Nojima: Reducing time and cost for maintaining retail store device fleet
Overview
Nojima, a Japanese retailer of audio, visual, and computer products, used PC laptops to manage mobile device sales as well as point-of-sale systems and inventory—but because of security concerns, employees couldn’t use the laptops outside of Nojima offices. The laptops also added cost and time to the IT team’s workload: They were expensive to maintain and demanded at least one hour of setup time per device. By replacing the PC laptops with Asus Chromebooks, Nojima reduced device setup time to just 20 minutes and cut device and management costs by 40 percent.
About Nojima
Nojima Group opened Japan’s first domestic specialty store for audio, visual, and computer products in 1982. With a corporate mission of providing and popularizing “Digital GS4” (digital goods, software, support, services, and settings), and contributing to local communities and Japan, Nojima Group sells, installs, repairs, and gives technical guidance on digital home appliances.
Industries: Retail & Consumer Goods
Location: Japan
Chrome Enterprise Results
40 percent less costs for devices and IT management
Improved flexibility for employees working off-site.
Reduced security concerns by using Chrome Enterprise tools like remote device management.
Reduced time needed to set up new devices.
Improved efficiency of inventory management.
Less cost, more security, greater flexibility for workers
The cost of setting up and maintaining 4,500 PCs and laptops in Nojima’s stores and back offices—as well as workers’ inability to travel with their laptops if they wanted to work outside the office—drove the company to look for devices that offered more flexibility and less maintenance. Nojima initially purchased about 340 Chromebooks as PC replacements and will gradually replace all PC devices with Chromebooks. In Nojima’s chain of smartphone stores, Chromebooks are used for mobile phone sales management, as well as for inventory management when the Chromebooks are connected to handheld Bluetooth scanners. The IT team uses Chrome Enterprise Upgrade to centrally manage all Chromebooks—for example, by adding WiFi settings globally so that Chromebooks are ready to use right out of the box.
We feel secure with the Chromebook, as Google takes care of its security. The computer launches fast, and we can start working immediately. Its battery lasts a long time, so we can take the Chromebook with us when going to another store.
Daisuke Shimakoshi, ITX Division, Nojima
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