ROI Case File No.348 | 'Concordia Technologies' Inexperience Wall'

Chapter 1: The Reality of Inexperience—Cannot Write, Cannot Translate, Cannot Utilize

The day after resolving Globex Corporation's inventory system case, a consultation arrived regarding PR/IR operational efficiency. Volume 28 "The Pursuit of Reproducibility," Story 348, is a tale of transforming organizations from four perspectives.

"Detective, our PR staff are all inexperienced. They cannot write compelling text for media coverage. IR staff manually perform English translations. We want to introduce AI tools, but don't know where to start."

Concordia Technologies' Administration Director, Misaki Takahashi from Shinagawa, visited 221B Baker Street with an urgent expression. In her hands were PR document samples and, in stark contrast, an analysis report marked "Media coverage rate: 8%."

"We provide industrial IoT solutions. Sensors for manufacturing, data analysis platforms. Annual revenue 3.8 billion yen, 180 employees. We're a growth company, but the PR/IR department is our challenge."

Concordia Technologies' Structure: - Established: 2015 (Industrial IoT solutions) - Annual revenue: 3.8 billion yen - Employees: 180 - PR department: 3 people (all inexperienced) - IR department: 2 people (handle English translation) - Problem: Low PR document media coverage rate, English translation time-consuming, AI utilization at individual level

Takahashi's voice carried deep anxiety.

"All three PR department members are inexperienced. Engineers transferred from technical department, sales staff transferred from sales department. They have abundant product knowledge but don't know how to write PR text.

We create 3-5 press releases monthly. However, media coverage averages 0.4 articles monthly. Coverage rate 8%. When asked 'why not covered,' told 'text is stiff,' 'appeal doesn't come through.'"

Typical PR Document Problems:

Before (Current Text): "We have released a new version of our IoT sensor 'SmartSensor Pro' for manufacturing. This product is equipped with high-precision temperature, humidity, and vibration sensors to detect manufacturing line abnormalities early. Additionally, through cloud platform integration, data is visualized in real-time."

Problems: - Ends with product explanation - Lacks media-sought "why is this needed now" - No numbers or examples, lacking persuasiveness - No elements to interest readers (media personnel)

Takahashi sighed deeply.

"Furthermore, there's a problem. The two IR department members handle English translation of financial materials. Manual translation takes average 8 hours per case. Four quarterly materials means annual 128 hours.

And company-wide AI utilization isn't progressing. Some employees personally use ChatGPT, but organizational utilization hasn't been achieved. We want to introduce AI tools and streamline PR/IR operations. However, we don't know what to introduce or how to utilize."

Chapter 2: The AI Implementation Confusion—What to Measure

"Ms. Takahashi, after introducing AI tools, what indicators will you measure effectiveness by?"

My question left Takahashi bewildered.

"I don't know. We have vague images like 'media coverage rate increases' and 'translation time decreases.' But we don't know how to set specific numerical targets."

Current Understanding (Goal Unclear Type): - Expectation: Efficiency through AI - Problem: Cannot see what and how to measure

I explained the importance of evaluating organizations from four perspectives and building strategy.

"The problem is 'success indicators aren't clear.' BSC—Balanced Scorecard. Set goals from four perspectives: financial, customer, business process, learning and growth. Execute measures by defining indicators. This method enables quantitative evaluation of AI implementation effects."

⬜️ ChatGPT | Catalyst of Conception

"Don't only see efficiency. See all four: financial, customer, process, growth. Design with BSC"

🟧 Claude | Alchemist of Narrative

"Media always seeks 'stories.' AI is a tool. Give the organization power to weave stories"

🟦 Gemini | Compass of Reason

"BSC is strategy map technology. Set goals from four perspectives, cascade through cause-effect to transform organizations"

The three members began analysis. Gemini deployed "BSC Framework" on the whiteboard.

BSC's 4 Perspectives: 1. Financial Perspective: What are final financial results 2. Customer Perspective: How are we evaluated by customers 3. Business Process Perspective: Which processes to improve 4. Learning and Growth Perspective: How to enhance organizational capabilities

"Ms. Takahashi, let's build AI implementation strategy from these four perspectives."

Chapter 3: Strategy as Design—The Four-Perspective Chain

Phase 1: BSC Strategy Map Creation (3 weeks)

Perspective 1: Financial Perspective

Goals: - PR/IR operations cost reduction - Indirect sales contribution through increased corporate recognition

Indicators (KPI): - PR/IR operations labor cost: Before annual 24 million yen → After annual 18 million yen (25% reduction) - External translation cost: Before annual 2.4 million yen → After annual 500,000 yen (79% reduction)

Target Value (After 1 year): - Cost reduction: Annual 7.9 million yen

Perspective 2: Customer Perspective

Goals: - Increased media coverage rate - Increased investor inquiries

Indicators (KPI): - Media coverage rate: Before 8% (0.4 articles monthly/5 releases) → After 40% (2 articles monthly/5 releases) - IR material downloads: Before monthly average 120 → After monthly average 250 - Investor inquiries: Before monthly average 2 → After monthly average 8

Target Value (After 1 year): - Media coverage rate: 40% - IR material downloads: Monthly 250 - Investor inquiries: Monthly 8

Perspective 3: Business Process Perspective

Goals: - PR document creation quality improvement - IR English translation efficiency - Internal AI utilization standardization

Indicators (KPI): - PR document creation time: Before 8 hours/article → After 4 hours/article - PR document revision count: Before average 3 times → After average 1 time - IR English translation time: Before 8 hours/case → After 2 hours/case - AI utilization rate (company-wide): Before 15% → After 60%

Measures: 1. AI text creation support tool implementation (PR department) 2. AI translation tool implementation (IR department) 3. Company-wide AI utilization training program implementation

Perspective 4: Learning and Growth Perspective

Goals: - PR/IR staff skill improvement - Company-wide AI literacy enhancement

Indicators (KPI): - PR staff training attendance rate: 100% - AI utilization skill evaluation: Before average 2.1 points (5-point scale) → After average 4.2 points - Internal AI utilization case sharing: Monthly study sessions

Measures: 1. PR text creation internal training (monthly) 2. AI tool utilization manual creation 3. Success case sharing sessions (monthly)

Phase 2: Strategy Map Cause-Effect Relationships

Four perspectives cascade as follows.

Learning and Growth → Business Process → Customer → Financial

1. PR staff skill up (Learning and Growth)
2. PR document quality improves (Business Process)
3. Media coverage rate increases (Customer)
4. Corporate recognition improves, indirect sales contribution (Financial)

Chapter 4: Execution as Transformation—Results After 6 Months

Phase 3: AI Tool Implementation (2 months)

Tool 1: AI Text Creation Support Tool (PR Department) - Tool name: Certain enterprise generative AI tool - Functions: - Press release draft generation - Media-appealing expression suggestions - Automatic number and example insertion - Proofreading function (grammar, structure, persuasiveness evaluation)

Tool 2: AI Translation Tool (IR Department) - Tool name: Certain AI translation service (finance/IR specialized) - Functions: - Automatic financial material translation - Accurate specialized terminology translation - Human final verification (PEMT: Post-Editing Machine Translation)

Implementation Cost: - Initial cost: 1.2 million yen - Monthly cost: 180,000 yen

Phase 4: Operations Launch and KPI Measurement (Month 2-8)

Business Process Perspective (After 6 months):

PR Document Creation: - Before: 8 hours/article (create from scratch) - After: 4 hours/article (AI generates draft, humans edit) - Reduction: 4 hours/article (50% reduction)

PR Document Quality: - Before: Revision count average 3 times - After: Revision count average 1 time - Reason: AI pre-evaluates grammar, structure, persuasiveness

IR English Translation: - Before: 8 hours/case (manual translation) - After: 2 hours/case (AI translation + human verification) - Reduction: 6 hours/case (75% reduction)

AI Utilization Rate (Company-wide): - Before: 15% - After: 58% - Measures: Monthly study sessions, utilization case sharing

Customer Perspective (After 6 months):

Media Coverage Rate: - Before: 8% (0.4 articles monthly/5 releases) - After: 38% (1.9 articles monthly/5 releases) - Improvement: +30 points

Published Article Example: - Title: "IoT Sensors Accelerating Manufacturing DX, Reducing Annual Losses by 30 Million Yen through Abnormality Detection" - Before: Ended with product explanation - After: Expressed customer challenges and solutions, concrete results in story format

IR Material Downloads: - Before: Monthly average 120 - After: Monthly average 242 - Improvement: +102%

Investor Inquiries: - Before: Monthly average 2 - After: Monthly average 7.8 - Improvement: +290%

Financial Perspective (6-month effects annualized):

Labor Cost Reduction: - PR document creation: 4 hours/article × 5 articles/month × 12 months = 240 hours/year - IR translation: 6 hours/case × 16 cases/year = 96 hours/year - Total: 336 hours/year - Reduction amount: 336 hours × 4,500 yen (hourly wage) = 1.512 million yen/year

External Translation Cost Reduction: - Before: Annual 2.4 million yen (external outsourcing) - After: Annual 500,000 yen (AI translation + internal) - Reduction: 1.9 million yen/year

AI Implementation Cost: - Initial cost: 1.2 million yen - Annual operation cost: 180,000 yen × 12 months = 2.16 million yen - Total: 3.36 million yen

ROI: - Reduction effect: 1.512 million yen + 1.9 million yen = 3.412 million yen/year - Investment: 3.36 million yen - ROI: 1.5% (first year approximately ±zero) - However, from second year onward annual 3.412 million yen reduction effect

Indirect Effects: - Corporate recognition improvement through increased media exposure - Investor interest increase smoothing fundraising - Difficult to quantify but long-term significant value

Learning and Growth Perspective (After 6 months):

PR Staff Skills: - Training attendance rate: 100% (all 3 people) - AI utilization skill evaluation: Before average 2.1 points → After average 4.1 points

Internal AI Utilization: - Conducted monthly study sessions (average 35 participants) - Utilization cases: Shared 12 cases (from departments other than PR/IR too)

Organizational Changes:

PR Staff A's Voice: "Previously, writing press releases took 8 hours. Worried 'is this expression good,' 'will media be interested.' But since AI tool introduction, first have AI create draft. Then edit it. Completes in 4 hours.

And media coverage rate increased. AI-suggested 'story format' expressions are indeed appealing. Numbers and examples automatically inserted, persuasiveness increased too."

IR Staff B's Voice: "Manual translation took 8 hours. Accurately translating specialized terms was difficult. But AI translation tool is finance/IR specialized, so specialized terms are accurate too. My job is just final verification. Completes in 2 hours. With freed time, can enhance investor materials."

Takahashi's Reflection:

"Until conducting BSC, we only had vague expectation 'AI tools will somehow streamline.' However, setting goals from four perspectives—financial, customer, business process, learning and growth—clarified what to achieve.

Media coverage rate improved 30 points, investor inquiries increased 290%. AI utilization rate improved from 15% to 58%, organizational skills enhanced overall.

First-year ROI approximately ±zero, but from second year onward annual 3.412 million yen reduction effect. And gained difficult-to-quantify but long-term significant value: increased media exposure and heightened investor interest."

Chapter 5: Detective's Diagnosis—Four Perspectives Transform Organizations

That evening, I contemplated the essence of Balanced Scorecard.

Concordia Technologies held vague expectation "AI tools will somehow work." However, what to measure wasn't visible.

Setting goals from four BSC perspectives—financial, customer, business process, learning and growth—clarified strategy. Achieved media coverage rate 30-point improvement, investor inquiries 290% increase.

"Don't only see efficiency. See all four: financial, customer, process, growth. Design strategy with BSC, cascade through cause-effect. The path to organizational transformation exists there."

The next case will also depict the moment of transforming organizations from four perspectives.

"Financial, Customer, Business Process, Learning and Growth. Set goals from four perspectives, cascade through cause-effect. Balanced Scorecard becomes the map for organizational transformation"—From the Detective's Notes

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