[Kyushu Case Study (Fukuoka)] Seibu Gas strengthens group collaboration and improves operational efficiency with Microsoft 365

SB Technology Corp. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, President ＆ CEO: Chikaichi Ata, hereinafter referred to as SBT) has acquired Seibu Gas Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Representative Director and President: Yukinori Michinaga). We are pleased to announce that we have introduced Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Intune.

■Background of introduction

The Seibu Gas Group is a comprehensive lifestyle service company group that operates lifeline businesses that are essential to daily life, centering on the gas energy business in northern Kyushu. In April 2021, we transitioned to a pure holding company structure in order to respond flexibly and quickly to changes in the business environment, such as a declining population, a declining birthrate and aging population, and an increasingly competitive environment due to energy liberalization.
When transitioning to a new group structure, there was a need to strengthen collaboration within the group, improve communication efficiency, and improve work style flexibility. However, the issue was that the on-premises version of Notes, which was used as groupware, was not compatible with this. Furthermore, the spread of the new coronavirus has created an urgent need to set up a telework environment and web conferencing environment, making it necessary to accelerate the groupware migration schedule, which had been planned to take two to three years. Microsoft 365 was selected as the groupware due to its coordination and compatibility with the Microsoft products already in place. We also decided to introduce ``Microsoft Intune'' to manage mobile devices in line with the use of the 1,000 new smartphones we planned to distribute.
Initially, we were considering carrying out the installation work in-house, but we realized that it would be difficult to achieve the desired delivery date on our own, so we decided on SBT due to our extensive implementation experience and the speed of one-stop installation and construction. was adopted.

■Effects of introduction

Requirements definition for construction was completed in about one month by making adjustments based on SBT 's recommended configuration plan, and the construction work took about four months, allowing us to implement the system on schedule. The Seibu Gas Group has been gradually introducing 2,000 users since late February 2021, and has begun full-scale operation of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Intune in line with the new system starting in April 2021. After introducing Microsoft Teams, the average number of internal communications per day more than doubled, and the speed of communication improved. Business efficiency has improved by making it easier to hold web conferences.In addition, with the introduction of Microsoft Intune, we have created a secure environment that can be used safely from smartphones, reducing travel time and more. This also leads to utilization.
The Seibu Gas Group plans to promote the introduction of Microsoft 365 to 17 group companies during fiscal 2021, and to other group companies from fiscal 2022 onwards.

SBT 's goal is to become a "cloud consulting and service company that enhances the competitiveness of Japanese companies," and we focus on corporate IT solutions and business IT solutions. We will continue to support customers' work style reforms with cloud and security, and aim to be a business partner that contributes to the growth of their core business.

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• *The company names, product names, and service names mentioned in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of our company or each company or organization.
• *Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft Teams are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
• *Microsoft 365 is the name of a service provided by Microsoft Corporation.