Microsoft 365 F Plan deployed to 9,000 beauty professionals in Shiseido’s company-wide communication transformation using Teams

The Microsoft 365 F Plan was adopted to develop a shared, company-wide communication tool for beauty professionals

In 1872, Shiseido was founded as Japan’s first private Western-style pharmacy in Ginza, Tokyo. In present day, the company has expanded its skincare, makeup, fragrance, and other cosmetic businesses to approximately 120 countries and regions across the world. Shiseido provides opportunities for people to experience happiness through its core beauty business, in their efforts to achieve the corporate mission of “BEAUTY INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD”.

Shiseido creates new values with its unique brand and businesses, but the closest presence the company has to customers is the leaders of on-site beauty innovation, the PBPs. With the 150th anniversary of Shiseido’s founding, the company announced they were changing the name Beauty Consultant (BC), who handles customer reception and service at stores in Japan, to “Personal Beauty Partner (PBP)”. This was an evolution from the former “Consultants who communicate methods to attain beauty as leaders in beauty” to “Partners who work together with customers to attain their ideal beauty”.

In detail, the names for BCs were changed to “Personal Beauty Partner (PBP)” in October 2022. Staff evolved to a position of partners that work with customers to create “personal beauty” for every customer, meeting customer needs that are rapidly changing and diversifying. Generally, reform efforts like this come hand-in-hand with reform of on-site manager awareness and culture. So Shiseido decided to also renew their communication tool infrastructure for PBPs. We had a talk with Hiroko Katagiri of the Digital Platform Department, IT Headquarters, Shiseido Interactive Beauty.

“Our aim was to improve business productivity and cost efficiency, along with revitalizing our organization’s culture using the power of IT and digitalization. Shiseido has been moving on with its company-wide efforts to achieve a new working style. Up to this point, there was no shared, company-wide communication tool for PBPs, and communication was held with a designated chat tool. Furthermore, there was a need to use multiple applications for each job classification, which often was an obstacle for speedy business execution. There was a congestion of tools per environment and job classification, so we aimed to simplify things and enhance business execution” (Ms. Katagiri).

Microsoft 365 was selected for this role. Ever since Shiseido took a shift to company-wide telecommuting in February 2020, the further use of Microsoft 365 had been promoted as a shared, company-wide tool that can be used safely at remote work environments. The license (F Plan) for front-line workers was newly incorporated for PBPs, and Microsoft 365 was adopted as a company-wide communication tool.

PBPs had been juggling five to ten apps installed within the tablet “B-TAB”

PBPs use a tablet device (iPad) called “B-TAB” for customer consultation and use of business systems. Although Shiseido had distributed a total of 25,000 units of company-issued devices to each department such as computers (Windows PC) and smartphones (iPhones), of these, the B-TAB made up of more than half of these, with 13,000 units being distributed (for approximately 9,000 PBPs, store-front devices, and for staff contacting PBPs). Designated apps were installed within B-TAB per task, and there was a need for PBPs to perform their work duties while juggling these different applications.

"Each job classification had different applications to use, such as chat tools, note functions, and special folders to save promotional materials or questionnaires. Staff had a minimum of five applications, and some even had to deal with ten applications. Furthermore, staff did not have individual email addresses, and different products were used for chat tools for people such as department managers. For this reason, PBPs were not able to have direct communication with managers or swiftly report through online meetings at times of trouble. Additionally, there was also the issue of PBPs not having a way of directly contacting staff departments such as marketing, research, and human relations departments, which have deep ties with store-front businesses held down by PBPs. Shiseido treasures the opinions of our customers, and it is important for all departments to be able to share the ever-changing opinions of customers as quickly as we can” (Ms. Katagiri).

Our themes when selecting communication tools were to “simplify (Simple)” use of these multiple tools, “shorten, speed up (Short)” the multi-layered and congested communication system, and “quicken, in a direct manner, (Straight)” the communication of staff departments and PBPs, which are in the closest relationship with customers. The Microsoft 365 Plan F fulfilled all of these requirements and offered the same features as the company-wide communication tool Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 F Plan was also a product that could be deployed in a large-scaled environment, in an efficient and cost-friendly way. Teppei Takahashi, Manager of the Digital Platform Department, IT Headquarters commented on this.

“With the Microsoft 365 F Plan, we can use Microsoft Teams (“Teams”) to replace all necessary applications installed within the B-TAB. Furthermore, this provides a safe access environment and identification verification using multi-factor authentication through providing each PBP with an email address. The authentication infrastructure can be integrated in the background, and new business applications can developed by linking with Microsoft products such as Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Power Apps (“Power Apps”). This was the smartest solution to the many issues we had for many years” (Mr. Takahashi).

Teams made chatting and online meetings possible, and Outlook enabled email communication

The project started off by incorporating three applications offered by Microsoft 365. The applications were Teams for online meetings and as a chat tool, Microsoft Outlook for direct email communication with other departments, and Microsoft Authenticator, a multi-factor authentication application for safe communication.

We started introducing these applications in May 2022, but we were concerned about our reluctance to accept a change from long-used, familiar tools to new ones. For example, B-TAB had been used for more than five years. Staff were familiar with many of the apps we were using, especially those for chats. We forecasted that there would be more cases of user confusion and productivity dropping with the use of Teams.

“Especially as chat tools were used daily, many were very versed in it, so I was worried about whether the switch over to Teams would be successful. Furthermore, the conventional chat tool had functions that were not available with Teams, so I was concerned that this would make smooth incorporation of Teams difficult” (Mr. Takahashi).

For functions such as group chat, bulletin boards, notes, and folders used on the conventional chat tool, they decided to use the questionnaire tool Microsoft Forms (“Forms”) offered by Microsoft 365, and the low-code/no-code tool Power Apps to create a system with the same functions but more convenient than before.

“We replaced the group chat with the shared groups and teams functions of Teams. This enabled more detailed configurations. The Wiki functions of Teams and the file functions of Microsoft 365 were not sufficient to take place of the conventional note and folder functions of the former tool, so we used the Microsoft Power Platform and developed new functions to create a system that can be used just like the conventional tool. What makes Microsoft 365 so attractive is its ability to utilize other Microsoft solutions to supplement lacking functions or new needs that the standard version does not have, which significantly enhances a system. Furthermore, a major benefit is that we are able to ask vendors to additionally develop elements, but also are able to develop functions on our own at minimal cost” (Mr. Takahashi).

Microsoft 365, with all additional features developed, is scheduled to be deployed to all PBPs within 2022. As deployment actually started, they say that any confusion or opposition was rare, and instead, many heartily welcomed the new communication methods.

Making the introduction of new tools personal within efforts being made for happy customers

Here are some reactions toward adoption of Microsoft 365:

“This calling function is very convenient! Is it really available to be used freely? (PBP)”, “After Teams was incorporated into B-TAB, I can do seminars and shop meetings anywhere! Not having any travelling time is wonderful! (Beauty professional leader)”, “Now that I can see the schedules of sales and beauty leaders and know when they are coming to shops, I no longer have to make unnecessary contact, which is very convenient! (Beauty professional leader)”, “There are no limitations for online meetings! I was not able to secure one-on-one time with PBPs, despite being a leader...Now, I am able to have one-on-one sessions with everyone in half of the time! (Beauty professional leader)”.

The following comments were received from branch managers and sales representatives as well:

“Before, we were not able to talk directly to PBPs and store managers unless we went to the shops, but now, we can communicate face-to-face daily, which I am really grateful for...(Branch manager)”, “I usually had to take an hour to create documents to share sales performances with PBPs. Now, I do not have to make PDFs anymore!! (Sales representative)”.

The reason why incorporation of this new communication tool went so smoothly was close on-site communication with the cooperation of business planning and beauty strategy departments of the Japanese business side, along with detailed support promoting use of the system. Having an easy-to-understand manual was one of the concrete measures taken.

“I created a manual in Microsoft PowerPoint under the concept of ‘Don’t need to read, just look’. The manual was accessible anytime with just one click on B-TAB. I cut down the number of letters by 85% to create a ‘One slide, one action’ manual that provided necessary information within three taps of the screen. The manual was created in-house so it could be updated immediately with opinions from those working on-site, and was completed after more than 100 brush-ups” (Ms. Katagiri).

The manual was received very well, and a beauty professional member commented that, “Having a setup manual that doesn’t require reading is wonderful. Staff members that are not good with IT tools were also able to make initial configurations. The configurations took no more than five minutes.”

Along with support through the manual, Shiseido also committed themselves to sending clear messages out, within and outside of the company. When doing so, the company said that they accepted the differences between ways of thinking in various positions at Shiseido’s departments, offices, PBPs, clients, and vendors, and paid attention towards enhancing empathy (conviction).

“For example, we made efforts to talk with each department to deliberate merits of incorporating Microsoft 365 and plans for business improvements, along with ideal dream-like scenarios, according to each position and business mission. Through direct video messages, we had top members of the Japanese business and beauty departments, along with managers, convey the aims, goals, and results of these initiatives in a method that is linked to Shiseido’s strategies. By making the new communication tools a personal matter, and understanding what efforts are needed to make customers happy, the use of the system took on speed” (Ms. Katagiri).

We want this communication reform to result in a beauty innovation

With the deployment of Microsoft 365 to PBPs, the total number of Teams users in Japan now exceeds 30,000 people. Although the system is now in its utilization phase, we can now see the benefits of deploying the system, backing up the claims made by employees seen above. Ms. Katagiri let us in on the details.

“Up to this point, meetings and seminars were held at the head office, so that everyone could see each other. This called for time to adjust participant travel and schedules, and some meetings could only take place by scheduling them more than six months beforehand. But now, we can hold an interactive meeting with everyone at the best time necessary. Most cases have seen over 50% reductions in transportation costs, travel time, venue and business trip expenses. Furthermore, as there are less limitations, quick and timely communication is now at our hands’ reach. Some other comments on the benefits of the system say, ‘The time reduced with this system was converted into time used for customer satisfaction’, ‘This may enable us to boost communications to expand sales’, ‘Sales activities were streamlined and we are much closer to clients and PBPs now’, ‘We can catch on to the swiftly changing and diversifying needs of customers much quicker now’, ‘Using Teams meetings boosted PBP time efficiency, which has left a good impression on clients,’ (Ms. Katagiri).

Furthermore, Mr. Takahashi points out that from a future IT utilization perspective, using Forms and Power Apps will enable flexible expansion of Teams functions and this will contribute greatly to the development of applications that meet on-site needs.

“The use of Forms and Power Apps at various opportunities have already spread out across the company. In our department as well, we have made full use of user support for PBPs. For inquiries, we can now provide efficient support by having the other party submit their convenient dates and times beforehand using Forms, so that support managers can get back to them at that time. Additionally, Power Apps is also being combined with Microsoft Power Automate to automate one’s own work. Along with face-to-face sales, new proposals using digital technology is becoming more important to provide beauty for each and every customer, ever since our company was founded 150 years ago. I am looking forward to making new proposals to customers using digital technology, promoting in-house production and agile improvements,” (Mr. Takahashi).

Through incorporating a popular, globally-used system that is Microsoft 365, Ms. Katagiri expects it to be beneficial for global communication and career development for beauty professionals.

“Using Teams allows, for instance. beauty professionals to communicate with each other from China and Japan, or share differences in how makeup and promotional methods differs from each country in real time. It also can be used as a BCP measure in disasters. By changing how communication is conducted, we want to strive for beauty innovations that only Shiseido can offer, toward our corporate mission of BEAUTY INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD” (Ms. Katagiri).

Microsoft supports Shiseido’s initiatives through IT and digital technology, which includes support for frontline workers with Microsoft 365.