JBS Systematizes Essential Measures for Penetration and Establishment of AI in In-House Operations

Japan Business Systems, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato Ward, Tokyo; President: Yukihiro Makita; hereinafter, “JBS” securities code: 5036) released the Establishment Attendant for Copilot for Microsoft 365, which supports the use and adoption in work operations of the generative AI function for corporations, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 (hereinafter, “Copilot for Microsoft 365”), which works together with Microsoft 365. Based on internal verification of Copilot for Microsoft 365 at JBS and our experience in supporting customers, JBS systemized the necessary measures for establishment and has been quick to develop a service ahead of others in the industry.

By implementing Copilot for Microsoft 365, customers will be able improve user productivity and creativity and can expect significant improvements in work efficiency. However, in these early days of generative AI implementation, it is not unusual to hear customers voice concerns that their implementation and use of Copilot for Microsoft 365 on a company level is not advancing as expected, due to employees not fully understanding the necessity of AI use at usage sites or not being able to feel its cost effectiveness in the short term. JBS has also often heard that realizing company-wide use of generative AI is on a completely different level of difficulty compared to the introduction of new technologies up to now.

This new service provides consulting for such customers in order to make Copilot for Microsoft 365 fully implemented and established within users’ work operations from formulating an implementation plan to actual implementation, usage effect verification, and operational improvements.

There are five barriers based within people’s consciousness that are the main factors hindering the use and establishment of AI.

• The “barrier of awareness” makes people unable to recognize the necessity for AI and reject transformation
• The “barrier of agreement” where people are not convinced that transformation is relevant to them
• The “barrier of decision” that stops people from deciding to change how they work
• The “barrier of action” that prevents people from establishing action
• The “barrier of continuation” that makes people fed up with continued use

For example, take the “barrier of awareness.” There are often cases in which employees who are confident in how fast they work may decide that “it’s faster to do it on my own” and don’t use AI. As a result, in several years, their work efficiency falls below than that of employees who actively use AI. This is the risk of not using AI, and it is an example of why an awareness reform is necessary in the workplace. This new service uses a person-oriented support approach in addition to technical support to efficiently remove these barriers to establishment.

A characteristic of the new service is that we adopt the US Prosci’s change management methodology to encourage both personal and organizational behavioral reforms. We support people who are faced with the necessity of change to swiftly adapt to new situations. Specifically, we will formulate a systematic measures plan based on the ADKAR model to provide consulting.

ADKAR stands for:

• Awareness (necessity of understanding)
• Desire (motivation to use)
• Knowledge (acquisition of knowledge)
• Ability (practice of use)
• Reinforcement (establishment and habituation of use)

It is an acronym of the above words, consolidating the five steps from implementation to establishment of a new system. Using this flow as a yardstick, we customize the measures plan to suit your issues and needs, measure the effects of the penetration of Copilot for Microsoft 365, and run a PDCA cycle to assuredly achieve usage establishment and improve work efficiency.

JBS launched an in-house verification team for Copilot for Microsoft 365 in August 2023, giving licenses to 300 people at headquarters and each business division, and we have since been engaging in in-house verification of the usage plan and establishment of Copilot for Microsoft 365. Members verified the usage situation and shared the verification results at study group meetings held every month to consider measures to overcome the barriers of establishment and reinforce use. In December, departments that had a high use of Microsoft 365 to begin with, such as the General Affairs Dept., Human Resources Dept., Legal Dept., and Financial Dept., advanced business streamlining using Copilot for Microsoft 365 and verified its effects.

As a result, we confirmed its supporting effect in work abilities, such as improved accuracy through reduced misspellings, improved ease of understanding through highly precise summaries, and supplementary expert knowledge through information extraction from existing documents in work such as compiling summaries of meeting minutes and contracts. A significant improvement in work efficiency was realized such as reducing the time spent checking documents from an average of 15 minutes to an average of 5 minutes. In March 2023, the use of Copilot for Microsoft 365 was expanded to all approximately 2,500 employees across the entire company.

In November 2023, in parallel with in-house verification, JBS released Copilot NAVI, bringing together hints to realize establishment in the form of videos and materials, such as information on the required environment to prepare for the implementation of Copilot for Microsoft 365, recommended usage scenes, and samples of precise instructions and questions (prompts) that are key to AI use. In the six months since its release Copilot NAVI is now being used by 70 companies. This new service reflects such internal verification and the experience of supporting customers, aiming to resolve our customers’ problems.

In December 2019, JBS released Work Style Reform Use & Adoption Support Service for Office 365 (name as of 2019, currently called Microsoft 365) to support the establishment of Microsoft 365 using the Prosci change management methodology, and has since continually been engaged in establishing the use of Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, etc. JBS has been awarded Microsoft Partner of the Year, which is given to companies with excellent performance, for 11 consecutive years, and in 2020, was awarded the Adoption & Change Management Award, which recognizes a company’s performance in establishing Microsoft Teams. This new service concentrates the establishment knowledge fostered through such consistent performance.

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Establishment Attendant for Copilot for Microsoft 365

• PoC/advance users support (for customers who are considering expanded implementation and want support in measuring effects)

• Plan for measures for Copilot for Microsoft 365 establishment: compiled based on an action plan including objectives and KPIs
• Preparation for PoC/advance users’ support: assessment of measures and proposal for continuous improvements
• Measuring effects of Copilot for Microsoft 365 implementation: questionnaire and analysis of activity logs

• Establishment support (for customers who have already implemented Copilot for Microsoft 365 and want to promote usage)

• Plan for measures for Copilot for Microsoft 365 establishment: compiled based on an action plan including objectives and KPIs
• Execution of establishment measures: assessment of measures and proposal for continuous improvements
• Consider how to proceed: set schedules
• Measuring effects of Copilot for Microsoft 365 implementation: questionnaire and analysis of activity logs

• Price
  

We provide the above menu customized to your own specific challenges and needs.

JBS has been conducting AI-Lab activities with the aim of promoting the use of AI technology since 2020. In collaboration with Microsoft Japan and Future University Hakodate , JBS has been engaging in nurturing engineers to lead the AI era and system development through AI technology collaboration, verification experiments, and usage purpose development, etc. Incorporating the knowledge gained from such efforts from an early stage into generative AI usage at the company and reflecting the experience into a “real showcase” for customer solutions, we compile and widely spread the proven technologies into services such as AIplicity Chat and Copilot NAVI. With “bringing the best technology to everyone, everywhere” as our mission, JBS strives to deliver generative AI that can be used safely to contribute to the growth of society.