Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha specializes in international shipping. Its employees are active not only in Japan, but also at ports and on ships around the world. From October 2021, the company began producing its own internal communication video media as a tool for sharing its management plan with employees around the world.
The company had previously been using Microsoft 365 to share videos, but in December 2022 they switched to a platform using Brightcove’s Video Cloud. They were now able to distribute videos that had previously only been shared with a limited number of members in Japan to employees working overseas and those on secondment to other companies.
BRIGHTCOVE ADOPTED AS A PLATFORM FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION VIDEO MEDIA
The Corporate Planning Group is at the heart of the company. In order to ensure that the management plan, which sets the direction of the company, is correctly and effectively communicated to employees, we have been considering various methods of communication. “In the past, the president would hold town hall meetings to explain the financial results and management plan for each division, but if we made the basic content into videos, we could convey the same message to all employees at once. We also thought that we could make past videos available for viewing, and that we could gauge the level of understanding of employees based on information such as viewing history” (Mr. Tamura)
In this context, the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection provided the impetus.
We wanted to pay attention to the design so that employees would want to visit the site frequently. Video Cloud has a wide range of galleries for posting videos, and it was good that it was easy to set up, with customization options such as brand colors.
Mr. Kazu Murakami
Corporate Planning Group, General Planning Team
“The coronavirus pandemic began at the end of fiscal 2019, disrupting logistics and making it difficult to forecast business performance. At the same time, lifestyles and work styles changed significantly, and we felt even more strongly that we needed to share information about the world and the external and internal environments surrounding our company, and to disseminate our management plan. However, town hall meetings could no longer be held face-to-face due to the coronavirus. At that time, my boss suggested that we try using videos, and in May 2021, the Corporate Planning Group and the Sustainability, Environmental Management Promotion, IR, and Public Relations Group collaborated to launch a video distribution project” (Murakami).
They used an application that was already in use within the company, and in six months they launched the internal video media ‘K’ Line With.
“At first, we uploaded videos explaining the quarterly financial results and the progress of management plans. As a place for sharing information within the company, we also distributed videos created by other departments, and the content became more and more substantial. On the other hand, we who were in charge of distribution began to feel that there were issues with the time and effort required to upload videos, adjust the entire site, and make updates. In addition, problems such as slow playback speeds and freezing due to heavy traffic began to occur. Due to security issues, the distribution destination was limited, and it became a bottleneck that we could not deliver to employees who had been transferred to other companies or were working at overseas subsidiaries.
THE APPEAL OF THIS SYSTEM IS THAT IT IS EASY TO CUSTOMIZE WITH A FOCUS ON DESIGN. WE WERE ALSO ABLE TO REDUCE THE WORKLOAD BY 50%
They say that they were able to solve these problems by using Video Cloud provided by Brightcove.
“From the beginning, we wanted to focus on the design so that employees would want to visit the site frequently, but because we were doing it in-house, we couldn’t get around to it. However, I liked that Video Cloud had a wide range of galleries for posting videos, so we could choose the one that suited our needs. For example, even the play button could be set to our corporate colors by specifying the RGB colors. Of course, we were also able to clear issues such as global distribution and a stable playback environment” (Murakami)
“I also liked the fact that the Brightcove sales representative gave us a friendly lecture even before we signed the contract. Functionally, we were able to easily set up detailed publishing settings such as thumbnails, and I think we were able to reduce the amount of work involved in setting up by about 50%. We were also concerned about work becoming too personalized, but with the ease of setting up, even if we were reassigned, it would be easy for our successors to take over,” (Aoki)
IN-HOUSE COMMUNICATION MEDIA USING VIDEOS TO SHARE AWARENESS WITH EMPLOYEES WORKING AT BASES SCATTERED AROUND THE WORLD. SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVED COMPLETE IN-HOUSE PRODUCTION BY IMPROVING WORK EFFICIENCY
Time required for distribution settings:
50% reduction
Frequency of distribution by in-house team:
At least one video per week
IMMEDIATELY DISTRIBUTE EXPLANATIONS OF FINANCIAL RESULTS TO EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE.
TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE BENEFITS OF VIDEO DISTRIBUTION WITHIN THE COMPANY.
In January 2023, they started using Video Cloud to distribute videos. Despite the unique circumstances of Kawasaki Kisen, which has many employees working overseas or at sea, they say, “We now have a video medium that helps to foster a sense of unity within the company.”
“Most recently, we released a video commentary on our financial results on the same day. We created the video alongside our usual financial results announcement work. Specifically, we examined the scenario, asked a professional narrator to provide the narration, created the PowerPoint presentation, combined the audio and video, and previewed the video. I think it took about two to three days in total. After all, there is a lot of interest on the day of the financial results announcement, so the probability of people watching the video increases, so we are particular about the release date. We have to release it quickly on the day of the financial results announcement. I think the speed we can achieve is because we produce it in-house.
“We also post videos from other departments, and upload videos taken on ships sailing around the world. The view from a ship at sea is something that people working on land will never see, so we release a new video every week with the aim of connecting the sea and land.
Basically, we ask our employees to film the videos, but we don’t force them to do so. It seems that the company is beginning to recognize the effectiveness of publishing videos of matters that we want to share company-wide.
A TOOL FOR FURTHER DISSEMINATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS AND FOR SOLVING INTERNAL ISSUES
The internal video media “K” Line With has just started full-scale operations. They are considering various developments for the future.
“We have finally been able to start global distribution, which we have been hoping for. First, we will continue to post project videos that other departments want to share, while also promoting understanding of the management plan by referring to the reactions to the content we are currently developing. In the future, I would like to create an owned media for external audiences that has content that can enhance the company’s value” (Murakami)
Kawasaki Kisen has taken the step of producing its own videos, as well as creating documents as before, as a tool for connecting employees. It seems that the day when a deeper understanding contributes to business performance is not far off.
Customer Contact: https://www.kline.co.jp/ja/index.html
