Founded in 2000 in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, as an aesthetic medical clinic, SBC Medical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as SBC), has evolved into a comprehensive medical group providing management support to healthcare institutions across diverse clinical fields. Guided by its group purpose of "Contributing to the well-being of people worldwide through medical innovation," SBC operates numerous clinic brands domestically and internationally. 

The company continues expanding, primarily in the U.S. and Asia, and advancing initiatives in medical tourism. The company adopted Google Workspace in 2012, operating it alongside its proprietary core systems in both its medical corporations and back offices. Ayana Kobayashi, group manager of the IT support group within the Information Systems Department, explains the background of the adoption:

"In our early days, we operated on a small scale and used consumer-grade Gmail for communication," Kobayashi says. "However, with our shift-based system, as individuals managed their own accounts, communications and documents became increasingly inefficient as the business expanded. This led to the decision to overhaul our IT infrastructure."

According to Kobayashi, Google Workspace was chosen for its high security, excellent cost performance, and the convenience of its intuitive collaborative editing features. "I joined the company several years after the implementation, but Google Vault, a tool for data retention and electronic discovery, was a major factor in the decision to adopt Google Workspace," she explains. "Furthermore, even if security is robust, tools that are difficult for end users to understand, use, or are unfamiliar are hard to implement. Google Workspace achieved a high-level balance between user-friendliness and security."

Mr. Teito Nakagawa, chief information officer, views the implementation of Google Workspace as a catalyst that accelerated data utilization. "During implementation, manuals used in the call center were organized using Google Sheets," he says. "Google services inherently offer exceptional data integration and analytical capabilities, so we stored internal system data in BigQuery and integrated it with Google Workspace. This operational framework has become a driving force behind our data-driven management strategy."

More recently, SBC has focused its attention on improving operational efficiency and service quality, and 2024 marked a major turning point with the adoption of generative AI. In June, Phase 1 began with executives from the Management Strategy Division and members of the Information Systems Department initiating technical verification and exploring usage methods. In November, Phase 2 expanded the use of Google Workspace with Gemini, primarily among departments and headquarters staff who frequently utilized generative AI.

During this rollout, rigorous information governance remained the top priority, because protecting personal information and ensuring compliance are particularly critical in aesthetic medicine. "Initially, there was concern that if employees unintentionally entered confidential information or customer personal data, it might be used for model training," says Kobayashi. "Google Workspace with Gemini addresses this by employing a mechanism where such data is not used for training, allowing us to implement it with confidence. Its seamless integration with our existing Google Workspace environment was also a major deciding factor."

The next steps involved consolidating data within Google Workspace and exploring use cases to prepare for full-scale implementation of generative AI. "Analysis of access logs revealed that CPPs (Clinic Promotion Planners), who are responsible for marketing and data analysis at each clinic, were actively using it," Nakagawa shares. "Based on this, we meticulously gathered feedback on which tasks required generative AI and what features would encourage adoption, incorporating this into our implementation plan. We aimed to start small, create success stories, visualize concrete use cases and effects, and then expand adoption." 

Kanako Fujimura, a CPP at Shonan Beauty Clinic Shibuya Branch, discusses use cases leveraging Gemini and their effects. "Our work scope is broad, and we've always been required to ‘balance quality and quantity.’ I feel Gemini has significantly resolved these challenges," she explains, "Personally, I was impressed that Gemini understands intent without needing detailed prompts. For example, when creating concepts, catchphrases, or social media messages we can generate novel ideas by inputting necessary information and key selling points. This allows us to refine them for specific targets."

"We even finished a sample short movie for our Halloween campaign in about 10 minutes," she continues. "I experience similar convenience when creating pages. Gemini not only instantly builds HTML that conveys our company's message while capturing customer interest, but also suggests where to insert images. I remember being truly amazed when I first started using it."

Meanwhile, for analytics tasks, insights based on Google Analytics — such as site traffic and keyword trends — have dramatically improved in both accuracy and speed. This has also enhanced the team’s ability to propose action plans based on analysis and communicate effectively with stakeholders. "Previously, we manually analyzed data, converted it to PDF, aggregated it, and then reported. But Gemini automates everything from analysis to aggregation," Fujimura continues. "The ultimate goal of analysis is to effectively communicate the findings internally. Gemini even explains technical terms and proposes specific improvement plans, dramatically improving both the speed and quality of data utilization."

The impact of implementing Gemini is also reflected in the numbers. A survey of four CPPs showed an average annual reduction of 211 hours in workload. Accelerating decision-making through data analysis, automating content planning and production, streamlining daily operations, and enhancing customer support have all contributed to realizing the company's philosophy of achieving the "ultimate triple win" that benefits customers, staff, and society.

In January 2025, when Gemini became standard in Google Workspace, SBC launched Phase 3 of their AI rollout by expanding Gemini access to approximately 4,500 users. By May, Phase 4 saw Google accounts issued across the entire group, including clinics under management support, establishing an environment where approximately 9,500 users could utilize Gemini.

This series of changes are part of a company-wide IT strategy that SBC rolled out in in 2023. According to Nakagawa, "Gemini has exceeded our expectations" — such as enhanced grounding through integration with Google search tools and improved answer accuracy via Deep Research — also fueled the expansion.

At SBC, Gemini adoption has spread beyond marketing to diverse departments including counseling, system administration, HR, recruitment, and employee training. "In many departments, operational know-how is passed down as ‘secret knowledge’ by specific experts. This often leads to insufficient documentation or multiple conflicting documents, creating risks of miscommunicating incorrect operational rules," Nakagawa says. "This situation hinders the development of new talent and creates a major barrier to achieving uniform operational quality company-wide. Introducing Gemini can resolve these issues at once. By capturing dispersed knowledge and operational procedures into Gemini and integrating them as a knowledge base, we can stabilize operational quality and improve productivity while dramatically accelerating digital transformation (DX) at the operational level."

Furthermore, efforts are focused on developing AI agents tailored to the company's specific organizational structure and business model using NotebookLM. A unique initiative is the development of "Mentor Aikawa," trained on the lecture materials, books, and social media posts of the company's founder, Yoshiyuki Aikawa, enabling it to respond to diverse employee inquiries.

Through the adoption of Google Workspace, the implementation of Gemini, and the expansion of company-wide utilization, SBC has consistently been a front-runner for data utilization within the industry. While the company is currently exploring the use of Gemini Enterprise and Computer Use, Nakagawa concludes that this proactive adoption is underpinned by unwavering trust in the products and services.

"The fundamental reason our company has utilized Google Workspace for so many years is its ease of use for both users and administrators. It serves as a reliable common foundation for large organizations in terms of security, governance, and market share, while also enabling the integration of technologies like Gemini," he says. "We recognize Gemini as leading the pack in generative AI, excelling not only in response speed, reliability, and price competitiveness, but also through the implementation of technologies like Nano Banana. It also perfectly aligns with our company's unique workflow, where CPPs handle various marketing tasks."

"I believe the key lies in its integration with Google Workspace. When we hold meetings in Google Meet, meeting minutes are automatically saved in Google Docs," he says. "Furthermore, the know-how and documents scattered throughout the company can be effectively utilized through RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) using Gemini or NotebookLM. This high level of interoperability is one of Gemini's greatest strengths and a truly unique advantage. While our company hasn't yet maximized Google Workspace's potential, we've steadily built our data infrastructure in preparation for the era of generative AI. We expect the full benefits of these forward-looking efforts to unfold gradually, and right now, I feel a strong sense of anticipation and potential."