Interview with the team of LCM Services

What is LCM Service? Overview of services and target industries

- First, please tell me what kind of service the LCM service is.

LCM stands for Life Cycle Management, is a service that supports store staff in the distribution and retail industries, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Our operators who are familiar with store operations provide support, including handling other companies' products.
Starting with the deployment of equipment and education, we provide various services such as replacement, repair in the event of a failure, cash management, monitoring, and system operation management by using the help desk.
We offer 10 services from the deployment phase to the production phase, and one of our features is that you can choose only the services you need based on your situation and preferences.

What kind of retail segment do you have most of your customers?

LCM service business have customers in mainly department stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, home improvement stores, drug stores, and other retail businesses.
There are also customers related to local government such as city hall and town hall, transportation business and customers related to food service, and so on.

What are the reasons why most customers use our services?

Regarding the help desk service, there are many cases where we are asked for advice when a customer introduce a new device or system to the store.
In recent years, due to work style reforms and measures against infectious diseases, there has been an increase in the number of employees who worked at its headquarters shifting to work from home.
Therefore, some customers expect the help desk to act as an "integrated contact" because it has become difficult to connect to the extension phone of the headquarters when the store is in trouble.

In many cases, help desks and AI chatbots, which have many contact points with the field, are the trigger of consultation.
When the system is put into operation, we have regular meetings with the customer, they often say "we have this problem", and then we help them solve their problems.

The Help Desk is like, "if you have any questions, please ask anything!"

Can you tell me a description of the help desk and AI chatbot services that you often consult first?

The help desk service receives inquiries from stores or headquarters. For example, if a customer asked how to operate a device or system, we will explain the procedure using the terminology they use. If there is a problem such as a device not working properly, we explain not only how to solve the error, but also the series of operations required after the resolution. In this way, the helpdesk members understand the customer's operation, anticipate and guide the next problem, so the customer often appreciates the business knowledge and quick response.
In addition, since a variety of manufacturers and devices have been introduced in a single store, there are many cases where the store is confused about where to contact if there is something unclear. With the help desk acting as the “customer contact point, ” a customer feels like they can ask the help desk and solve if they have any questions about the equipment in the store, also consider the service as convenient.

How the help desk staff know products from other companies?

When you have decided to introduce the system, first, we check the operation procedures in the operation manual. Then, we review the scenes where each function is used to understand the day-to-day workflow. In the developing the help desk members, we create a kind of help desk textbook for each customer, and distribute it to all help desk members for training. With this ingenuity, there is no difference in the service level between members, so all members can quickly understand the problem of the customer and respond appropriately.

AI chatbots make complex procedures easy

What are the AI chatbot services?

The AI chatbot not only answers frequently asked questions about how to operate and respond to shoppers, but also enables customers to use store operations directly from the chatbot.
For example, suppose there is a point card transfer service at the service counter of a store that occurs every time a magnetic defect or a card is lost. This procedure is a heavy burden on store staff, and in the past, the help desk sometimes undertook the work on their behalf. But now we're allowing store staff to do the same with a simple operation on a chatbot.
Even if you have a dedicated system that performs procedures separately from the chatbot, the literacy to the system will vary depending on the store staff.
They demand a system which is easy for everyone to operate and easy to understand, so we strongly recommend to use an AI chatbot.

Chatbot FAQ with expressive avatars

Is there an advantage that multiple procedures can be used together from an AI chatbot?

Yes. Many of our customers still use paper forms, but we can make such paper forms more efficient by creating a form screen with more flexible. Store procedures can be consolidated into a chatbot.

In what other cases can AI chatbots be used?

In some cases, an AI chatbot is incorporated into an e-commerce site to provide customer service support like a concierge. If it is the 29th, it is so-called the day of meat in Japan, so we can show you the recommended meat related products on that day.
In addition, regardless of the industry, the chatbot can support inquiries about HR, labor regulations, and internal tools. We use it internally.
Recently, an AI chatbot was introduced for PCR testing in drug stores. We have made a proposal to make it easy for shoppers who come to stores to have PCR testing guiding the test procedure with the chatbot, and the customer still use it. Like this, we can respond quickly to changes in social conditions.

Support the rest of the business so customers can focus on their core operations

Are there any case that a customer start other phases of LCM services who have deployed help desk or chatbot services?

If a customer who has a help desk contract and a broken device is subject to maintenance service, a separate maintenance service contract will allow immediate repair of the device.
At the regular meeting, after exchanging information on what kind of troubles the customer usually have, we may give advice according to whether it is caused by the equipment itself or by the usage of the customer. We can also easily escalation the problem to a technician.

Finally, please let me know if there are any new plans for LCM services that you want to roll out in the future.

We are trying to provide a mechanism to simplify hardware repair requests that have been requested by fax or email through converting them into Web entries.
In addition, the progress of the repair will be visualized, and the time and effort required to contact our company and the dealers will be reduced.
Furthermore, the system allows customers to request repairs not only for our products but also for other companies' equipment at the store. This enables a single point of contact for equipment repair, thereby reducing the burden on customers in maintenance work.
We are also preparing a system that you can add up those visualized metrics in real time by simply pressing a button on the customer's screen.
We aim to provide a service base that can respond flexibly to changing needs and grow sustainably.

Beyond the scope of our current work, we are considering "services that cover the entire store," such as the introduction and operation of IT equipment, network construction, and power supply construction, from the establishment of the store to the removal of equipment after shutting down. We are also looking to support non-IT equipment, from shelves, carts to refrigerators.
With our company's support, customers will be able to spend more time working closer to their core business. It would be great if you could focus on what you can do to increase sales, where you can allocate your current resources, and leave everything else to us.