Office Globalization: Constantly pursuing efficiency and communication

Acall was the best in terms of UI 

Acall RECEPTION is placed at the reception desk of Smart News. What was the reason for the introduction of the system?

In the past, the receptionist handled all phone calls from visitors who came to the reception desk. We needed to change this operation to have the visiting team members respond directly, so we introduced Acall Reception.

What made you choose Acall?

The members who were in charge of introducing the automated reception system together with us, and we, had used Acall Reception in our previous jobs. We compared several systems when we introduced the system at our past jobs, but Acall was the best in the UI and the sequence of steps. Through my previous job, I felt that Acall was very easy to use, so I decided to introduce Acall in our company as well.

We are very honored that you chose Acall because of your experience in your previous job! Have there been any changes since you introduced Acall?

In addition to notifications of visitors being sent directly to the person in charge, we can also use the receptionist's button settings to change the destination of notifications for each type of visitor to ensure smooth operation. For example, when a mail carrier or delivery service comes, Acall Reception will notify the person in charge of reception.

We basically do not respond to visitors without appointments. Using the "message function" of Acall, we can respond to those without appointments through the reception screen, not responding in person.

"English first" rather than Japanese.

Is there anything in particular that you like about Acall?

These include the "message function" mentioned earlier, switching between Japanese and English notation, and single sign-on (SSO).

Speaking of English notation, you can see a lot of English in the office of Smart News.

As the number of overseas members has increased, making FAQs and manuals in English and making English announcements has become common. Many things are written in English only, and if anything, English is more important than Japanese. When introducing a system, we choose one that supports only English rather than only Japanese. English support is a must when selecting a system. Members who cannot read Japanese will be confused if there is even a little Japanese in the system. There are still many systems in use in the company that only display Japanese, and we think this needs to be changed.

We heard that the linkage with Slack was also an important point when introducing Acall.

Since we actively use Slack, it is crucial to support notifications to Slack. When we introduced Acall Reception, our members accepted it smoothly without any burden on them to set up the system by linking with Slack.

Our company has become a Slack culture, and every team uses Slack. Therefore, we choose tools with Slack integration as an essential feature. We will incorporate new tools to increase convenience, but we try to work with Slack whenever possible. If we cannot directly integrate something with Slack, we use external services such as Zapier to integrate it, for example, notifications in general, workflow, time and attendance, etc. Recently, we introduced a bot that returns FAQs. Since we have many people from overseas, we also use a bot that automatically translates Slack conversations.

You are using Slack as a hub for everything to streamline your work. I feel that your pursuit of efficiency is comprehensive.

We are constantly improving efficiency in all aspects of our work. Not only engineers but also various members are working on tool collaboration and other initiatives to improve their work efficiency. As corporate engineers, we support our members when they ask for advice, but more often than not, each team is doing their research and doing things on their own.

We need to create an environment where communication is accessible because the offices are far apart.

It would be great to hear about your work style as well. In the case of SmartNews, you have a large number of global employees and several overseas offices. What kind of efforts are you making in terms of internal communication and work style?

We have two offices in Tokyo, San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York, and Shanghai. We do not entirely divide the roles among the offices, so there is frequent communication between the offices.

One of our efforts to facilitate communication is to create an environment for web conferencing. We have Google Hangouts Meet hardware in the conference room, connected to the display to have a web conference immediately at any time. We use Hangouts for both general meetings and global meetings at each location. We are just in the process of increasing the number of conference rooms with Hangouts installed.

The ability to start web conferencing instantly is very convenient, as web conferencing often takes time and effort to set up.

Since our offices are far apart, we try to create an accessible communication environment to avoid the distance becoming a bottleneck. With this environment, we can start a web conference immediately with the push of a button. No preparation is required. There is often no time for preparation beforehand, as a client may book the conference room ahead of time. Connecting to the web conference as soon as you enter the conference room allows you to use the conference room until the last minute, and it's very efficient.

Recently, working from home has become more common. Even when working remotely, I believe it is important to communicate by talking online, so a web conference environment is essential.

People have different nationalities, different ways of working, and different working hours.

Is the time difference an issue when communicating with overseas offices?

There's nothing we can do about the time difference. It's a mutual problem at all locations, so we do what we can to adjust meeting times. We have different working hours, so when I come to work in the morning, I often find a pile of Slack messages, but I'm sure the same thing is happening everywhere.

While there are many differences, the concept of "mutuality" is vital in communication and the company's structure.

The national character and the way of working are completely different between Japan and other countries. Of course, when I say "overseas" in one word, San Francisco, New York, and Shanghai are also different. Eventually, I would like to place a corporate engineering role like ours in our overseas offices. I think it would be good to have the structure and other aspects of the system adapted to the local culture so that the local people at the overseas bases can do whatever they want. At present, we sometimes go on business trips to overseas offices. Rather than communicating only in English with people we've never met before, it's better to communicate face to face so that we can soften each other's feelings and make our interactions smoother.

Is the number of global personnel increasing in the Tokyo office?

Even in Tokyo, we are actively hiring people from overseas. Speaking Japanese is recommended, but it is not required if they have skills that surpass it.

Many people at the top of our company cannot speak Japanese, so we always have simultaneous interpretation in our all-hands meetings. For this reason, we have a translation team, and the number of members is increasing. It is a crucial role that requires IT knowledge and expertise.

"Office & Community" team to stimulate communication within the company.

Do you feel any cultural differences even within the Tokyo office?

Different people often have different cultures and ways of perceiving things. What we Japanese think is "good" may get a different response from overseas members. As the number of people increases, such differences become more apparent.

There is also a food barrier, so in the kitchen at the Tokyo office, the menu is also announced in English. Also, I feel that many of our overseas members come relatively early in the morning. Many of them also commute by bicycle. We also have a bicycle storage area in the office.

I was amazed at the facilities in the office, including the bicycle storage area! The bookshelves that are displayed everywhere are also impressive!

The conference rooms are named after great people, and the bookshelves in the conference rooms are filled with books related to those great people. Any employee can borrow the books on display in the office; there is a "book room" channel on Slack, and all you have to do is post about borrowing a book.

Books of various genres are placed everywhere in the office, and employees are free to borrow them.

You've got a system in place here that uses Slack as well.

We have a specialized department called "OC (Office & Community)" working on stimulating communication within the company and creating a sense of unity.

The OC also organizes internal events for everyone to communicate with each other. At the events, unique foods from various countries are prepared and eaten by everyone. This year's Noryosai (summer festival), drinks and food such as shaved ice and yakitori (grilled chicken) were there just like those served at Japanese festivals. For Halloween, which we hold every year, people bring their families and dress up in costumes.

As a company expanding overseas and actively hiring global human talents, Smart News has told us a lot about the feeling of "mutuality," efforts to improve efficiency, and organizational development. Thank you very much for sharing your story!