Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

"The caregiver spends more than three hours a day traveling."

To be honest, I wasn't surprised when I heard that number.
This is because in the field of home care, there is a deeply ingrained sense of resignation that "mobility is unavoidable."
But what surprised me was the following statement.

"But nobody thought those three hours were a problem."

This article tells the story of a home care service provider that reduced monthly travel time loss by 160 hours using EMOROCO CRM Lite's GIS map.

*This article is a fictional story based on industry realities and implementation patterns of multiple companies.

The "hidden costs" of home care services

The most easily overlooked cost in running a home care business is "travel time."

Caregiving fees are paid based on "the time spent providing services to the user."
Travel time is not included in the compensation.
Even if a caregiver spends three hours traveling each day, those three hours are simply accounted for as expenses of the service provider.

A home care service provider (12 caregivers, 87 monthly clients) compiled travel records for one month, revealing the following:

What constitutes "inefficient travel"?
Multiple helpers are entering the same area via different routes.
I am assigned to clients who live far from my home.
The order of visits is not optimized—these are the cumulative effects of the problem.

Why was "inefficient travel" left unchecked?

When I asked the person in charge, the reason was clear.

"We managed everything using Excel spreadsheets and handwritten route charts, so the idea of ​​'looking at a map' to see which helper was where never crossed our minds."

The user's address is recorded in the ledger.
I also have the areas each caregiver is responsible for in my mind.
But that was never visualized as a "complete picture on a map."

Excel can store information as a "list," but it cannot display it as a "map."
The information that "the same caregiver is in charge of Ms. Tanaka in A3-chome, Ms. Suzuki in B2-chome, and Ms. Sato in C4-chome" can only be realized as inefficient when viewed on a map.

The day we implemented the GIS map in EMOROCO CRM Lite.

I heard the story of the moment the administrator opened the GIS map for the first time, one week after its implementation.

"The moment I saw the screen, my mind went completely blank."
When the helper pins and client pins were displayed on the map, it was immediately clear that the assignments were inefficient.
I wonder why I hadn't seen this before."

The GIS map displays the user's address as a pin.
The pin color corresponds to emotional temperature—whether the user is satisfied with the service, whether there has been no recent change, or whether they seem a little unstable.
You can view travel efficiency and user status simultaneously on a map.

3-stage improvement design

Improvement ①: Redesign of the area-based assignment system (1 month after implementation)

We visualized the addresses of all users using a GIS map and redesigned our area-based assignment system by comparing them with the helpers' place of residence, qualifications, and available time slots.

Improvement ②: Optimization of visit order (2 months after implementation)

Once the area-based assignment system was stable, the next step was to optimize the "order of visits within a single day."

Using a GIS map, I can display my daily visits on a map and adjust the order of visits while visually confirming the shortest route. It's now easy to see at a glance which routes involve U-turns or repeat the same road twice.

Improvement ③: Integrated management of emotional temperature and movement (3 months after implementation)

By the third month, the use of GIS maps had expanded beyond just "travel efficiency" to include "managing relationships with users."

The color of the pins on the map indicates emotional temperature.
For users whose pins (blue or light blue) increase, we can now make earlier decisions regarding changing their assigned caregiver or having a supervisor accompany them on visits.

Changes after 3 months

The biggest change wasn't in the numbers.

"By reducing travel time, we've been able to spend more time with our clients."
"I feel that the quality of care has improved even though it's the same amount of time," said one of the caregivers on the front lines. The manager said that when he heard this, he felt that the improvement had truly been a success.

Why CRM is necessary in home care

Home care is a job where "people support people."
The term CRM might sound cold or impersonal.
However, home care is one of the industries where the CRM 4.0 concept of "deepening relationships with customers" is most important.

"Mr. Tanaka seemed a little down lately." "Ms. Suzuki has been a bit more reserved since her assigned doctor changed." "Ms. Sato's family contacted us last week for advice."

This information exists only in the mind of the assigned caregiver and can be lost due to a change in assignment, resignation, or leave of absence—this is the biggest risk in home care.

We use GIS maps to streamline travel and dedicate that time to interacting with users and recording information.
By using emotional temperature and narrative, we can transform "this user's current state" into organizational knowledge.
This is an example of implementing CRM 4.0 in home care services.

Summary — The "problem of movement" was a "problem of relationships."

This business, which reduced travel time by 160 hours per month, finally said this:

"By reducing travel time, we were able to increase the time we spent on care. This increased care time allowed us to deepen our relationships with our clients."
As our relationship deepened, the emotional temperature improved.
The improved emotional response led to a higher retention rate for the service.
It was all connected."

Improvements that began with visualization using maps have transformed the quality of relationships with users. This is the essential value that GIS maps and CRM 4.0 bring to home care.

Transforming home care operations with GIS maps in EMOROCO CRM Lite
Start your 30-day free trial here
Digitalization and AI Implementation Subsidy 2026 Compatible Tool Number: DL07-0022934
Product Info:https://www.emoroco.com/

Related article

• A real estate brokerage firm saw its closing rate increase 1.8 times using EMOROCO CRM Lite's GIS map: The day they started managing "potential clients" on a map.
• "Reduce travel time and increase care time"—How home care and home nursing services optimize area management and staffing using EMOROCO CRM Lite's map integration.
• What happened to a company that continuously used Emotional Temperature for a year? — The compounding effect of CRM 4.0
• Systematizing agency management with EMOROCO CRM Lite: How to design a three-tiered relationship between headquarters, agencies, and end users in a single CRM.
• Turning the Six Key Factors of CRM 4.0 into Practice: A Summary of EMOROCO CRM Lite Implementations for Each Key Factor