Data linkage between the store management assistant AirMATE and corporate card AirCARD starts today

Recruit has announced that beginning today, data from the AirCARD corporate credit card will be linked to the store management assistant AirMATE. This feature will enable AirMATE users to easily obtain visual data and analyze information about expenses paid via AirCARD. In addition, stores and businesses using AirREGI and AirSHIFT can use sales and labor cost data derived from these services to track income and expenditure.

About AirMATE
About AirCARD

1. Overview

AirMATE is a management assistant tool that offers users "a system for improvement." AirCARD is a corporate business card that makes it easy to manage expenses. The card is used by many businesses and offers the industry's highest point earning rate ^*1 of 1.5% ^*2 .

Until now, businesses using these services had to manually enter expenses paid with AirCARD if they wanted to check them on AirMATE. Now, data linkage between the two services means that AirCARD expense data will be updated automatically on AirMATE.

Businesses already using AirREGI or AirSHIFT can also use sales and labor cost data derived from these services to visually track and analyze the income and expenditure of each store and the business as a whole.

Furthermore, businesses with multiple stores can automatically sort expenditure information for each store using AirMATE if separate AirCARDs are issued for each store. This eliminates the need for each store to tally its expenditures.

Data linkage begins: Nov 17, 2022

2. Background

Recruit supports store and business managers to run their organizations more smoothly through Air BusinessTools such as AirREGI, AirPAY, and AirSHIFT. The company developed the tools to tackle some of the bothersome tasks faced by managers, such as manually inputting expenses while referring to receipts and billing statements, and offer solutions to longstanding issues, such as providing a system where managers can access all the data relating to expenses, sales, labor costs, and other incomes and expenditures in one go.

Our March 2020 survey on fund management of small and medium-sized businesses ^*3 also found that more than 50% of restaurant, beauty, and retail managers use handwritten ledgers and notebooks to manage the income and expenses of each store and the business as a whole. This manual working style was preventing managers from being able to quickly analyze how they should best spend money and improve their business. It became clear that a convenient tool to monitor business conditions daily or weekly was required.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many businesses to adapt to a "new normal." Now, with people eating out more frequently, increased consumption, rising travel demand, and an anticipated surge in inbound travel, the timing is ripe for further change.

Under these circumstances, data linkage can improve the operational efficiency of income and expenditure management. It can help businesses accurately analyze their current business climate, focus on the management indicators they wish to work on, and quickly implement the PDCA cycle to make improvements.

3. Comment from AirMATE product manager

Kenta Kobayashi *Available for interviews Product Management Division, Recruit Co., Ltd. Product Manager, AirMATE

Kenta joined Recruit after working as a strategic consultant on management planning and new business ideas. He leads the overall business planning of Recruit's Air BusinessTools, which includes AirREGI, AirPAY, and AirSHIFT.
He has been in his current position since 2022, providing new value to clients by combining data obtained from Air BusinessTools.

Hassle-free management tracking as a shortcut to making improvements

The store management assistant AirMATE is linked to our services AirREGI, AirREGI Order, AirSHIFT, Restaurant Board, and Hot Pepper Gourmet. This all-encompassing platform helps businesses analyze and review income and expenditure and carry out the tasks necessary for managing stores.

AirMATE is automatically updated with sales data from AirREGI and labor cost data from AirSHIFT, but non-labor expenses had to be inputted manually one by one until now. We received comments such as, "Manually inputting expenses based on receipts and delivery slips every day is a time-consuming and tedious task," and "We'd like to track and analyze expenses on a daily or weekly basis to make improvements, but it's hard to do this with the current system." It still needed more work for managers to achieve their ideals in their day-to-day management and accounting operations.

By linking the data from AirCARD, we can now help managers check income and expenditure hassle-free. This can free up time for them to focus on customer service, create new menus by analyzing sales trends, and consider prompt cost reduction or new investments by identifying management problems promptly. This way, business managers can move closer to their ideals.

AirMATE integrates all income and expenditure information related to business operations, including sales, labor, and purchases. This hassle-free management and accounting system will strengthen capabilities and help businesses advance.

4. AirCARD product manager profile

Naoya Takamatsu *Available for interviews Product Management Division, Recruit Co., Ltd. Product Manager, AirCARD

Takamatsu joined Recruit as a new graduate. After working on the development of Recruit's hotel-booking site Jalan, he was placed in charge of product design and project management of AirPAY. He has been in his current position since 2022, aiming to eliminate the hassle of expense management at stores through the widespread use of corporate cards.

5. AirMATE

AirMATE is a management assistant tool that provides "a system for improvement.” It complies with and analyzes data on sales, labor costs, expenses, and other items, enabling data-driven store management. It was launched in April 2018 and is being used mainly by stores looking to maximize profits by leveraging data.

This all-encompassing service allows businesses to perform the tasks necessary for store management, including planning, tallying, status checks, analysis, and review. Since it provides visual data on management issues, it fosters a management-driven mindset. Feedback from stores using this service includes, "We can now immediately obtain concrete information on indicators that we only had a vague idea of before," and "It's straightforward to create daily reports and review and analyze data."

AirMATE can be used in conjunction with Air BusinessTools such as AirREGI — a free and easy-to-use POS register application, Restaurant Board — a free and easy-to-use reservation ledger application that helps attract and serve customers, and AirSHIFT — a shift management service that makes communication and creation easier. Used together, they provide a more detailed analysis of business conditions.

6. AirCARD

AirCARD is a corporate credit card that makes it easy to manage expenses and earn points. The point earning rate is 1.5% ^*2, the highest in the industry ^*1 .

With AirCARD, businesses can reduce the time and effort required to store and manage receipts and process reimbursement settlement applications and transfers. Also, for those who until now have used personal credit cards, it ends the need to separate corporate expenses on personal card statements. As cardholders can check usage online anytime, it makes expenditure control easy. Points earned can be converted to Ponta points or d-points, which can be used in many stores and for various services.

Air BusinessTools, including AirMATE and AirCARD, reduces the time, effort, and costs associated with laborious business tasks, from accepting and processing reservations, accounting, and handling payments to staffing, shift management, fundraising, and invoice processing. We will continue to support business owners in operating their businesses as they envision them and creating stores that are uniquely their own.

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