Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

Managing corporate mutual aid associations and welfare organizations requires multi-layered information management, including member companies, individual members, benefit applications, and welfare benefit usage history. In recent years, more organizations have adopted flexible welfare systems such as cafeteria point systems, making the information to be managed even more complex. This article explains how EMOROCO CRM Lite can be used to manage these mutual aid and welfare systems.

table of contents

1. Basic Structure of Mutual Aid and Welfare Systems
2. Management challenges faced by operations
3. Why are there limitations to using Excel or paper membership ledgers?
4. Specific Examples of Entity Design
5. Manage the mutual aid benefit application process using BPF.
6. Membership fee management and workflow for unpaid fee alerts
7. Requirements and Design of Cafeteria Points System
8. Record the usage history of employee benefits services.
9. Centralize the dissemination of information to members.
10. Relationship management to prevent members from leaving the service.
11. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
12. Summary

1. Basic structure of mutual aid and welfare systems

Corporate mutual aid associations and welfare organizations are systems that provide welfare benefits that would be difficult to implement individually, using membership fees from members and subsidies from their parent organizations as funding sources.

Our main business activities include the following:

・Mutual aid system: Payment of benefits for the person or family members in response to celebrations or bereavements (celebrations or misfortunes)
• Savings-type system: Retirement fund or savings for a specific purpose
・Employee benefits servicesOffering discounts on leisure facilities, merchandise, and event tickets.
Cafeteria points systemA system where members are given a certain number of points, which they can then freely choose from a selection of available menu items to use.
• Various mutual aid programsAdditional coverage for illness, injury, disability, etc.

Membership typically consists of a two-tiered structure: "businesses (member companies)" and "individual members" belonging to those businesses.
In many cases, the operating structure involves the business handling the enrollment procedures and membership fee payments, while individual members are responsible for actually applying for benefits and utilizing the services.

2. Management challenges faced by operations

These organizations face the following unique challenges in their operation:

- It is necessary to accurately link and manage membership information across two layers: member businesses and the individual members belonging to them.
Applications for congratulatory and condolence payments, etc., go through multiple steps: review, approval, and payment.
- The payment status of membership fees (admission fee and monthly fee) needs to be managed for each business location.
• There is an increasing number of systems that require individual balance management, such as cafeteria points.
• The usage history of employee benefits services will be important as a factor in considering measures to promote their use.
To maintain and expand the number of members, both preventing members from leaving and encouraging new members are required.

3. Why are there limitations to using Excel or paper membership ledgers?

Many organizations manage membership ledgers and grant application records using Excel spreadsheets or paper application forms.
In this state, the following problems occur:

- Linking business locations to individual members becomes more complex and takes more time to verify.
- The status of the benefit application review depends on the physical storage location of the application form.
- The status of unpaid membership fees cannot be determined without regularly checking the ledger.
Managing point balances using spreadsheet software makes it easy to make mistakes every time you update them.
- The actual usage of employee benefits services is not visible, resulting in insufficient data to consider measures to promote their use.

4. Specific Examples of Entity Design

Using the no-code functionality of EMOROCO CRM Lite, you can design entities in the following way:

Member business entity: Manages business name, industry, joining date, and membership fee payment status.
Individual Member Entity: Manages name, affiliated company, family information, and eligibility for membership.
Mutual aid benefit application entity: Manages application details (celebration/condolence, illness/injury, etc.), application date, review status, and benefit amount.
Cafeteria Point Entity: Manages the number of points distributed, balance, and expiration date.
- Point usage history entity: Manages usage date, menu used, and number of points consumed.
- Employee benefits usage history entity: Manages the services used (leisure facilities, merchandise, etc.) and the date of use.
Membership fee entity: Manages the payment history of membership fees and monthly dues.

By using the relationship management function to create a structure such as "Member Business (Parent) → Individual Member (Child)", "Individual Member (Parent) → Mutual Aid Benefit Application (Child)", and "Individual Member (Parent) → Cafeteria Points (Child)", when you open an individual member's profile, you can view their affiliated business, past benefit applications, point balance, and service usage history all on one screen.

5. Manage the mutual aid benefit application process using BPF.

Applications for mutual aid benefits, such as congratulatory and condolence payments or sickness and injury benefits, are generally processed through the following steps:

1. Application acceptance: Accepting applications for benefits from members
2. Document verification: Check if all necessary documents are available.
3. Review: Review whether the eligibility requirements for benefits are met.
4. Approval: Approve the benefit.
5. Benefits: Pay approved benefits

By visualizing this process with Business Process Flow (BPF) and combining it with the approval workflow, you can see at a glance "which application is currently stalled at what stage."
Since a prolonged period from application to payment directly impacts member satisfaction, this visualization is particularly important.

6. Membership fee management and workflow for non-payment alerts

The payment status of membership fees from member businesses is a crucial management item that directly impacts the operational foundation. The workflow function allows you to incorporate automation in the following ways:

- When the membership fee payment deadline approaches, a reminder notification will be automatically sent to the relevant business establishment.
- If the payment remains unpaid for a certain period of time, an alert will be sent to the person in charge.
- If there are businesses planning to withdraw, create a task to prompt them to contact the business in advance for confirmation.

This prevents overlooking unpaid membership fees and helps maintain operational stability.

7. Requirements and Design of Cafeteria Points System

The cafeteria points system is a flexible welfare system that distributes a certain number of points to members, which they can then freely choose from a set menu of options, including travel, health, self-improvement, and childcare/elderly care support.
When managing this system on a CRM, the following requirements must be kept in mind:

Designing the rules for point distribution
Distribution rules vary by organization, including annual distribution, bonuses based on years of service, and bonuses based on family structure.
The individual member entity will have fields that serve as distribution criteria (such as years of service and family structure), allowing for the calculation and recording of the number of points distributed.

Real-time management of point balance
Since the balance changes each time points are distributed or used, it is necessary to have a system that allows users to always check the latest balance in conjunction with the usage history entity.
Using the workflow function, you can incorporate a system that automatically updates the balance when a usage request is approved.

Integration with the service menu
The available menus (travel, health, self-improvement, etc.) are managed as separate entities, and the usage history entity is used to record how many points were spent on each menu.
This allows us to analyze popular menu items and areas where usage is concentrated.

Expiration date management
Many cafeteria point programs have expiration dates, such as the end of the fiscal year.
By using the workflow function to send reminder notifications in advance to members whose points are about to expire, you can prevent them from forgetting to use their points and improve member satisfaction.

Coordination with budget management
If point budgets are set at the business unit or department level, adding budget-related fields to the member business unit entity and allowing users to check the difference between the budget and actual distribution will be helpful for budget management on the operational side.

8. Record the usage history of employee benefits services.

By keeping a record of the usage history of employee benefits services and cafeteria points, the following types of analysis become possible:

Which services/menus are used most frequently?
What kind of information is effective for members who use the service infrequently?
Optimizing notification timing based on seasonal usage trends.

These analysis results can also be used as supporting documentation when planning member-only services or when reporting business activities to the operating body.

9. Centralize the dissemination of information to members.

Information sent to members comes in various forms, including newsletters, campaign announcements, point expiration notices, and guidance on applying for benefits.
Customer portal functionBy using this system, you can provide members with a portal where they can check the status of their benefit application and their point balance.

Furthermore, by combining this with LINE notifications , campaign information and point expiration notices can be delivered in a way that ensures members are reliably aware of them.

10. Relationship management to prevent members from leaving the service

Maintaining membership numbers is a crucial issue that directly impacts the organization's financial foundation.
By combining nurturing scores (behavioral data such as frequency of service and point usage) and emotional temperature (members' reactions during customer service interactions), it becomes possible to detect early on signs that could lead to customer churn, such as "members whose service usage is decreasing" or "members who have been dissatisfied with customer service interactions."

Identifying these signs and following up before members request to cancel their membership is a situation where the principles of churn prediction can be directly applied.

11. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q. Can you manage a two-tiered membership structure consisting of businesses and individuals?
Yes.
The relationship management function allows you to manage member businesses and individual members by linking them as parent-child relationships.

Q. Is the balance of cafeteria points updated in real time?
Using the workflow function, you can build a system that updates the balance in conjunction with the approval of usage requests.

Q. Is it possible for members to check the status of their grant application review?
Yes.
By using the customer portal function, you can provide a platform where members can check their application status and point balance.

Q. Is it possible to migrate from an existing membership ledger (Excel)?
Yes.
You can use the Excel import function to migrate while importing existing member data.

12. Summary

Operating a mutual aid and welfare system requires multi-layered information management, including member businesses, individual members, benefit applications, cafeteria points, and welfare benefit usage history.
With EMOROCO CRM Lite's no-code design and process visualization using BPF, you can integrate all aspects of organizational management, from grant applications and membership fee management to point system operation, into a single platform.
Maintaining a record of our relationship with each member and establishing a system to detect early signs of potential departure is crucial for maintaining and expanding our membership, which is fundamental to our operations.

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