Faithfully Serving Our Customers

We endeavor to increase customer satisfaction through rapid and sincere responses to customer feedback, and are working to create a system that guarantees high-quality service.

Voice of Customer Surveys

NTT Communications carries out “voice of customer” surveys and uses findings to enhance the quality of services and make process improvements relating to the provision of customer service.
In fiscal 2010, we received responses from around 1,500 companies. The results of this latest survey showed higher ratings for all areas compared with the previous year. With the aim of further enhancing customer satisfaction, we are formulating a fiscal 2011 improvement action plan based on customer requests.
We received many comments on “expectations concerning cloud computing” and “requests concerning global networks.” In response, we released a new version of “Arcstar Universal One.” In the future, we will offer customers worldwide support for broadening their businesses globally by expanding our top-quality overseas networks and data centers, as well as by strengthening collaboration with overseas companies and relationships with partner carriers.
Going forward, we will continue efforts aimed at resolving issues that have come to light as a result of customer feedback and requests. To this end, we will undertake a review as part of a company-wide project.

Examples of Improvements in Fiscal 2010 (March 2011)

• Shortening of the delivery schedule for launching the Group-VPN (F) service
• Establishment of improvement aims and benchmarks, including failure reporting, with overseas partner carriers.

OCN Customer Feedback - Quickly Addressing Customer Needs

Since 2006, NTT Communications has operated “Action! OCN,” an initiative that enables prompt responses to requests made directly by customers of OCN personal services. Under this initiative, we have made improvements to ensure that our customers remain satisfied with the services we provide. On April 19, 2011, we changed the name of the website to OCN Customer Feedback to better convey to customers the nature of the site. We also took the opportunity to upgrade the entire site.
We make use of the website to announce details of improvements made based on customer feedback and requests. Following the upgrade, the improvements have been made based on the themes of making the site more accessible, convenient and user-friendly. For example, the website now offers samples of postings, options for reply email addresses, and details on initiatives. The addition of a FAQ page containing information on faults, procedures, and the various services available is a handy way for customers to get answers when they experience a problem.
OCN Customer Feedback is not used merely to make improvements to OCN. Recognizing that the thoughts of each individual customer concerning the Internet must be shared as the thoughts of OCN, our aim is for the website to play a role in creating a fulfilling Internet experience together with our customers.

Advanced Services for Convenience and Peace of Mind

NTT Communications seeks to improve customer satisfaction through advanced services that provide convenience and peace of mind.
For greater convenience and peace of mind when using email services, “My Address Plus” allows customers to select a generic JP domain of their choice (xxx.jp) for email addresses and blog URLs, to restrict incoming messages to only those from designated addresses, and also to use separate addresses for different purposes.
With OCN premium support, specialist staff make regular inspections of users’ computers to ensure they are in top condition. Users also receive telephone and remote support should they experience a sudden computer-related problem.
“OCN IPv6” was one of the world's first IPv6 access services for general users. As a solution to the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, the need for IPv6 technology is growing.　NTT Communications will continue to develop and deliver cutting-edge Internet services in order to provide even greater customer satisfaction.
In fiscal 2010, we launched “OCN Mail Concierge,” which sends e-mails containing rain warnings, railway operation updates, and other information to customers’ mobile phones and smartphones. We also launched “Biz Hosting Mail & Web Economy,” a hosting service that delivers one of the industry’s highest levels of cost performance.
We will continue improving services according to customer needs in order to attract an even wider customer base.

Acquiring certification for the IT service management international standard ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005

NTT Communications received certification under the ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005 international certification standard for IT service management in May 2010. The certification is for the Company's Biz Hosting Enterprise which is a high-quality cloud computing hosting service that uses virtualization technologies and AGILIT Hosting that specializes in hosting services for core systems and basic information infrastructure.
The ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005 standard, issued in 2005 based on the U.K.’s BS 15000 standard for the IT management field, defines a system operation management procedure in 13 processes and incorporates the concept of the PDCA cycle.
In addition to the continuation of existing certification, we expanded the scope of certification for our colocation service in March 2011 to include a large-scale private network maintenance service, hosting service, and colocation service.
In future, we will continue to acquire further certification, and through the establishment and improvement of IT service management systems provide our customers with high-quality IT services to ensure an enhanced feeling of security when using them.

Renewal of COPC-2000^® Quality Management Certification

In August 2009, NTT Communications renewed obtained version 4.2 of the COPC-2000^®* standard for contact center performance management. In fiscal 2010, our certification was upgraded to version 4.3. We will continue targeting stable operation of the COPC (Customer Operations Performance Center) management method.
NTT Communications’ Service Desk offers a Super Help Desk Service, which provides corporate end-users and system managers with answers to their ICT-related inquiries in both Japanese and English, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
We will continue to aim to achieve clearer visualization and improvement processes for services offered and provide the best service desk services available for our customers to ensure a greater feeling of safety when using ICT services.　At the same time, we will also take new steps, including extending the scope of certification to new teams.

* COPC-2000^® is a trademark or registered trademark of COPC Inc. (headquartered in New York) in the United States and other countries.

NTT Communications Acquires Latest International HDI Support Center Certification

In November 2004, NTT Communications' Sendai OCN Service Center first acquired HDI Support Center Certification from the Help Desk Institute (HDI), and in January 2009, the Center acquired certification under version 4.1, the latest standard. HDI is an international organization for the support service industry. Its international HDI Support Center Certification program enables evaluation of support center quality and performance in comparison with ideal conditions under international certification standards for support service businesses.
In January 2011, we acquired the latest standard, which requires an even higher level of service quality than the previous standard. For example, new escalation standards have been added through strengthened coordination with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)®*, and evaluations of performance and quality have become even stricter.
Initiatives taken in fiscal 2010 include establishing an OED (OCN Escalation Desk) team in the Sendai OCN Service Center. The resulting integrated management of complaints has contributed to the eradication of red-tape in complaint resolutions, a decrease in complaints, and a higher level of customer satisfaction. We also established a “10-second end-of-call questionnaire.” As a result of passing on to the operator the details of the customer’s evaluation of the service just received, there has been an improvement in the quality of the service provided by the center as a whole.
In future, we will work to improve support service quality from the customer's perspective and create centers that leave customers with a positive impression.

* ITIL: A framework for best practice IT service management devised by the U.K. government consisting of multiple volumes. ITIL^® (IT Infrastructure Library) is a registered trademark of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Evaluations of NTT Plala Educette

In November 2009, the Net Barrier Basic filtering service we provide for NTT Plala, our Internet access service for individuals, and Business Plala, our Internet access service for corporate customers, received approval as a recommended product from the All Japan Parents and Teachers Association. In fiscal 2010, the Net Barrier Basic filtering service received the same approval for the second straight year.
We received approval from the All Japan Parents and Teachers Association  for Educette, our Internet access service for schools, as a recommended product. This helped raise the Educette brand value and the trust and sense of security felt by our customers toward this service. As of the end of March 2011, NTT Communications was the only ISP that provided free Web filtering for this kind of service. The uniqueness of Educette has also led to higher customer satisfaction.
We will continue protecting children from harmful websites while acknowledging the social situation and the needs of customers, as we endeavor to improve our services so that we can provide and even safer Internet environment for children.

NTT ComTechnology Receives “IT Special Award (for Service Management)”

“IT Special Award”

NTT ComTechnology Corporation received the “IT Special Award (for Service Management)” in the fiscal 2010 IT Awards hosted by the Japan Institute of Information Technology.
The award was given in recognition of initiatives adopted by NTT ComTechnology to raise the quality of the services it provides, particularly the improvement in IT service management at the Sapporo Business Continuity Center owing to the introduction of ISO 20000 certification.
The IT awards hosted by the Japan Institute of Information Technology are presented to companies and local authorities in recognition of outstanding achievements made as a result of noteworthy efforts in “IT-based corporate management innovation.”  The Information Technology Awards include the “IT General Award,” “IT Business Award,” “IT Management Award,” and “IT Special Award.” NTT ComTechnology’s efforts were recognized by the Japan Institute of Information Technology through the fiscal 2010 “IT Special Award (for service management).”

Formulation of Advertising Regulations

Sophistication and diversification of services and pricing schedules in recent years mean advertising needs to be made easier to understand.
To give customers peace of mind when selecting and using services, NTT Communications has been striving to ensure reliability of advertising in keeping with voluntary standards and guidelines for telecommunications advertising established by the Council for the Promotion of Telecommunication Service Improvement. In November 2008, we formulated and commenced enforcement of regulations on advertising.
Specifically, the regulations define materials requiring examination, designate personnel responsible for carrying out examinations and clarify the examination process. The examination framework and processes have thus been strengthened.
As well as complying with laws such as the Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, NTT Communications will make further efforts to consider the customer's standpoint when engaging in advertising and other public relations and promotional activity.

Universal Design Initiatives

NTT Communications is pursuing ongoing initiatives to optimize its official websites.
From fiscal 2007 through fiscal 2009, NTT Communications overhauled its guidelines for domestic and global websites to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Contents Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG2.0).
In fiscal 2010, we completed the revision of our website development and operation guidelines to bring them into line with “JIS X 8341-3:2010,” which had been revised to ensure consistency with the WCAG2.0 international standards.
In fiscal 2011, we began developing guidelines concerning the usage and introduction of social media. Additional effort will be made to enforce these regulations to ensure that our websites are easily accessible to all users.

Provision of Service Level Agreements (SLA)

In Service Level Agreements (SLA), a quality standard is set for the services we provide. Then, in case the standard is not satisfied, a discounted fee will be applied.
In enterprise network services such as e-VLAN, Arcstar IP-VPN and GIGASTREAM, NTT Communications applies the highest level of SLAs in the industry. We thereby guarantee continual provision of top-quality services.
In addition, we applied Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to the cloud VPN service “Arcstar Universal One” covering network operating rate, circuit operating rate, fault repair time, network latency, fault notification time, guaranteed bandwidth, and network launch latency. We deliver top-quality services to customers based on clearly identified criteria for each of these seven items.
With an aim to further improving customer satisfaction, we will continuously examine and revise (if necessary) parameters and criteria within SLA.

Quality Improvement Forum With Overseas Partner Carriers

Arcstar Carrier Forum

NTT Communications holds an annual Arcstar Carrier Forum (ACF) aimed at further improving the quality of its network services at a time when more and more demands are made of customers to ensure business continuity.
The Arcstar Carrier Forum is a conference we have convened annually together with partner carriers from around the world since 2000 for the purpose of improving quality in the operation and delivery of international network services. Until now, the focus has been on expanding discussions for initiatives aimed at improving the quality of essential infrastructure, such as ways to deal with service failures and construction issues, infrastructure design and construction processes to prevent issues arising, and operational support systems that enable rapid issue analysis and resolutions.
Through initiatives such as the ACF, we improved the quality of international data communication service operations in other countries as well, while also amassing considerable know-how. Going forward, we will continue improving the overall quality of our global network, including by expanding activities into more countries.

Maintaining Stable and Reliable Telecommunications Services | Information Security in Telecommunication Services
Using ICT to Solve Social Issues | Faithfully Serving Our Customers
Our Relationship with Society | Our Relationship with Suppliers