Zenken Case Study: Scaling Sales and Operations with ChatGPT Enterprise
Zenken has implemented ChatGPT Enterprise across its organization to accelerate its web marketing and overseas human resources businesses, achieving a 90% weekly active usage rate and reducing annual outsourcing costs by 50 million yen. The integration focuses on shifting employees from routine knowledge tasks to high-value strategic work.
Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction
Zenken reports a significant increase in productivity across its knowledge work tasks, with average time savings ranging from 30% to 50%. This efficiency gain translates to 5 to 15 additional hours per employee every month, which the company reinvests into higher-value activities.
Key business impacts include:
- Outsourcing Savings: Annual outsourcing costs have decreased by approximately 50 million yen compared to the previous year.
- Employee Engagement: Weekly active usage of ChatGPT Enterprise exceeds 90%, with employees averaging 900 messages per person per month.
- Productivity: Overall productivity has roughly doubled across the organization by automating the generation of first drafts for sales emails, proposals, marketing content, and internal documents.
Strategic Adoption and Security Requirements
Zenken selected ChatGPT Enterprise based on twelve critical business requirements, specifically prioritizing security and advanced reasoning capabilities. Yuji Okada, Manager of the Corporate Planning Department, stated that the platform was the only solution to meet all twelve conditions.
Data Security
Because Zenken handles sensitive internal and client information, the guarantee that data is not used to train OpenAI's models was a non-negotiable requirement for the company's adoption of the tool.
Reasoning Models for Decision Making
The reasoning models released by OpenAI in 2024 provide the "advanced support for complex thinking" required for Zenken's web marketing business. These models are used for:
- Market analysis and competitive strategy.
- Evaluation of new business opportunities.
- Management-level decision making and strategic planning.
Transformation of Sales Workflows
ChatGPT Enterprise has shifted Zenken's sales process from a product-centric approach to a consultative, insight-driven model. By reducing the time spent on manual research and preparation, sales teams can spend more time in direct customer conversations.
| Phase | Before ChatGPT | With ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Manual information gathering | Deep industry and customer analysis |
| Discovery | One-way, checklist-style questioning | Two-way, consultative conversations |
| Meeting | Answers deferred to follow-up | Real-time responses during meetings |
| Proposal | Standard, product-centric proposals | Personalized proposals based on customer insights |
This workflow transformation has led to measurable gains in sales performance:
- Initial Review Pass Rate: Increased by 15% to 20%.
- New Deal Win Rate: Increased by 5% to 10%.
- Final Proposal Approval Rate: Increased by approximately 30%.
International Expansion and Communication
For Zenken's overseas human resources business, ChatGPT Enterprise has replaced conventional translation tools that often lacked necessary context and nuance. The platform enables the company to accurately translate job postings and contracts into English and other languages, allowing a smaller team to maintain revenue growth while reducing outsourcing costs.
Additionally, employees use the tool to gather information from foreign news sites and technical articles, facilitating the design of new services with global expansion in mind and increasing the number of employees capable of participating in cross-border work.