The introduction of HENNGE One has enabled smooth terminal control.
— Please give us an overview of Sekisui Plastics’ business.
Sekisui Kaseihin Kogyo manufactures and sells foam resin products such as Eslen beads, Eslen sheets, Piocelan, Lightlon, Celpet, and Neo-Microlen, and functional materials such as Techpolymer and Technogel, as well as agricultural and marine materials, food containers, distribution materials, construction materials, civil engineering materials, automotive parts, vehicle parts packaging materials, and industrial packaging materials, The company manufactures and sells agricultural and marine materials, food containers, distribution materials, construction materials, civil engineering materials, automotive parts, vehicle parts packaging materials, industrial packaging materials, and other related products and systems.
Founded in 1959, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009. We have formulated the “Sekisui Plastics Group 100 Year Vision” as a guidepost for further development over the next 50 years. Based on the founding spirit and new management philosophy of Sekisui Plastics, we will develop our business globally in the fields of “Industry,” “Human Life,” and “Environment/Energy,” and expand “CSR” and “All Member Management” throughout the Group, aiming to become a “Plastics Solution Company trusted by customers globally. We also aim to become a “Plastics Solution Company trusted by global customers” by expanding our business globally in the fields of “human life,” “environment and energy,” and by promoting “CSR” and “management by all.
— How did you introduce Microsoft Office 365?
First, we needed to improve the security environment for our group companies located overseas. Overseas group companies were using local domain email, so there was a problem that the Information Systems Department could not keep track of. Therefore, we decided to switch to a unified e-mail system.
In Japan, we were using groupware, but that was difficult to deploy overseas, so we decided to adopt Office 365, a cloud service.
We chose Office 365 because it has an e-mail function that can be used with iPads, and we also wanted to use Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lync Online in the future to revitalize communication. In addition, we wanted to use Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lync Online in the future to activate communication.
— Did the introduction of Office 365 and iPads go smoothly?
We held explanatory meetings for staff in the sales department, mainly at the Tokyo Headquarters. We also created and distributed manuals and utilization guides. Since many of our staff had been using smartphones for personal use, there were no particular problems during the introduction of the system.
— How is the usability of Office 365 and iPad?
It has become an important tool during sales activities. In particular, as our global expansion has led to an increase in the number of staff traveling overseas, smart devices are useful for use outside the office, such as while traveling, because they can be used immediately anywhere and anytime. In addition, the ability to freely devise and utilize applications for one’s own work may also be demonstrating their true value. However, we prohibit the downloading of applications that are not related to work, such as storage services and games, which can lead to information leakage outside the company.
— How did you come to introduce HENNGE One?
For security reasons, we prohibit two things as a basic premise for the use of information terminals. We prohibit the use of personal items for work and the use of company-issued terminals for personal use. We have always asked our employees to observe these two rules.
However, when we introduced MDM (Mobile Device Management) in conjunction with the introduction of iPads, we found that while cell phones are still used in Japan, smartphones are used for business purposes at some of our overseas group companies. Therefore, we allowed the use of Office 365 only for company-loaned smartphones, but some employees were actually using Office 365 on their personal smartphones. We also found that some employees were using Office 365 from their home computers due to other problems.
Our company has a company-wide organization, the Security Committee, and the head of the Security Committee said, “That is not acceptable. Immediately create a system that prevents employees from using their personal computers for business purposes. The security committee chairman ordered us to “immediately create a system that prevents personal terminals from being used for business purposes.
So we decided to introduce a tool that could control terminals, and after researching and considering about five tools that could do so, we decided to have representatives from three companies come to our company. One of the tools we considered was HENNGE One, a cloud security tool from HENNGE.
When we heard from the representatives of the three companies, we realized that HENNGE One was the only tool that could control smart devices such as iPads and smartphones, so we decided to adopt it.