Becoming the No. 1 taxi industry sales leader and the brand of choice for customers

• Transportation & Postal

Nihon Kotsu Co.,Ltd.
We are Japan's largest* taxi and hired car company in terms of group sales (*The 37th Nikkei MJ Service Industry Survey: Hire & Taxi Division).
Since its establishment more than 90 years ago, we have been a well-established company in the industry, and as one of the four major companies in Tokyo, we are well known to our customers.
At present, there are approximately 6,100 taxis (including partner companies) in and around Tokyo.
The company operates a fleet of approximately 1,300 hire vehicles (including contracted and dispatched drivers).

 

Why did you decide to implement learningBOX?

We have recently introduced an e-learning program for new graduates for pre-employment training.
I was a soccer coach in my previous job, and e-learning has been introduced in the soccer world for over 10 years.
The way we introduced the system is that we use e-learning before we start coaching football, and afterwards, we hold a group training session to train the players. When we first introduced the system, it took some time to get used to it because of the differences in computer literacy among the staff, but now it's the norm. But now the system is so commonplace that I don't even remember what e-learning is, even though I had that experience. Nihon Kotsu is hiring new graduates as taxi drivers, and more than 100 people join the company every year. We were discussing the tools we should use to train these new graduates, and I just happened to suggest e-learning. I happened to ask myself "What about e-learning?" and I thought, "Well, e-learning is commonplace in the soccer world! So I searched for "e-learning" and found Tatsuno Information System's learning box. So I did a search for "e-learning" and found Tatsuno Information System's learning box. I myself don't have any specialized knowledge about e-learning, so I focused on "e-learning that can be easily created by beginners". I'm sure there are lots of things out there that will meet your needs if you spend the money, but when I thought about e-learning that could be implemented without spending too much on running costs, learningBOX was the best choice.

In order to become a taxi driver, you must obtain a Class II license or pass a metropolitan geography test. These qualifications are usually obtained by our instructors after they join the company, but some new graduates try to obtain these qualifications while they have time to spare before joining the company, and we fully support them in the form of advance training.
This is our third year of this kind of initiative, and we actually had a hard time last year in many ways.... For example, we want them to learn geography well and pass the test, but we don't have enough time to ask them to come to the company and provide guidance before they join. For example, when you come to us for the initiation procedure, we only give you 30 minutes before the ceremony, and then only 20 minutes during the informal ceremony.
Under such circumstances, it was quite difficult to teach students to pass the exam. Based on this experience, we have introduced an e-learning system, which aims to convey a certain amount of knowledge to the students without having to do group training, so that they can pass the exam.

There are many companies that offer e-learning services, but what were the deciding factors in choosing learningBOX?

I first searched the web to gain prior knowledge about e-learning before attending the exhibition (Education IT Solutions Expo).
At this point, our goal was already Tatsuno-san, so after visiting several other companies, we stopped by their booth at the end of the day to talk to them directly. What I was wondering in my preliminary research was whether they really offer e-learning at such a low price! (laughs). After checking out the demo and listening to what they had to say, I felt that if it had this much functionality at this price, it was OK.

How did your training program change after implementing learningBOX?

It's a lot easier.
Compared to last year, the amount of instructional time spent on training has been significantly reduced.
How this has been made easier is that we would give guidance to the whole group at the timing of the offer ceremony and the on-boarding process, but we were feeling limited in terms of explaining the details. Until now, we had to go to the head office and explain the geographic examinations in about 30 minutes, which coincided with the timing of their visit to the head office for the induction process. There were also times when we had to take advantage of the 20 minutes of free time during the informal ceremony to give them advance training. Since the introduction of the learning box, I can feel that my understanding of the whole process has deepened during my conversations with the candidates who have been offered the job.
Then, every time they call with a question, we go over and explain it in detail and detail. Then we'd spend a light 30 minutes on the phone. That's the way it used to go, but now the conversation starts with "I looked at the web" or "I checked the e-learning," so the time on the phone has become much shorter. Even when communicating via email, we can communicate with each other with a certain amount of prior knowledge, which saves us both time and effort.
Even at the informal ceremony, we couldn't spend all our time on training, so there were times when the explanations were inadequate, but by using the learning box, we were able to supplement the explanations we received, which was very helpful.

Last year, I used to tutor students individually when they didn't understand something, but if that took up too much of my time, it sometimes prevented me from doing other work at all. However, this season, the system has helped me with the learning box, so I can do other tasks without having to work so hard. Compared to last year, it's a far cry from last year!

Did you have any feedback from the employees who actually took the training in learningBOX?

I've done a lot of research, and this is my own content (see the images below), and I've heard from students who have received offers to study for the law test that they have used the learning box as a basis for their studies. The videos are also set up so that students can check the videos over and over again, and some students are happy to say that they have been able to study over and over again, which has actually led to their success in the exam.
For the geography exams, we used to use paper-based materials to guide the students through the actual group training guidance. The guidance is now available in the learning box as a video teaching aid, which they can repeat over and over again, and they are very happy with it. However, the actual study, especially the parts related to the basics, are still paper-based, because it is the most difficult part of the course. The reason is that the most difficult test is the geography test, and I'd like to improve the content of the geography test, but it's still difficult for me to make a more comprehensive paper-based document, so I think that's something I need to work on in the future. The basics are still a work in progress, but I can confirm from the course history that the content is being used well for the parts related to application.

How do you explain how to use the learningBOX in advance of the training?

The first step will be an informal ceremony at the beginning of October to explain the support system that will be available to you if you want to challenge your pre-qualification.
Therefore, we have introduced a web-based learning system for those who take up the challenge. We will send you a login ID to your address. Please log in first. Since we don't have time to explain how to use the learning box during the unofficial ceremony, we also upload the instructional video to the learning box to explain how to use the system. Therefore, on the day of the course, all you have to do is say, "Please check the video first, and then proceed with your study. and that's all there is to it.

Do you have any plans to improve your business using learningBOX?

First of all, I would like to produce an objective measure of the effectiveness of the pre-training program for new graduates before applying it to training for mid-career hires (as with new graduates, there are lessons on safe driving, related laws and regulations, geography, customer service, etc.). Ultimately, I would like to create content that can be used for onsite training after they are assigned to each office.
Each business office creates its own materials and tests for on-site training. Therefore, I hope that if we can gather good content and know-how from each site, it will be horizontally deployed across the entire company and utilized in the future.
Also, at present, we can check "who checked which contents", "who logged in at what time", etc., but we can't analyze "who stumbled on which problems" or "what areas they were weak in". Since we have accumulated a lot of paper-based lessons, we have a good idea of where the mistakes are most frequent, but we think that there may be a difference between our assumptions and the reality when we use actual objective data. In the future, I would like to collect data from the learning box and reflect it in future teaching materials. For that purpose, I would like to strengthen the development of the learning box. By doing so, I'd like to create new teaching materials that will allow people with a zero base to learn specialized content in a short period of time when they start their studies. The taxi business is required to operate in accordance with the law. It's a high hurdle for new employees to learn about the law, which has a lot of volume, so I'd like to create content that is easy for anyone to understand. We'd also like to introduce it to classes for tourist taxi drivers, who are required to have specialized knowledge and know-how.

I would be lying if I said that there is no resistance to e-learning at all, as there are probably some good points in the old training methods, and there are individual differences in aptitude for the web.
But once you actually use it and feel the ease of use, it becomes irreplaceable for people, doesn't it? It's the same with smartphones, and I'd like to see learning box become that kind of thing.

postscript

How did you like this case study?

At the time of our interview with Mr. Kato of Nihon Kotsu Co.,Ltd., he had been using learningBOX for only 5 months, and within 5 months, they have been able to significantly reduce the amount of time spent on training. In order to achieve this, the content must be enriched. We will continue to improve learningBOX not only in terms of price, but also in terms of operation and support so that we can support Mr. Kato's well-crafted contents in the future!

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with us.

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