The Solution
Three Lessening Measures That greatly reduce costs
With the opening of the Hamamatsu office, Suzuki’s team has introduced a Network Control Unit, or NCU system, that networks gas meters and manages gas usage and abnormalities. Dubbed the “Space Hotaru” an NCU that enables the online collection of data from gas meters was developed alongside Soracom. These devices help eliminate the need for monthly in-person visits to read customers’ meters, which, in turn, helps to reduce personnel costs and improve productivity.
Unlike more traditional gas options, where customers tend to be concentrated in the same area, propane gas customers tend to be scattered throughout a city. As such, “it is inefficient to go door-to-door to remote customers every month to read meters and collect money,” said Suzuki. “We wondered if we could change that conventional business model from ground zero, using the power of IoT and apps.”
To this end, the Hamamatsu Sales Office has taken on three major “lessening” initiatives.
- Going Entirely Cashless
All payments for gas bills and equipment purchases are now handled by direct debit or credit card payment. For internal expense reimbursement, a remittance application called Pring was used to eliminate the need for petty cash and achieve a completely cashless environment.
This has reduced money-related costs, such as receipts and payment slips, as well as administrative tasks for the attending employee and office staff. It also reduces the inherent risks associated with handling cash.
- Going Entirely Paperless
By consolidating the meter reading data obtained by the space fireflies and gas usage rates into a dedicated application, paper meter reading slips have been eliminated. With Space Hotaru the guideline values become digital data onsite and are visualized through the My Nicigas app.
This streamlines the process of checking gas meters at customers’ homes, as issuing and then posting meter reading slips through the use of Space Hotaru and the app creates a paperless operation that reduces administrative costs.
- Going Entirely Clerk-less
By eliminating paper and cash handling tasks and digitalizing all customer information and user data, clerks at the three sales offices (Shizuoka, Yaizu, and Hamamatsu) can now perform clerical and administrative tasks remotely. All data is managed in the cloud, and individual chat-based collaboration allows for stress-free communication over long distances.
By eliminating the need for clerical and meter reading personnel, Nicigas was able to reduce office work to one-fourth of earlier levels – allowing more time for sales, and increasing the speed at which sales offices can grow. Whereas it may have taken two to four years to open a sales office in the past, these new procedures saw the Hamamatsu office spring up within one and a half years of planning.
The Hamamatsu Sales Office was started as a prototype for digitalization, but “it has gone surprisingly well,” says Suzuki.