Reason for Choosing Leasing
—How Life Cycle Management Service Supports DeNA’s QCD

Group Manager Daisuke Seto of DeNA (left) and Hiroto Kakizaki of Tokyo Century (right)

Most Effective QCD for Improving the IT Experience of Employees

——Could you start off by explaining the LCM service provided to DeNA?

Kakizaki: Tokyo Century’s LCM service seamlessly and responsibly manages IT assets leased to customers across the full product lifetime cycle, from entry to exit.

At entry, we unpack new PCs, handle kitting*1, and deliver equipment to the customer’s office. At exit, we collect the PCs at the expiration of the lease and erase the data. Any that are no longer used during the lease period due to their replacement, the resignation of the user, or some other reason are collected for refurbishing*2 into like-new condition before they’re returned to the customer.

*1 Kitting is the configuring of device settings, installing of necessary software, and related tasks.
*2 Refurbishing is the repair and reconditioning of electrical appliances and information equipment that have been returned due to initial defects or other problems or products that have been used only once.

——What are the benefits of LCM service for DeNA?

　

Seto: One example can be seen in our IT Strategy Dept., which focuses on enhancing the employee IT experience. While staff are basically expected to use their company PCs for their full operational lifetime, they can also replace them when insufficient specifications constrain work performance. Employees can also freely choose from a variety of options, including Windows and Macs. On average, about 150 PCs need to be set up each month. Kitting this many in-house, from setup to disposal of packing materials, is rather burdensome, so having Tokyo Century handle the work is a major advantage.

　
　

Seto: The full cost of kitting and data erasure is included in the lease cost,

so I appreciate the ability to level out the cost of each PC.

　

——Mr. Seto, you said that the group you’re leading is focusing on enhancing the employee IT experience. Could you tell us a little more about that?

　

Seto: As suggested by the name, the mission of the Employee Experience Group is to provide a better employee experience and to continue offering a more satisfying IT work environment. Our internal help desk, for example, should encourage people to contact them first, even if they’re unable to describe the nature of a problem clearly.

A keen awareness of quality, cost, and delivery (QCD) is deeply rooted in the overall culture of the IT Division. Even in the course of supplying PCs, we genuinely want to efficiently rotate inventory in order to provide PCs with the right specifications quickly to employees, without running out of stock or incurring increased costs through an excessive surplus. I’m grateful to Mr. Kakizaki for striking a good balance.

　
　

Kakizaki: I appreciate your sentiment. I feel that we’ve been able to very efficiently exchange information thanks to our monthly meetings and communication using Slack, including EPC Japan K.K. (EPC), a Tokyo Century subsidiary that handles kitting. And we’ll continue working to further accelerate our communications.

　
　

Seto: We place high priority on QCD. We want to maintain robust inventory management to deliver the latest PCs as cost-effectively and quickly as possible.

　
　

New Kitting Scheme Delivers PCs without Requiring Personal Information

　

——As an added feature for our LCM service, we began delivering leased PCs to individual homes in May of this year. Could you explain how this came about?

　

Seto: This approach has its roots in the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted employees from coming to the office and led to working from home. We established a new system so they could connect to the company network, but we still faced the issue of getting PCs to them from the head office. So we asked Mr. Kakizaki if we could directly dispatch the computers kitted at EPC in Zama.

　

Kakizaki: Delivering the PCs presented the major challenge of handling personal information, such as the names and addresses of DeNA employees. After various discussions with the delivery company and EPC, we were ultimately able to establish a scheme for delivering them without retaining personal information.

　
　

　

——What difficulties did you face before establishing the home delivery scheme?

　

Kakizaki: Since Tokyo Century had never provided a service like this, I remember we had a hard time coming up with the optimal scheme for handling multiple considerations, such as restrictions on personal information, profitability, and delivery lead time. And gaining the cooperation of the delivery company entailed a series of trials and errors to realize the true benefits.

　　

Seto: This is the result of Mr. Kakizaki’s efforts. Now that the scheme has been established, delivering the PCs is expected to take nearly half the number of days. Last year, more than 300 leased computers were kitted at EPC in Zama and delivered to the homes of staff via DeNA’s head office in Shibuya. Employees will continue to have the option of working from home, and we’re also looking into hiring people outside of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, so we’re exploring how to build on the scheme.

Kakizaki: Even though we needed about a year to prepare after Mr. Seto talked to us,

it was worth it by opening new possibilities for the LCM service.

Reducing the Time Required to Provide Customer Solutions Down to the Minute and Second, and Ultimately Realizing a Circular Economy

　

——What do you think of Tokyo Century’s kitting technology?

　
　　

Seto: The kitting we require—in terms of procedures and content—varies slightly between Windows and Mac and the specific OS version. Tokyo Century has been able to flexibly respond to our PC needs, so we’ve always been able to entrust them with the specific configurations.

　
　

Kakizaki: EPC is connected to DeNA’s network, so we’ve been able to handle kitting based on requests. And given EPC’s highly experienced staff, we essentially feel there is nothing we cannot do, and we want to meet DeNA’s expectations.

　　

Seto: Take for example the recent need to upgrade PCs to Windows 11. Let’s frankly discuss the best form of leasing for both of us.

　
　

　
　　
　

——I’d like to conclude by asking you about your expectations for the future of Tokyo Century.

　　
　

　

　　
　

Comments from the Person in Charge Since the Launch of the LCM Business

　

　
　

Note: The contents of the article and the position titles are current as of the date posted.

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