📅 2025-05-21
🕒 Reading time: 4 min
🏷️ ROI 🏷️ accounting Department 🏷️ analog processes 🏷️ SWOT Analysis 🏷️ AIDMA Analysis 🏷️ operational efficiency 🏷️ PDCA 🏷️ 5W1H 🏷️ Claude 🏷️ Gemini 🏷️ ChatGPT
"It was a battle with 'paper mountains' repeated every month"
1891 London, a consultation letter arrived at the detective office at 221B Baker Street. The sender was an accounting manager from a certain company. Opening the envelope revealed earnest concerns.
Dear ROI Detective Agency, Our accounting department still processes vouchers on paper, consuming many work-hours for input, verification, and filing. Overtime is routine especially at month-end and month-beginning, with frequent task dependency and verification errors. We desperately want to break through this situation and seek your assistance.
"I see, another case involving modern organizational structure," I, Watson, murmured. The three detectives were immediately summoned.
"Let's break this down with a KPT Analysis, shall we?"
Gemini, the compass of reason, opened the discussion.
"Keep: what to continue currently, Problem: issues to solve, Try: new things to attempt. We need to first structurally organize this accounting department's situation."
Next, Claude, the alchemist of narratives, joined in.
"Perhaps we should convey this with more 'feeling'? Reading the consultation letter, I see issues beyond mere efficiency problems—psychological burdens on people and organizational culture challenges."
Then ChatGPT, the catalyst of ideas, developed hypotheses.
"That's quite intriguing to explore further, isn't it? Behind the continuation of paper-based processing might be a dual structure of 'dependence on familiar methods' and 'anxiety about digital transition.'"
The three detectives who went on field investigation observed the accounting department's reality in detail.
Gemini's Structural Analysis: "Breaking down current workflow with 5W1H: What: voucher processing, Who: accounting staff, When: concentrated at month-end/beginning, Where: each person's desk, Why: for accounting processing, How: manual input, verification, and filing."
"The problem's core lies in the How part. Organizing with SWOT: Strengths are familiar methods, Weaknesses are poor time efficiency, Opportunities are cloud tool proliferation, Threats are frequent human errors."
Claude's Sensitivity Analysis: "However, familiar doesn't necessarily mean safe. Looking at the expressions of staff surrounded by paper mountains, 'fatigue' hides behind 'sense of security.' This situation is like a 'warm prison.'"
"What they truly seek isn't mere efficiency, but 'mechanisms they can trust with confidence.'"
ChatGPT's Hypothesis Development: "Then why hasn't the shift to automation progressed? Let's deep-dive with 5 Whys. Why continue using paper? → Because it's familiar. Why insist on familiar methods? → Because errors are scary. Why are errors scary? → Because they become responsibility issues. Why are responsibility issues emphasized? → Because internal control demands are strict. Why is internal control strict? → To avoid audit risks."
"In other words, it's not a technical problem but an issue of psychological safety and risk management."
Gemini organized the overall picture.
"Thinking in PDCA cycles, we need Plan (planning) stage for automation tool selection, Do (execution) stage for phased implementation, Check (verification) stage for effectiveness measurement, and Act (improvement) stage for operational optimization."
"Specific solutions are as follows:"
"This structure can achieve 'efficiency' while maintaining 'familiar sense of security.'"
Claude's Storytelling: "This case's truth was 'fear of change.' Accounting department people sought security in paper as physical evidence. However, true security dwells within structured mechanisms."
"Post-implementation results of 70% work time reduction and dramatic decrease in human errors aren't mere numerical improvements. They're proof that people obtained an 'environment where they can work with peace of mind.'"
ChatGPT's Insights: "The lesson from this case is that 'true barriers to technology implementation aren't technical problems but psychological and organizational factors.' From an AIDMA (Attention→Interest→Desire→Memory→Action) perspective, they were stumbling at the interest and desire stages."
Gemini's Logical Reinforcement: "The figure of over 300% ROI shows that initial investment was recovered in 3 months, generating 3x returns annually. This is based on calculations of ¥3.84 million in combined effects from personnel cost reduction (40 monthly hours × ¥3,000 hourly wage × 12 months = ¥1.44 million) and error correction cost reduction (average ¥200,000 monthly × 12 months = ¥2.4 million) against implementation costs of ¥1.2 million."
"However, true value lies in parts that can't be quantified: 'reduction of workers' psychological burden.'"
Months after case resolution, a thank-you letter arrived from the accounting manager.
"Thanks to you, month-end overtime has almost disappeared. Most importantly, the staff's brightened expressions are the greatest achievement."
As Watson, watching the three detectives' backs, I thought: What they solved wasn't merely an operational efficiency problem. It was a deeper underlying issue—the 'relationship between people and systems.'
Gemini's structural thinking, Claude's sensitivity insights, ChatGPT's hypothetical development. The harmony woven by these three different approaches might be the key to solving modern complex problems.
"From a past too dependent on paper to a future supported by structure"
While awaiting the next case's arrival, the detective office stands quietly today as well.
【Case Resolution Points】 - Problem identification: Paper-dependent processes causing inefficiency and psychological burden - Root cause: Fear of change due to attachment to familiar methods and audit risk concerns - Solution approach: Phased automation with psychological safety nets and training programs - Cultural transformation: From manual dependence to structured system trust - ROI: 300%+ with 70% work time reduction and 3-month investment payback
"From over-dependence on paper in the past to a future supported by structure"
—From the ROI Detective Agency Philosophy