The VOICE Program, a new management indicator collected from the voices of customers and employees

In February 2022, Fujitsu was awarded the first prize in the Experience Management Category in the SAP Japan Customer Award 2021 by SAP Japan. The VOICE Program, which utilizes Qualtrics® to collect and analyze customer and employee feedback, was recognized as an initiative to enhance the customer and employee experience (Experience Management), which is considered essential for corporate management in the new normal era. Fujitsu’s efforts are still in the development stage, but key points for evaluation will be explored.

Table of Contents

1. “Experience” gap between the company, and its customers and employees
2. VOICE Program: Connecting “voices” to “actions”
3. Realization of a system that reflects the customers' voices around the world in management
4. Utilization of “voices” is promoted in more than 1,000 projects
5. Leverage in-house expertise to support the delivery of valuable CX and EX

“Experience” gap between the company, and its customers and employees

For companies to grow sustainably in the new normal era, it is important to promote digital transformation (DX) and transform corporate management and business practices. The first important step is to listen to the VOICE of customers and employees and improve the customer experience (CX) and the employee experience (EX) from the collected voices.

Initiatives to collect customer feedback have been conducted by many companies so far, however, it is not always the case that the collected voices have been utilized in corporate management and business to provide superior CX.

According to a Bain & Company survey^*1, 80% of management teams say their companies offer the best experience, while only 8% of consumers say they receive such experience. Closing this gap is essential in improving CX.

In addition, it is also important to improve EX. Raising employee satisfaction and improving employee engagement is one of the issues that companies must address to maintain a competitive advantage and survive in the new normal era of human resource mobility and labor shortages.

However, just as there is a CX gap between companies and their customers, there is also a gap in EX between companies and their employees. These are called the experience gaps, and to close these gaps, in other words, experience management, will be one of the key factors for surviving in the new normal era.

• *1 Source:
  Closing the delivery gap (English PDF)

VOICE Program: Connecting “voices” to “actions”

Fujitsu was no exception in the need to fill the gaps by gathering the voices of customers and employees. There have been questions such as “Is it necessary to listen to the voices of customers not only indirectly through sales representatives and SEs, but also directly and more frequently?” and “Is it possible to collect the voices of 130,000 employees and reflect them to the management?” The VOICE Program was born from these points of view.

At the Management Policy Briefing held in September 2019, Fujitsu announced its Purpose and our intention to evolve from an IT company to a DX company. Then, in October 2020, the company-wide DX project FUJITRA was fully launched. In addition, we also started the VOICE program as one of the elements to accelerate the transformation and realize Purpose.

The concept of the VOICE program is to transform voices into power and create a wind of change. These activities aim to enhance corporate competitiveness by listening to the voices of customers and employees in real time, speeding up decision-making, changing behavior, and discovering new insights and encounters in business activities.

The voices of customers and employees are surveyed and collected through questionnaires, analyzed and visualized, and based on the results, business improvements and measures are quickly formulated. As improvement actions are implemented, the gaps will be filled.

Leading the collection and visualization of voices to action and change is important. The VOICE program is characterized by its cycle of action starting from voices by combining the large number of voices with Fujitsu’s vast data and knowledge to study the background and identify causes of the issues to continue with improvement actions.

Realization of a system that reflects the customers’ voices around the world in management

In promoting the VOICE program, Fujitsu took on two challenges. First, the previously conducted Customer Satisfaction (CS) Survey has been replaced by the Client Net Promoter Score Survey (client NPS survey). Second, we introduced a common global survey when starting the client NPS survey. These challenges reinforced the following points.

Expanding the scope of data collection

Prior to the launch of the VOICE program, Fujitsu’s CS surveys were conducted separately in each region. The voices of customers collected through the survey were only analyzed in each country and region, making it difficult to apply them to the management of the whole Fujitsu Group.

Therefore, starting in 2020, the questions were standardized globally. We have also standardized the survey process and established a system to conduct surveys of customers in six regions, including more than 30 countries around the world. This has made it possible to collect expectations, requests, and issues, etc. from the voices of Fujitsu’s customers around the world and to evaluate and share them using the same indicators.

Global implementation of improvement actions

In addition to standardization, a total of 17 CX leaders have been appointed in six regions around the world to manage the organization globally. Survey results and improvement actions in each region are now fed back in each region, and also shared with other regions if they are beneficial. It is now possible to share and utilize the voices of customers around the world on a single platform, from the frontline to the management level. It is also becoming possible to realize speedy cycle of voice collection, factor analysis and feedback, improvement actions, and review and reporting of the results.

Customer voice as a management indicator

Fujitsu has established financial and non-financial management indicators to realize Purpose. One of these non-financial indicators is client NPS survey. By setting client NPS survey that objectively evaluates the relationship of trust with customers as a management indicator and working to improve, Fujitsu can increase the CX value and enhance its corporate value as well. The voices of customers, now available on a global scale through the VOICE program, have been incorporated into the management of the entire Fujitsu Group and are used for management and business purposes.

Utilization of voices is promoted in more than 1,000 projects

Today, VOICE program is being used in more than 1,000 projects, and its use is becoming more established.

In July 2020, Fujitsu announced Work Life Shift, a concept for reforming new work styles in the new normal era, and the VOICE program was also used in the formulation of this policy.

In considering new work styles, it is essential to listen to the voices of employees, and thus a survey was conducted to all Fujitsu Group employees. Approximately 37,000 responses were analyzed and reflected in the content and prioritization of measures. The voices of many employees collected through the VOICE program prompted the company to speed up decision-making and change behavior, and the policy formulation was realized in 2.5 months.

Furthermore, after the measures were announced and implemented, another survey was conducted to get feedback. We are continuing to assess the effectiveness of measures and considering improving them.

In addition, we are accelerating the application of the VOICE program to our customers’ businesses based on the know-how accumulated through in-house practice. For proposals to customers who operate theaters, the VOICE program was used to collect opinions from 130,000 Fujitsu Group employees regarding their thoughts on arts and culture and the way they should be promoted. By obtaining responses not as employees, but as a single end user with diverse interests, we were able to clarify the essential issues in the promotion of arts and culture, leading to high value-added proposals.

Leverage in-house expertise to support the delivery of valuable CX and EX

Fujitsu is currently using the VOICE program to evaluate the DX Promotion Indices proposed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. There was concern that the interview-style evaluations conducted so far would include the subjectivity of the interviewee, however, the addition of the voices of many employees has eliminated this concern and enabled a more objective evaluation of the degree of DX promotion and visualization of issues in the department. Moreover, in order to not only evaluate DX promotion indicators but also take effective actions, the Mukiau workshop is held at various levels, including management, each department, and the community, to discuss and consider measures starting from the actual voices received.

In this way, as the practice of collecting, analyzing, and utilizing voices progresses within the company, examples and know-how are accumulated, and the scope of utilization is broadened. We will further apply such examples to our proposals to our customers and help them create and provide valuable customer experiences by utilizing the voice of the customer. We also hope to contribute to the creation of a better future and a sustainable society by creating valuable CX/EX together with our customers who are promoting DX in the new normal era.

Related Information

• SAP Japan Announces SAP Japan Customer Award 2021, Selecting Eight Award-Winning Companies and Organizations in Three New Categories
• [In-house practice example] DX by Entire Fujitsu Group Utilizing Qualtrics, an Experience Management Solution
• What is Fujitsu’s Culture Transformation Challenge? What should be changed and what is the goal?