Isuzu Motors Limited drives workstyle innovation at new headquarters with Microsoft Teams Phone and 130 Microsoft Teams Rooms

A trial showcases the rich feature set of Microsoft Teams Phone

A Microsoft proposal solved the challenge. The offer involved a 100-person trial of UniTalk, enabling the company to make and receive fixed-line calls over Microsoft Teams Phone. Isuzu Motors Limited accepted the proposal and launched the trial.

“We learned of Microsoft Teams Phone during the 2020 investigation but didn't consider them because there weren’t many case studies at the time,” says Kawazoe. “However, we tried them and discovered they provided a surprisingly large feature set and could be used just like our existing business phones. We investigated Teams Phone further to compare their convenience and functionality with other products. We also looked at expanding the system beyond the head office to factories. After determining the phones could provide redundancy and didn’t present any other issues, we made a departmental submission and adopted Teams Phone.”

Isuzu Motors Limited officially adopted Microsoft Teams Phone and Unitalk at the end of 2021. The enterprise first introduced Teams Phone at the Omori headquarters alongside the existing phone system, then completely switched to Teams Phone upon moving to the new head office in May 2022

At the new headquarters, employees use notebook PCs with Microsoft Teams installed. Upon arriving at the office, they can simply open their notebook, put on a headset, and use their PC to make and receive calls.

Switching from Notes Domino groupware to Microsoft Office 365 (Microsoft 365) in 2017 enabled the company to roll out Microsoft Teams Phone in just four to five months. Full-scale use of Teams began in March 2020, when Covid-19 had made teleworking mandatory. By the end of 2021, most employees were accustomed to Teams.

“Being able to make phone calls with Microsoft Teams, which we were already using, meant the rollout went smoothly,” says Megumi Seki of the General Affairs Group. Telephones are essential for communication within Isuzu Motors Limited, so an orderly transition was crucial, she says. However, being able to use phones in a conventional manner was also imperative.

“Receptionist answering and call forwarding were particularly important features,” Seki says. “We can call every employee in the new head office directly, but the secretaries of executives specifically demanded these functions. Also, other departments usually call General Affairs & HR via our receptionist. We were able to implement all these features on Microsoft Teams Phone easily.”

Far fewer relayed calls and messages, overwhelming acclaim for Microsoft Teams Rooms

So, what were the benefits of moving to Microsoft Teams Phone?

“We have far fewer relayed calls and messages now,” says Seki. This is because of the presence function of Microsoft Teams Phone, which checks whether the call receiver's PC is running. “The new head office has a mixture of fixed and non-territorial seating, so users can take calls anywhere just by opening their PCs, whether they’re in the office, working from home, or out in the field. We can also categorize calls to receptionists by having the caller enter a number after guidance from an automated message, enabling us to sort and receive calls appropriately. Receptionists don’t need to answer and relay calls now that we have these features.”

Plus, it’s now easier to contact the significant number of head office workers who frequently visit the Fujisawa plant.

“Previously, we’d leave a message with a nearby colleague and wait for the person to return,” says Kawazoe. “But now they can receive calls at the plant if their PC is open, and if it isn’t, we can send a chat message and have them call back. If someone’s in a meeting and can’t take a call, we can also leave voicemail messages. Microsoft Teams can automatically convert these messages to text and relay them via email, so the receiver can check the nature of the call during the meeting.”

According to Seki, the ease of three- and four-person calls has also been fantastic. “We use the web conferencing function of Microsoft Teams for remote meetings, and when two workers are engaged in a phone meeting and need other opinions, it’s easy to add a third or fourth person.”

The new head office also has a fresh framework for web conferencing, with Microsoft Teams Rooms installed in each of the 130-plus meeting rooms.

“Microsoft Teams Rooms are very popular internally due to their high-quality audio, video, and user friendliness,” explains Kawazoe. “As a result, many employees want to use the conference rooms, so reservations are always full. We can easily participate in the same meeting from multiple separate rooms, so workers often book several meeting rooms at the same time. We didn't expect conference rooms to become so difficult to reserve.”

“We’ve used Microsoft Teams to create a visitor registration system and conference room booking system integrated with the signage on conference room doorways,” says Hidehiro Satou, Senior manager of the Isuzu Motors Limited Office IT Planning Group “Other advantages of Teams Phone is that they offer a huge selection of devices and can connect to all other devices seamlessly, which is great for reception areas at the new head office, which still have fixed-line telephones.”

So, how do Teams Phone compare with FMC in terms of cost? According to Kawazoe, “Using our existing Microsoft Teams infrastructure has been significantly cheaper than distributing new smartphones.”

Isuzu Motors Limited has only rolled out Microsoft Teams Phone at the new head office and some affiliates so far but plans to expand deployment to factories and group companies. The enterprise has already begun working towards deployment in factories and aims to complete the rollout by March 2023.

“Our objective is to create an environment where we can communicate with anyone, anytime, anywhere,” says Suzuki. “We’ve completed a platform for this goal with Microsoft Teams and Teams Phone at the new headquarters. Next, we’ll present the benefits to other offices and affiliates to attract even more users.”