2020 Information Technology Award selects Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan as the recipient of IT Encouragement Award

News Release

November 26, 2020

Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc.

2020 Information Technology Award selects Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan as the recipient of IT Encouragement Award

～Highly evaluated the endeavors to respond to the new ways of living in the “With COVID” period～

Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. (Headquarters in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & President Calin Dragan; hereafter “CCBJI”) is pleased to announce that the company has been selected as the recipient of IT Encouragement Award (new lifestyle support category) in the “38th Information Technology Award 2020” hosted by Japan Institute of Information Technology (hereafter “JiIT”).

Information Technology Award is an annual program organized by JiIT to recognize companies and organizations that have made significant achievements in "business innovation through advanced IT solutions", such as, in the form of building and promoting new business models that could effectively facilitate or evolve specific areas of business in public and private sectors.

IT Encouragement Award is an award given to companies and organizations that have implemented innovative IT solutions considered to be highly promising and expansible. This year, Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan was selected as one of the recipients of this award in a special category called the “new lifestyle support category” that JiIT had established particularly for the 2020 program to shed light on companies and organizations that have made remarkable achievements in leveraging their IT solutions to promote both the economic activities and safety measures to prevent the further spread of infectious disease in a well-balanced manner.    

Since 2019, Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan has been actively incorporating IT and digital technology in its business systems with an aim to transform into a "smart management" enterprise that can create opportunities for employees to maximize their capabilities and work more efficiently.　These efforts have enabled the company and its employees to make a smooth transition to the various new ways of working to respond to the disruptive changes caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. The key IT-driven initiatives implemented by Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan include:

① Developed a mobile environment that enabled the employees to use their smartphone as the business platform to engage in their duties ubiquitously wherever they may be.

・Supplied a smartphone to the entire workforce composed of a total of approximately 17,000 employees based in all business areas by the end of 2019.

・Utilized the smartphone as the platform for daily business operations and attendance management.

・Was able to minimize the negative impact of working from home and other changes in workstyles enforced after the outbreak of COVID-19 on day-to-day business activities, thanks to the working environment built before COVID that had already been allowing the employees to work more freely without being restricted to time, place and occasion.

② Supported the remote workstyles by proactively introducing digital technology and IT solutions tailored to meet the different business needs.

・Proactively introduced a wide range of digital tools, ranging from chat bot, web conferencing systems to various mobile apps, as available options to meet the diverse operational needs, which are proving to be particularly effective in helping improve the efficiency of remote work and communication required by employees working from home and front-line salespeople who commute directly to the market and return home directly after working in the field. 

・Found through an in-house survey that the employees are highly satisfied with the level of communication enhanced by the use of IT devices.

③ Conducted pilot tests on telecommuting at first by the IT team and shared the test results later with other internal organizations

・Conducted pilot tests on telecommuting at first by the internal IT team and shared the test results and know-how with other internal organizations subsequently to ensure smooth companywide transition to new ways of working in the “With COVID” period. 

Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan will continue to protect the health of its employees and fulfill its mission to “deliver happy moments to everyone while creating value” by promoting flexible workstyles that can respond to the business needs in the “With COVID” period while maintaining stable supply of safe and secure products.

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