Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries began a demonstration using ā€œSlackā€ on December 1, 2020 to communicate with local government officials and agricultural workers. MAFF staff, local government officials, agricultural workers, and researchers will participate across organizations. About 400 people have registered so far. Channels have been set up for ā€œcurrent problems,ā€ ā€œadministrative procedures at MAFF,ā€ ā€œdamage photos,ā€ etc., and discussions are being held to share information and raise issues related to agriculture.

ā€œThe goal of using Slack is to provide a place online where farmers can talk with local officials and municipalities before using eMAFF to complete the process. We knew we needed a chat function as part of eMAFF.ā€ Many agricultural workers are accustomed to chatting in their daily work. We have started a demonstration experiment to confirm the need for a chat tool, and will use chat to introduce the eMAFF and answer questions,ā€ explained Mr. Haruo Hatakeyama, Director of the Informatization Promotion Section, Digital Strategy Group, Ministerā€™s Secretariat, MAFF.

Generous support from Slack Japan, including free use of Slackā€™s paid environment for a limited time

  • Itā€™s only for a limited timeā€¦
  • I donā€™t think Slackā€™s regular plan would be cost-effective for an unspecified number of people for use cases.
  • I wonder if Slack will offer a separate license for the public from their side.
    • If they donā€™t, Iā€™m going to say, ā€œI know itā€™s beneficial, but I donā€™t like the cost, so Iā€™m going to go with Mattermost! Iā€™ll go with Mattermost because itā€™s not worth the cost!

According to Microsoft Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Supreme Court of Japan have begun using Teams respectively, and several ministries and agencies have provided Teams for a total of 40,000 employees.

About 30% of municipalities nationwide have adopted LoGo Chat, which is operated by Trust Bank.


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