Who we are
HQ : Tokyo
Established : 2015
Employees : 30
https://www.colife.co.jp/
CoLife is a maintenance technology company that aims to solve issues in the housing industry by providing the home maintenance platform called “Iecon”. Iecon visualizes the condition of a house by identifying problems such as inconveniences and errors occurring in home appliances.
We provide hardware related services such as distribution of home appliances and fixtures, provision of renovation works such as home appliance replacement or minor repairs, and flat-rate home appliance repair services, as well as software related services such as call centers, e-commerce, and smartphone applications as a service platform.
We aim to provide services that combine real and virtual capabilities, by utilizing the power of IT in this challenging industry that is the housing industry. On top of that, we are promoting non-face-to-face, non-contact maintenance service “Iecon check” to pursue digital transformation (DX) which is becoming increasingly important today. This aims at eliminating the pre-construction visit survey (on-site survey), which has been an industry-wide issue. We are also providing services such as the submission of quotation based on image diagnosis, and other use of AI technologies.
Furthermore, we are planning on spreading the use of VR as a real-time remote diagnosis technique.
Our vision
Improving quality of life, creating more time for free use
There are more than 50 million households in Japan.
These households include a wide range of people, from those raising children to the elderly.
CoLife understands that there are multiple inconveniences and malfunctions that might occur in households.
By resolving theses issues, we contribute to improving quality and comfort of life, and to creating time for people to spend freely.
By combining the latest technology and human services, we are building a “Residential Operation System” that will accelerate the evolution of in-home services.
The next step for a system evolving in the Japanese lifestyle is to be then spread through the world.
We want Japan to shift from a goods exporting country to an in-home service exporting country.
We keep on evolving and improving ourselves, to be a world pioneer in service development.
Our services/products
Main Services (1)
iecon APP and the flat-rate subscription repair service “Iecon Unlimited Repair”
Background
Our company was established in 2015 as a company that introduces new technologies into the area of home maintenance services to make life more comfortable. Through our relationships with customers, we identified problems and started developing a CRM application for home maintenance provision in order to solve these issues troubling residents and housing businesses.
Issue 1: It is an urgent matter to deal with the customer needs for smartphones and e-commerce, but the cost is too high
Issue 2: Users do not know whom to contact for repair and maintenance services, and the prices are unclear
Issue 3: There is a tendency for one-way communication, such as the posting of flyers, to be the only way of service announcements
Issue 4: Paper-based scheduling and quotations are cumbersome as they are sent by fax or mail.
Issue 5: Lack of information on drawings and facilities makes it time-consuming to check before providing services.
Service features
1. Provide a service that allows anyone to solve household equipment problems for free and as many times needed for a fixed monthly fee.
The service is available 24/7, and regardless of how many times you use the service, it is nearly repaired for free (30,000 to 100,000 yen discount depending on the year of manufacture). If the operation does not fix the problem, the app will offer a discount of 30,000 to 100,000 yen for the cost of replacing the equipment with a new one. In addition, the app also stores warranty cards for the “unlimited repair” service, so there is no need to worry about losing them.
2. Connecting with Home Equipment Sales EC
In collaboration with housing companies, we propose housing fixtures and fittings tailored to the needs of the customer’s home and sell them through EC websites.
3. A communication function that facilitates homes and lifestyles
You can request and confirm quotations for services, exchange and manage invoices, and have a chat function to make schedule adjustments and consultations easier. The chat function enables to send images, so you can use it for image diagnosis without a physical examination.
4. Database construction to accumulate housing information and use of AI
We gather data on drawings, user manuals, information on housing equipment and fixtures, and maintenance history in a database. In the future, by utilizing AI to analyze these databases, we will be able to predict the future problem of housing equipment for each property, quickly submit estimates based on image analysis, and improve various operations, thereby we will contribute to solving the shortage of human resources in the housing maintenance industry.
Main Services (2)
Iecon Check, a further advancement of the iecon APP
Background
Digital transformation (DX) throughout society has become even more important due to the Covid-19 disaster, and the real estate maintenance and remodeling industry is facing an urgent need to improve business efficiency and further productivity. We have more than 70,000 registered customers using our service, and during the fiscal year 2019, we have performed around 5,000 maintenance and remodeling projects for residential appliances. In the past, a pre-visit survey (on-site survey) of the customer’s home was required to provide an estimate for these projects. However, this survey is time-consuming, costly, and burdensome for both the customer and the contractor.
Service features
This service enables free estimates for maintenance and renovation work, by providing users with instructions for each type of equipment, for them to take pictures and send them using their smartphones.
Examples of use
- To request construction work without an on-site survey
- To know the price quotations for construction
- To check whether a quotation from another professional is at market price or not
Future development of the iecon check service
This service will continue to evolve as we move forward with digital transformation
- Real-time quotation via video call
Providing a quotation on the spot through video call, instead of sending pictures. - Automatic quotation by image diagnosis
In order to reduce the burden of estimating with human eyes, we store photo data and develop a function to perform automatic quotation diagnosis using image analysis technology. - SaaS model for the iecon check system
We will provide this system to contractors all over the country to help solve industry problems and promote DX.
Skills
Our engineering team
What projects/services is your engineering team working on?
- System development and operation
- Development of the home maintenance application Iecon
- System development of new services related to Iecon
- Mobile application development related to the above
- Backend development related to the above
- Development of diagnostic imaging services related to the above
What technologies are you using?
We use the latest cloud/mobile technologies.
We currently use React Native when developing mobile apps.
Our cloud infrastructure is AWS. We actively use modern technologies from the latest start-ups.
What type of engineers work at your company? What is their job content?
Mobile App Engineer
Development of mobile apps using React Native.
Backend Engineer
Development and operation of the backend system for the apps mentioned earlier, using Ruby on Rails.
Do you plan on using any new technologies in the future?
AI Engineer
As a new service, we are considering a service that allows image diagnosis, by having our users upload images during home maintenance operations. For that purpose, we are also looking for engineers skilled in image recognition technology.
Our corporate culture
Reform the industry’s theories!
Taking on new challenges, as a pioneer company in the industry!
In addition to developing a variety of home maintenance-related businesses, we have partnered with major property management and remodeling companies to develop applications for the customers on an OEM basis and introduced new services such as a monthly membership system, making for a highly unique and rapidly growing business.
Based on our belief that we are not bound by old customs and common sense, we are actively developing and providing new services that have not yet been seen.
We welcome opinions and ideas from our employees, having them raise ideas such as “This kind of service would be helpful to our customers!” “I want to challenge myself with this project!”.
We have a really open corporate culture, so you can work and fully demonstrate your capabilities, regardless of your age or experience within the company. Of course, your efforts and results will be rewarded with incentives and career opportunities.
Please make your dreams come true here with us.
