Do you usually watch cable TV?Cable TV is a TV where you can watch a wide range of content such as rebroadcasts of terrestrial digital broadcasting and past broadcasts (including rebroadcasts of baseball games from 20 and 30 years ago!) Overseas dramas and movies.It is.
Mie Prefecture is one of the prefectures where cable television networks (broadcasting and communications) have spread to a high degree. Eight cable TV member stations that are members of the Mie Prefecture Cable TV Council provide services to households in their respective areas.
By consolidating the comprehensive resources of these member stations, we are working to realize a more advanced and comfortable wide-area and prefectural cable television network service that is useful for the lives of people in Mie Prefecture.Cable Common Net Mie Co., Ltd.(hereafter referred to as CCM).
This time, along with an interview with CCM,Introduction of system development cases in which San-El was involvedTo do. In the article, we will introduce episodes such as CCM's worries, issues, and difficulties until system introduction in an interview format. I hope that this article will be of some help to those who want to break away from analog and improve their business.
I want to help each member station and convey the charm of cable TV programs to everyone in Mie Prefecture! !
The role of Cable Common Net Mie Co., Ltd. is to contribute to local residents while cooperating with affiliated stations.
Mr. CCM,A company jointly operated by four cable TV operators in Mie Prefecture (ZTV, Iga-Ueno Cable TV, Advance Corp, Matsusaka Cable TV)It is.
Mie Prefecture is also a prefecture with a highly spread cable television network (broadcasting and communication) that is unparalleled in Japan. CCM has three business pillars: network services, advertising and broadcasting, joint purchase and operation business. This article mainly touches on the system development required by the "Joint Purchasing and Operation Business" department, which coordinates the management and operation of household subscribers while collaborating with the four affiliated stations.
This company, which was launched at a time of great change when cable television broadcasting began to spread rapidly, started with one executive and one female employee at the time of its founding. In this interview, since the founding, the business has been promoted with a team of executives at the time.Ms. Akiko Kawamura, Manager of the General Affairs Divisionand,Mr. Yu Nagao, who belongs to the IT solution section and is in charge of system operationI have been interviewing.
Introduced a system to improve management of household information, which increased with the increase in subscribers
Currently, CCM is also coordinating member stations in Mie Prefecture and responding to the government. When cable television began to spread, each affiliated station in the prefecture purchased the programs they wanted on their own. Therefore, with the aim of reducing the costs of each affiliated station by jointly purchasing programs, CCM decided to bundle each affiliated station. Mr. Kawamura is still in charge of coordinating each station as the main person in charge.
―――I hear that Mie Prefecture has a high penetration rate (coverage rate) of cable TV, but why is that in the first place?
Mr. Kawamura:When the company was established 16 years ago, the cable TV coverage rate in Mie Prefecture was the third highest in Japan.The governor of Mie Prefecture at the time focused on popularizing cable television.I hear. At that time, cable TV was still analog broadcasting.
How CCM introduced the system for the first time
Mr. Kawamura:With the establishment of CCM, programs that had previously been purchased individually by each member station were jointly purchased. In doing so, the CCM side will also handle billing to each member bureau.
When jointly purchasing a program, information on the number of households x each unit price is required. The number of household subscriptions is increasing day by day, and the number of programs is increasing. Also, at the time of its establishment, the programs used by each affiliated station were not unified, so they were managed manually.
However, the gradual increase in workload and billing management started to become unreasonable.
Mr. Kawamura:One of our reporting partners, a major supplier, already had its own reporting system when co-purchasing shows. but,Sixteen years ago, CCM manually managed and reported on each household's programming and service contracts for each cable company.
After that, we entered a digital-to-analog transition period, and there was a movement to create a common lineup through joint purchases, and the number of management items began to increase.
―――At first, Excel was used for the administrative work system related to household reports, and I heard that the system was introduced later.
Mr. Kawamura:That's right. I decided that it would be difficult to manage with Excel any more, so I asked a company to develop a system.
At that time, it was also a digital-analog transition period, and the signal system changed. Along with this, it was also necessary to manage whether each household was viewing the projected screen digitally or analogously. Therefore, we decided to introduce a system built by another company and perform management work.
However, the system has a structure that makes it difficult to add new information on the CCM side, which increases day by day, and daily operation has become difficult.
Rebuild the system from scratch after repairing the existing system ~ Gradual improvement in management workload ~
―――It was about five years ago that you consulted with San-El when you wanted to modify a system built by another company.
Mr. Kawamura:The very first order to Mr. Sanel,I want you to change to a better management system as soon as possible while keeping the existing system.It was stating. However, although the system was provided, to be honest, the situation continued that the system did not fit in the business.
After that, in 2021, CCM to Sanel"What should I do to solve the current situation?"There was a consultation. Therefore, from Sanel"Build a system from scratch"I made a suggestion.
―――I heard that it was difficult to share the current situation with the person in charge of development at our company. When San-El's development staff participated in the meeting and listened to the explanation of the specifications, it seems that all three of them had different interpretations.
Mr. Kawamura:You are right. I think sharing this current situation was the most difficult. The neck this time wasIt was difficult for Sanel to understand what we wanted to make.I think.
I don't want to do advanced data extraction, but if you don't understand the CCM service, such as why you need to enter this number, you won't be able to understand the necessity of that element. I think it was the hardest thing to understand.
Nagao of our company did not understand it at first, so I think it would be even more difficult for other companies. I don't get to see the people in charge of the development of Sun-El very often because of the times, but I feel like they're my comrades because we've spent so much time together.
―――I heard about the channel problem from our development staff.
Mr. Kawamura:San-El's side was so difficult that it was expressed as a problem. The story is the same program, but the channel name changes frequently. For our company, it was important to accumulate data on household shifts, although there are also monthly reports for the system usage this time.
Therefore, data analysis is important. From Sanuel"There is no problem when creating a new channel, but it is difficult to link it on the system when several different channels have the same program."They said.
Mr. Nagao:Therefore, Mr. Sanel said that it was not possible to unify the program names,Although the program name is the same, a unique ID for each channel is issued.I was asked to suggest this, and I adopted that specification.
―――I heard that you added a CSV format data export function to the requirements, which was not originally planned.
Mr. Nagao:Revising the system every time the channel name changes is expensive and time consuming. Therefore, we decided to take the method of outputting the data held in the system in CSV format and converting the format.
―――Did you compare San-El with other system companies when you chose San-El for the construction of this new “household reporting system”?
Mr. Kawamura:Rather than comparing with other companies,It is important whether there is a system company that will try to understand our needs empathetically.was. We had a chance to work together on a prefectural project, so we asked San-El if we could do it.
Mr. Nagao:When you make proposals to other companies, do you have many opportunities to make +α proposals like this case?
―――As a corporate philosophy of SUN-EL, we always have "creativity in service" and work on problem solving.
Mr. Kawamura:Our case must have been difficult.
―――Because the opponents are not always engineers, there are many cases where the requirements are almost undecided for any project. What do you want to achieve? At San-El, we are conscious of listening and understanding what the non-negotiable points are.
Mr. Kawamura:Mr. Sanel, how did you become involved in this consultation project?
――I think it took a long time to finish the specifications. Unlike analog, once a system decides to handle things, exceptions can occur and specifications can change. moving while
Mr. Nagao:If you want to embody it, you need to build a close relationship.
Introducing a system that eliminates the dependence of work on individual skills
―――Were there any reactions from the affiliated stations when you introduced the system this time?
Mr. Kawamura:This time, after introducing the system to Sanel,I would like to see a system that does not confuse member bureaus.I rather asked.
―――I think it must have been really hard for Mr. Kawamura to be in charge of such difficult-to-understand administrative work, as there were three different interpretations of the specification explanations.
Mr. Kawamura:At the time of the company's establishment, I was the managing director and two people, so I started by answering the phone. It was difficult because I was starting a career that was not in the cable TV industry at my previous job. However, since I started from a place where I didn't know anything, I am grateful to all the member stations and suppliers for their help.
Mr. Nagao:In that regard, I am grateful to be able to ask Mr. Kawamura if there is something I do not understand.
Mr. Kawamura:I don't know if I will be able to handle this work alone in the future, and for the sake of the company, I would like to be able to hand over this work to someone else at any time. Also, for that reason, I feel again that it is necessary for the members of the company to understand the background, flow, and relationships up to this point.
Realization that digitization of operations will lead to cost reduction as a result
―――Is there anything you would like to improve through this system?
Mr. Nagao:When the system was first introduced, there were functions that we gave up on implementing due to schedule and budget constraints, and there are still parts that require time and effort. When member bureaus and suppliers notify us of individual changes, we sometimes modify the settings internally, but there are times when we think it might be possible to simplify things a bit more.
I honestly feel that it is a bit difficult to report to the supplier side because we have to change the format every time there is a change.
Mr. Kawamura:Currently, our company is the flow to report to the supplier side and each affiliated authority. In the future, I always think that it would be great if there was a system in which suppliers and departments could collect our company's report data.
―――Our company is now trying to promote that DX for companies in Mie Prefecture.
Mr. Kawamura:What is DX? I hear that a lot lately.
―――DX is an abbreviation for digital transformation.Use digital technology to change companies and people's lives for the betterThat's it.
Mr. Kawamura:Through exchanging invoices with other companies, I learned that there is a system for obtaining information by downloading, and I feel that it may be applicable to this case as well.
CCM is not in a position to pursue profits,How important it is to reduce costs and pass them on to cable TV subscribersThat's it. Therefore, management costs are very important.
Mr. Kawamura:The value of the work that only I can do is important, but I think it's very important to have substitute staff in shifts in the event of an emergency.
―――The number of man-hours has been reduced, and there are parts that have become easier as a result of using this system.
Mr. Kawamura:Even if the person in charge at San-El changes, it was important to create a system that could be managed and operated by the CCM side. There was also a background that the system that I asked Sanel about five years ago was not being used within the company, so I had to overturn the impression of the upper management, and I felt that I could not fail the second time.
That's why, since the system construction was a project that was created from scratch, I, who is usually involved in the work, attended the meeting from the beginning to closely discuss the requirements and specifications.
In addition, the system delivered for the first project five years ago was not practical. However, that does not mean that San-El had a problem. I now understand that it was because we were not able to take enough time to reach a mutual understanding between the two companies within a short deadline.
Mr. Nagao:I totally agree with you.
――I heard from the development members that during the meeting time, they really went back and reconciled over and over again. The key this time isRecognition alignmentis not it.
Mr. Kawamura:I'm not an engineer, and I'm not familiar with the system, so I don't know if the specifications are good. However, there is no doubt that the management work man-hours can be reduced. I am grateful that San-El understands our company.
Responding to the expectations of each member station will lead to returns to cable TV subscribers.
Mr. Nagao:As much as possible, I would like to respond to each member bureau if there is a problem or issue. And I would like to continue to be involved in this cable TV business so that each affiliated station can build a better relationship with its subscribers.
Mr. Kawamura:I believe that by cooperating with other affiliated bureaus, working together, and working together, we will be able to demonstrate our strengths. I would like to join forces and move together while snuggling up. And I would like to build a standing position where you can rely on us when you are in trouble.
Listening to customer issues is the first step in DX
This time, I had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Mie of Cable Common Net, and I was able to learn about the real problems that occur on a daily basis. What is the realization of DX?Realizing that it is not only the introduction and operation of advanced systems, but also the use of familiar digital technology to solve daily problems.I will do so.
Members are gathered at Sun-El based on the philosophy of contributing to Mie Prefecture and making people's lives richer and more enjoyable by supporting the promotion of DX by business operators. While staying close to our customers,I would like to try to solve problems through "introduction, design, development and operation from scratch" related to digital.We think.
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