SB Technology and Microsoft 365 Copilot delivering gained know-how back to customers

Sharing gained knowledge through generative AI with customers 

SB Technology continues to provide new value based on the management philosophy of "Information Revolution - Happiness for everyone - Technologies Design the Future.” As the ICT leader within the Softbank Group, it is developing business for corporate and public customers. Corporate policy aims for “Significant Growth." The company has achieved No. 1* market share in security across three markets by vendor sales in FY2023, recognition as one of the top cloud integrators in Japan, and is a recipient of multiple Microsoft Partner Awards. Current efforts are driving towards becoming the leader in the market for AI.

(* Source: ITR: ITR Market View: Endpoint Security Countermeasure Type / Information Leakage Countermeasure Type SOC Service Market 2024 — SIEM operation analysis service, Microsoft 365 operation monitoring service, and ID management security operation monitoring service)

Corporate sales have tripled in the 10 years since 2012. “The challenge is that development of human resources is not able to keep pace with the speed of business growth," says Ikuma Uehara, General Manager of the Solution Sales Division, SB Technology.

“It is just a fact that it takes time to develop human resources. With the shortage of talent, new employees are expected to become effective almost immediately from an early stage. The key is converting experience, know-how and knowledge into accessible documentation of best practices. New employees can improve the quality of their output by drawing on the expertise of senior colleagues. However, time and effort are required to collect and consolidate optimal procedures. Generative AI can independently find that data and provide it in an approachable format.”

“As a company’s human resources develop, customer satisfaction improves and revenue increases. In turn this raises salaries and makes it easier to attract highly qualified people. We are convinced that a favorable 'growth loop centered on enhancing human resources’ can be sustained with generative AI," adds Uehara.

The company has developed and provides a solution based on Azure OpenAI Service called "dailyAI," enabling the use of generative AI through Azure. It is contributing to innovations in customer work styles. The company decided to implement Microsoft 365 Copilot ("Copilot") company-wide in September 2024 as part of transformation of its daily business. Uehara provides an explanation.

The use of generative AI is now common in business much like smartphones and PCs. With our goal of becoming a top vendor of AI, adopting Copilot was a matter of course for solving both our own issues and our IT business. We are applying the expertise we have accumulated as a system integrator in support of customer implementations of Copilot.

All employees started using Copilot just one month after the decision to implement

The company made the decision in two weeks for company-wide deployment of Copilot. In November 2024, two months later, all 1,100 employees began using Copilot. Yoko Sakaguchi, Solution Sales Planning Division, Sales Planning #3, SB Technology, explains the background on how this was so readily achieved.

"Security policies could be readily adhered to since Copilot runs in the secure environment of Microsoft 365 E5. Internal data is centrally managed in SharePoint Online, with security levels defining individual access privileges. All employees were able to start using Copilot immediately."

The challenge for the company-wide implementation is establishing a culture supporting the use of Copilot. What should be done first, and how? Uehara continues, “We decided to take the first step to accelerate use of Copilot.”

“In December 2024, a generative AI business contest was held for all employees with a prize of 1 million yen. Participation was open to both individuals and teams, including proposals for the use of Copilot, with submissions totaling more than 490. The first prize proposal is being considered for a potential service, while the second and third prize proposals are ideas under development for improving operational efficiency. The sales department has incorporated use of Copilot in its evaluation system (MBO) as a mandatory item from FY2025. Sales representatives are required to submit examples of Copilot utilization, among other evaluation points.”

There are consistent activities providing close support for employees and encouraging regular usage. Kasumi Kitazume, Solution Sales Planning Division, Sales Planning #3, SB Technology, covers those details.

“Online study sessions, required for all employees, were held for Copilot. We also have study sessions for beginners, answer individual questions, and lectures on use. We want to support the differing skill and style of use for every employee. In addition, using Viva Insights to visualize working practices is allowing us to identify and interview frequent users, and share their success stories with Copilot through an internal portal. There is now a collection of case studies, which will be shared internally and potentially to our customers.”

Utilizing Copilot according to the phases of the sales process 

Thorough use of Copilot is proceeding in the sales department of the company, which is the front line of revenue generation. “Operations are becoming much more efficient through the general use of summaries and creation of documents with Copilot. One of the most important themes of utilization from now is revenue generation. What we are strengthening with improved efficiency is the maximization of sales and generated profits," says Uehara.

In what way should this be incorporated into business operations so that it leads to an increase in order rates and profits? The sales department has been directed to follow a policy of "specific use cases with Copilot" during the sales pipeline, covering pre-visit research, preparation of materials and business negotiations.

The most common use in the sales department is searching for knowledge and preparing materials with Copilot. In the past, sales representatives spent significant time on their own gathering information when preparing documentation. “As an example, I can ask Copilot in natural Japanese, 'Find me AI-related materials for a proposal to the manufacturing industry.’ It will collect related information from internal data and present that in a list. The point is that you can find information even if you are unaware of where it is saved. I often use that feature myself," says Uehara.

When creating a proposal, the lead sentence is crucial in accurately conveying content to the reader. A proposal in PowerPoint can be uploaded with a prompt to summarize similar to writing, "I would like to explain the contents of this document summarized in about 200 words.” Since the results can be refined from that it improves efficiency and quality.

“Copilot can unify text for consistency and check for typos, but it can also provide the reasons for corrections. You can more easily determine if the resulting answers are accurate," says Uehara.

After documents are created, a review is conducted by Copilot in the role of a virtual supervisor. 

Staff and their supervisor can improve their efficiency by brainstorming with prompts such as, “My supervisor values our customer's viewpoint and easy to understand information. Specify which areas will be flagged by my supervisor. Also give me the reasons for those conclusions.”

“I ask staff if they have first consulted Copilot when they come in for a review. If they have not, it can be seen immediately since sentences are long and unorganized," adds Uehara.

In business meeting preparations, Copilot is used not only for creating agendas, but also for talk scripts, and brainstorming meetings to anticipate questions from and provide answers to virtual customers.

Copilot use is expanding in other departments for a variety of purposes. In the engineering department, generative AI is suggesting optimal code and improving productivity with GitHub Copilot. Checking the validity of forecasted work hours that affect estimates is also being done.

The human resources department, which is very document-intensive, is also actively using Copilot. Items relevant to understanding the satisfaction and engagement of younger employees, such as enjoyment and workload levels from the details of interviews, can be pulled out and mapped to corresponding levels.

Creating the important habit of consultations with Copilot

Regarding the results of Copilot's implementation, Uehara says, "The research section in the sales planning division handles qualitative and quantitative analysis. Reducing the amount of time for tasks is not most important, instead it is changing how we use that time."

He continues, “So much time was previously spent creating drafts and there were several cases where there was no allowance to focus on improving accuracy. Now we can improve both the quality and speed of our work by creating a rough draft in Copilot and then using that as the basis for improving accuracy.”

Yuki Imamura, Senior Manager, Solution Sales Planning Division, Sales Planning #3, SB Technology describes plans for future activities with Copilot.

“Our theme moving forward is increasing frequency and quality of use with Copilot as a regular feature in daily operations. We are considering a dedicated Copilot agent for the division. We plan to focus on proposals combining our strengths in security and data utilization with Copilot, including dailyAI to assist innovations in customer operations.”

A high Copilot utilization rate* of 92% has been achieved with the company-wide implementation. Uehara covers the key points that led to success.

“It is common to ask colleagues when there is something that cannot be understood, whether it is for information gathering, confirmation, or advice. The first step toward a successful implementation is replacing that approach and standardizing a habit of initial consultations with Copilot.“

We often say within the company, 'Don't get defensive, ask Copilot first.’ In 2018, all employees participated in opinion exchanges and discussions. The following year we established a management philosophy with a new vision and values as our ideal image for 2030. We believe that this is based on a system in which all employees are working together as one and taking initiative to make change."

SB Technology is proceeding with its management philosophy and realization of "Information Revolution - Happiness for everyone - Technologies Design the Future.”  Copilot will be a part of that effort and further developments in society.