resolution.

OGM provides customer support services that handle a wide range of inquiries regarding gas appliance sales and maintenance, as well as requests to start or stop the use of gas and electricity services. In order to respond quickly and accurately to this diverse array of customer inquiries, greater operational efficiency was required. OGM also needed to explore systems and process improvements aimed at enhancing CX and operational efficiency to address the medium- to long-term decline in the working population.

CTC's Communication Design is a consulting service that delivers ideal CX design and concrete improvement proposals through customer-centric assessments based on customer behavior and needs.

CTC's proprietary research and analysis identified challenges across customer touchpoints in the assessment for OGM, prior to designing a “To-Be model” that represents the ideal future state with a focus on feasibility and CX improvement impact. We then supported the study and selection of highly executable solutions categorized into short-term and medium- to long-term initiatives to address the challenges.

With short-term measures, CTC helped improve website navigation and enrich FAQ content, while also expanding digital channels such as chatbots and voice bots, achieving a significant shift from traditional telephone-based inquiries to digital channels. As a result, customers became able to resolve issues independently by checking the website information or by making inquiries via chatbots and voice bots. This improved customer touchpoint challenges in customer support, leading to enhanced services and improvement in CX.

Communication Design visualizes performance in operations, website processes, operational frameworks, and service functions and delivery methods by scoring them based on CX standards defined by the International Customer Experience Institute (ICXI)^*1. It also identifies outside-in perspective challenges and areas for improvement across a range of customer-facing services, such as FAQs, chatbots, and social media. Furthermore, it designs a “To-Be Model” incorporating cutting-edge technologies and operational methodologies, and presents concrete actionable measures.

CTC will continue to contribute to further CX enhancement and operational efficiency through ongoing support for OGM. In addition, to address labor shortages in customer support operations, CTC will provide end-to-end support—from service implementation through ongoing operations—by leveraging our expertise in the CX domain together with our knowledge of advanced technologies, such as AI.