Channel Corporation Unlocks Business Growth with AI and Data-Driven Transformation

In the rapidly evolving landscape of business technology, Channel Corporation, renowned for its customer understanding AI agent 'Channel Talk' which serves over 230,000 companies globally, has set a significant precedent by transforming its sales organization with AI and data. Recently, the company revealed its impressive results, showcasing an approximately 1.3 times increase in business negotiations processed, all while maintaining the same headcount.

The Driving Force Behind the Transformation

Headquartered in Seoul, Korea, with a Japanese branch in Tokyo, Channel Corporation has embraced a transformative vision, announcing its shift toward 'AI Agentic Software'. At the heart of this shift is the quality of data fed into AI systems. Pre-existing CRM systems, like Salesforce, often suffer from insufficient data regarding industry specifics and employee numbers, which hinder targeted customer engagement. This inefficiency typically results in a preparation time of 5 to 10 minutes per company before a telephone outreach effort.

Recognizing the critical role of data quality, Channel Corporation opted for 'SalesNow' following a meticulous comparison with five other businesses. This decision enabled them to elevate data infrastructure while seamlessly integrating AI functionality, leading to significant improvements across multiple performance metrics.

Impressive Results Achieved

The results of the implementation are noteworthy:

- Increased Monthly Negotiation Count: Achieving approximately 1.3 times more negotiations without altering headcount, consequently improving individual productivity.
- Reduced Preparation Time: The time taken for pre-call preparations was slashed from 10 minutes to just 2, standardizing information collection and enhancing organizational replicability.
- Improved Connection and Lead Engagement Rates: By utilizing direct department numbers and personalized contact details, the company saw significant advancements in these areas.
- Streamlined Data Analysis: Data analysis time decreased from several days to just 1-2 minutes, thanks to the seamless integration of AI CoS, Claude, and SalesNow data, allowing for real-time decision-making.

Redesigning Sales Processes with Data as the Starting Point

One major emphasis for the company was establishing an environment where both AI and sales representatives could reference the same set of data. By enhancing data quality without altering their existing Salesforce operations, they were able to evaluate and ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the data, which led to their decision to implement SalesNow.

The newly refined data acts as 'original data' for the AI, facilitating improved targeting and approach accuracy by capturing corporate signals. The combination of Channel Corporation's AI agent 'AI CoS' and Claude added another layer of analytical depth, speeding up decision-making processes significantly. Moving forward, the organization intends to deepen the integration of data and AI, continually raising the quality of data accessible to AI systems.

Insight from Leadership

Ryoji Yamamoto, Executive Officer, VP of GTM, Japan at Channel Corporation, emphasized, "Using AI doesn’t automatically guarantee improvement. The quality of AI output relies on two key factors: prompt engineering and data source quality. By enhancing the quality of our data infrastructure, we have seen a 1.3-fold increase in negotiation numbers without adding more personnel. We aim to continue evolving towards an AI-native sales organization driven by data."

Similarly, Kazuki Muraoka, CEO of SalesNow, shared, "In the AI era, what companies truly need is a reliable 'data foundation' that AI can trust to make informed decisions. Channel Corporation's innovative initiatives highlight how the integrity of corporate data infrastructure can significantly impact the success of AI applications. SalesNow will continue to serve as a foundation for all organizations transforming into 'data-driven sales' entities."

For a detailed exploration of Channel Corporation's innovative use of AI within their sales organization, we recommend checking out the full case study. You can find more insights shared by Ryoji Yamamoto here: Case Study.

What is SalesNow?

SalesNow offers an AI-driven corporate data infrastructure, encompassing Japan's largest business database with around 14 million entries. This resource enables the establishment of a sales organization that effectively leverages AI and data, eliminating outdated manual processes associated with B2B sales activities and promoting data-informed decision-making across all situations.