ITOCHU Corporation (HQ: Minato Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO: Masahiro Okafuji; Referred to below as "ITOCHU Corporation"), BELLSYSTEM24 Holdings, Inc. (Representative Director, President, CEO: Tsuge Ichiro; Headquarters: Chuo Ward, Tokyo; Referred to below as "BELLSYSTEM24 HD"), and NTT DATA Corporation (HQ: Koto Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO: Toshio Iwamoto, Referred to below as "NTT DATA") made an agreement to acquire third-party shares in Solairo, Inc (HQ: Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo; CEO: Hiromi Nakajima; Referred to below as "Solairo"), a company that provides a web-based customer interaction service integrated with AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology. This investment clears the way for a partnership with the goal of increasing BPO business sales. The percent of shares acquired is 6.9% for ITOCHU, 6.9% for BELLSYSTEM24 HD, and 2.8% for NTT DATA.
The size of Japan's domestic B-to-C e-commerce market in 2015 expanded to 13.8 trillion yen (a 7.6% increase year over year)(1), continuing with steady growth. In this climate, Solairo provides its "OK SKY?" web-based chat service for interacting with customers to companies with e-commerce sites, primarily in the apparel industry. With this service, an AI automatically responds to customer inquiries at first. Then, once the customer decides to make a purchase, the chat conversation is switched over to a human agent with deep knowledge in the products, allowing for detailed and nuanced follow-up. This customer interaction results not only in increased purchase rates online, but also increases in the number of customers going to both online and brick-and-mortar stores.
ITOCHU, BELLSYSTEM24 HD, and NTT DATA will collaborate and use their domestic and international business connections to increase sales of Solairo's OK SKY?. BELLSYSTEM24 HD will introduce OK SKY? to its contact centers, using the operational abilities and personnel development know-how that it has built up in a variety of industries. BELLSYSTEM24 HD will combine its strengths with Solairo's prowess in sales process creation to win business in a wide range of industries.
NTT DATA will add OK SKY? to its omni-channel platform, using the service for conversation-based commerce to expand sales to corporate customers. Also, NTT DATA will make technological improvements through integration with AI technology in the NTT group.
ITOCHU will use its overseas network in Asia to expand the service there. With primarily China in mind, where online services for customer interaction continue to gain in popularity, ITOCHU will sell OK SKY?, promoting further automation of online customer interaction services.
ITOCHU, BELLSYSTEM24 HD, and NTT DATA all see BPO as both a field to focus on and one that has a close relationship with information technology. Also, they plan to engage in more cutting-edge business models using integrated payment systems and more, continuing to work with companies in the BPO sector to forge ahead, using AI technology to increase the overall size of the BPO market.
(1) From "Organizing the Framework for the Social Trends in Our Economy Pertaining to Information and Services in 2014 Economy (A Survey of Electronic Commerce)" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
＊"OK SKY" is the registered trademark of Solairo Inc.
＊All names of corporations and products in this document are the trademark or registered trademark of their respective owner.
■About the "OK SKY" Web-based Customer Interaction Service
OK SKY is a service that delivers optimal customer interaction for individual customers online, using AI technology and online sales operational know-how that Solairo has built-up. Services and products can be offered more smoothly by using chat to converse with customers online, as well as understanding customer needs through an AI system. A communicator (agent) can support seven to eight customers at once by using this service.
■Solairo Inc. Corporate Overview
Address: 3rd floor of Koshin Building, 1-32-11, Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo CEO: Hiromi Nakajima Est.: Oct. 1st, 2013 Capital: 85.25 million yen (as of Sept. 2016)
Business: Provision of "OK SKY" Web-based customer interaction service URL: http://solairo.co.jp/
<Inquiries Pertaining to this Release>
ITOCHU Corporation
PR and Media Division TEL: 03-3497-7293 Person in Charge: Katsumoto
BELLSYSTEM24 Holdings, Inc.
Public and Investor Relations Division E-mail: pr@bell24.co.jp / TEL: 03-6893-9828
NTT DATA Corporation
PR Department TEL: 03-5546-8051
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