NTT Group CSR > Improving the Quality of Our Products and Services

Improving the Quality of Our Products and Services

Using customer feedback to improve customer satisfaction
Improving the quality of our products and services
Conducting R&D with universal design principles in mind

Improving customer satisfaction

The NTT Group believes in putting its customers first, and as a customer driven organization we are dedicated to delivering customer satisfaction (CS). We have established systems for enabling customers to provide their views, and we apply this feedback to improve our operations and develop new services.
Customer consultation centers at NTT EAST, NTT WEST, and NTT DoCoMo all welcome customer opinions and requests in addition to product, service, and repair inquiries. The three companies combined received approximately 500,000 customer opinions in fiscal 2006, and 400,000 in fiscal 2007. Our customers also reach us through our website and e-mail and we interact with our customers through CS questionnaires and interviews.
Each of our Group companies also institutes mechanisms for promptly acting on customer feedback to improve business operations and services. For example, NTT EAST's Smile Committee, NTT WEST's Customer First Activities Working Group, and NTT DoCoMo's CS Promotion Committee are all companywide initiatives for studying and implementing CS improvements in their respective organizations.
NTT strives to improve CS in numerous other ways too. NTT DoCoMo and NTT FACILITIES instill a CS mindset in their employees through the best practices CS case studies they have compiled of group companies and other companies and through lectures from CS consultants. NTT DATA has introduced a performance awards program for CS achievements to foster a CS mindset in its employees.
NTT COMWARE organizes activities for employees such as lectures and hands-on work experience in the belief that boosting CS depends on boosting employee satisfaction. These activities are part of NTT COMWARE's efforts to drive gains in CS by creating a company culture that excites and motivates employees. NTT COMWARE also held joint CS get-togethers with NTT DATA to exchange views with CS promoters in other companies.
The NTT Group will continue to place a high priority on further improving CS.

This is a photograph of NTT WEST’s customer consultation center.

This is a photograph of an NTT COMWARE lecture on improving employee satisfaction.

This is the cover of the CS Report issued by NTT DoCoMo.

Improving the quality of our services

To ensure the satisfaction of its customers, the NTT Group strives constantly to improve the quality of its services and technology, and provide safe and secure services that will constitute the foundation of the coming age of ubiquitous broadband communications. To this end, we are constantly building our communications infrastructure and conducting R&D on the latest technologies for providing stable optical fiber-based broadband communications.
Obtaining ISO 9001 quality management certification is another example of our continuing efforts to provide safe and secure services.

Creating user-friendly products and services

The NTT Group recognizes that population decline and the aging of society make it even more essential that communications services are easily accessible to any and every user. With accessibility in mind, we offer products and services that are user-friendly to elderly people, differently abled people, and a wide range of other users. NTT has established the Universal IT Design Center within NTT Cyber Solutions Laboratories and promotes the use of IT universal design throughout the NTT Group.
Following its development of a prototype in fiscal 2006, NTT DoCoMo released a dual-screen handset in February, 2007. Buttons on this handset have been replaced by a touch panel display in which frequently used buttons are displayed as icons. The touch panel can be operated by people who lack the physical strength or otherwise find it difficult to use traditional handset buttons.
NTT DoCoMo also offers Sound Leaf, a bone conduction receiver-microphone that sends sound waves through the bones of the skull to auditory nerves enabling people who have become hard of hearing or with hearing impairments to communicate effectively.
NTT DoCoMo implements initiatives inspired by universal design concepts under the DoCoMo Hearty Style brand name. DoCoMo Hearty Plaza shops are designed using universal design concepts, and have staff on location who can communicate in sign language as well as shuttle services to and from nearby train and subway stations. Telephone workshops offered at the shops for visually and hearing impaired customers teach skills such as creating e-mail and using videophones.

This is a screenshot of the Universal IT Design Center website. Clicking on the image brings up the website.

Click on the above link to view an introduction to the Universal IT Design Center website

This is a photograph of a dual-screen mobile phone.

This is a photograph of the exterior of a DoCoMo Hearty Plaza shop.

This is a photograph of a bone conduction receiver-microphone.

Topics

Hanamaru Checker trial service begins

NTT Cyber Solutions Laboratories on November 21, 2006 launched a trial of its new Hanamaru Checker software application.
Hanamaru Checker is a tool that enables content developers to verify the accessibility of websites based on universal design guidelines. Hanamaru Checker not only identifies accessibility issues in website design, but also displays existing websites that serve as examples of desirable improvements, enabling users who are not universal design experts to easily check the accessibility of their websites. Hanamaru Checker itself conforms to accessibility guidelines and people who are visually impaired can operate the software through its voice browser. We provide Hanamaru Checker in the hope that it will help popularize the use of universal design concepts in websites.
The trial service is available through Waza (http://www.waza.jp/ in Japanese only), a website that introduces new technologies developed by NTT Cyber Communications Laboratory Group. Users need only enter a website address to check accessibility automatically. Feedback from the trial will be used to further improve Hanamaru Checker.

This is a screenshot of the Hanamaru Checker accessibility results webpage.