Tell us about the current organizational structure of the Marketing & Sales Headquarters.

MiyazawaThe Marketing & Sales Headquarters, which was established in April 2010, has previously had five sales divisions based on the key markets of enterprise, government, finance, carrier and partner. Today, however, customers are expanding their businesses across business boundaries, and it has become difficult to respond flexibly to needs within a market-specific boundary. Therefore, in April 2017, we reorganized the group into Marketing & Sales Division-1, which respond to such customers as the central government, Marketing & Sales Division-2, which performs sales activities mainly targeting major telecom carriers, financial institutions and enterprises regardless of business type, Marketing & Sales Division-3, which supports the eight branch offices spread out across Japan, and Partner Business Marketing & Sales Division, which was from the past responsible for companies that have relationships with OEM and mass sales of OKI products.

What is the result of the reorganization?

MiyazawaThere are two keywords that describe the change in sales style.
One is "co-creation" that isYume Talks. From the viewpoint of co-creating with customers, rts of the Marketing & Sales Division-2 in particular, which has deep relationships with maorporations representing Japan, are progressing. Additionally, it can be said that the business of the Partner Business Marketing & Sales Division is built on top of co-creation with external organizations in the first place.
The other is "change of air" - a term we use in our group to refer to approaching areas beyond the traditional sales boundary of a product. For example, ATMs and cash processing machines are now being proposed not only to financial institutions but also to distribution industry and local governments, andleading to sales results. We are actively doing this with various products. Among the successful cases, what struck me as "amazing" was "PAS" (*) proposed by the Marketing & Sales Division-1. "PAS"(*) is a commercialization of a system initially conceived for our own factories to streamline manual work, and it is primarily targeted at customers in the manufacturing industry. However, our staff proposed the system to a customer in a completely different business field who was being troubled with manual sorting work and successfully closed a business deal.
Firmly grasping the customer's needs and issues then making an optimal proposal without being confined by conventional boundaries is OKI's major sales strength. I believe this sales style is the form that can bring out the best values of OKI in the current market.

We heard that the booklet "OKI Style," which you took charge in editing and issuing, and introduces OKI's value proposition in an easy-to-understand manner, is also proving to be useful for sales outside the boundary.

Miyazawa"OKI Style" was created when I was head of Marketing & Sales Division-3, a post I held until March 2019, from the idea that "I want people to know more about OKI." Three booklets have been issued so far. The theme of the first issue is factories and introduces the features of OKI group's "Mono-zukuri (to have the spirit and mind-set to innovate, create and improve products)".. The second issue deals with a variety of OKI products that you are unknowingly using in various social infrastructures. The third issue focuses on showrooms, and this latest issue is filled with contents that will make customers say "Lets' go visit!" Credit goes to the staff of the Marketing & Sales Division-3 who worked painstakingly hard to put together all three issues. Although compilation was an independent work of a single division, the awareness of the booklets are gradually growing in the company, and they are now being used by other sales divisions and business groups as well. Even the company executives are bringing the booklets with them when visiting customers.

How is "OKI Style" with your customers?

MiyazawaVery popular. Many of our existing customers have been surprised saying "You even do things like this!?" So, I feel we are getting the intended effect.
Actually, in response to the feedbacks from the booklets, we also hold "OKI Style Seminars" on a regular basis to introduce what OKI is doing, and we have gotten many attendees.
Through the customers' awareness of OKI, these booklets and seminar promotions have sufficient potential to tie in with change of air and co-creation. I think there is still room for solving the issues of existing customers with the various values provided by OKI, and I consider that "white space" from a sales perspective.

In closing, how do you plan to steer the Marketing & Sales Headquarters in the future

By incorporating this into our daily sales activities, we believe that we can deepen the customers' trust and make further contributions.
Moreover, we will focus on developing new businesses. We would like to strengthen in-house collaboration such as with the Innovation Promotion Division, other business groups, and Corporate Research & Development Center, and foster "a sense of offensive unity" in opening the door to the future for all of OKI.