1 October 2026: customer-harassment measures become mandatory

Customer harassment,
on the phone and
at the counter:
no one faces it alone.

Name: AGEphone Cowork
Brand: AGEphone

Record calls and ask for help mid-conversation.
Add support for your staff to the phones you already use.
AGEphone Cowork builds on your existing PBX to support customer-harassment measures on the front line.

Request documentation Ask about a demo

Counter Guard is still in development. The video shows how it is intended to work.

Illustration of one employee taking a call on a headset and another serving a visitor at a counter, with a supervisor standing between them, ready to support both

On the line and across the counter.

Phone supportRecording and transcription
Help Mode

Counter GuardIn-person records, backup calls
In development · demo

Never handle it alone

Make no promises on the spot

Keep a record

Watch Counter Guard
in a live demo

This demo on real devices shows how Counter Guard picks up early signs at the counter and supports the response.
Preview of a feature in development

Illustration of an employee and a supervisor pointing at the counter tablet and reviewing the situation together — Intended use, still in development (illustration)

Spot the early signs and recordSo face-to-face exchanges can be reviewed later.
Check the next step on screenWarnings and how to proceed, right there in the moment.
Call for backup and involve the organizationSo staff don't have to carry it alone.

Are your staff left
to just put up with it?

Even with a policy and a manual in place, staff end up carrying it alone if they have nothing they can use in the moment.

Illustration of an employee looking troubled during a long phone call, and another serving a dissatisfied customer at the counter while glancing back at the supervisor's empty desk

Staff can't leave the counter to get a supervisor.While serving the customer in front of them, they have no way to ask for help.
It's one person's word against another's.There is no record of the conversation to check afterward.
No one is sure how to end a long call.Whether to carry on or hand it over is left to the person on the line.
A verbal report, and that's the end of it.The details never reach the consultation desk or build up as an organizational record.

What staff need is a record and backup they can use in the moment.

From 1 October 2026,
employers must address customer harassment.

Under the amended Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Policies, employers in Japan are now required to take employment-management measures to prevent customer harassment, meaning harassment of employees by customers. Organizations need to set and communicate a policy, put a consultation system in place, respond when incidents occur, deal with egregious conduct and protect privacy, among other measures.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW): the new rules (Japanese, new tab)MHLW: guidelines on preventing customer harassment (Japanese, new tab)

Illustration of a frontline employee, a supervisor and an HR officer discussing how to respond while looking at the procedure manual and the consultation desk's contact details — Procedures and consultation arrangements are for the organization to decide together.

What the organization puts in place, and what the tool supports.
Required measure	How AGEphone Cowork helps	What the employer does
Setting and communicating a policy	Builds recording and response support into your internal procedures	Drafting the policy, deciding how to respond, communication and training
Setting up a consultation system	Lets staff lay out what happened from the call record and consult on it	Setting up the consultation desk, appointing the people who staff it, deciding how the front line gets in touch
Establishing the facts and responding when incidents occur	Call recording, transcription and summaries, with Help Mode to support staff during the call	Establishing the facts, deciding on the response, caring for affected staff, preventing recurrence
Dealing with egregious conduct	Records how the call unfolded, with Help Mode supporting advice and handover	Setting a policy for such cases, arranging handover to a manager and backup
Protecting privacy, and related measures	Set who can view call records and how long recordings are kept	Rules for handling consultations, protecting privacy, prohibiting adverse treatment of staff who seek help and making that known

AGEphone Cowork is a tool that supports these measures. Deploying it does not by itself satisfy the legal obligation. Counter Guard, which is in development, is not included in this table.

Even mid-call,
no one carries it alone.

Calls are recorded, and staff who are struggling can get support. You have both facts to check later and help in the moment.

Call recording, transcription and summaries: Recording can be set per extension, and transcripts and AI summaries lay out what happened. Facts can be checked without relying on verbal reports alone.
Help Mode backs up the call: During a call, staff can ask the AI for advice or hand the call over. We advise on which features, operations and permissions to use for your environment.
The organization can review what happened: Call records and an audit log of operations are kept, so those who need them can review them according to their permissions. Useful for consultations and debriefs.

The AI's advice is a guide to support judgment. Final decisions and responses follow your organization's policy.

Illustration of an employee on a headset call pointing at a screen with the transcript and response tips, as a supervisor alongside checks it too — Handling the call with a supervisor, with the record and advice in view.

Make "no promises on the spot" part of the procedure.

Decide in advance what staff can decide for themselves and what needs a supervisor's confirmation. The recording and support tools then become part of that procedure.

In development · demo

Counter Guard
keeps watch over
face-to-face service.

A smartphone or iPad at the counter picks up early signs, makes a record and shows the next step on screen. We are developing features that support staff all the way from calling a supervisor for backup to filing a report.

Illustration of an employee serving a dissatisfied customer while touching the backup button on the counter tablet, as a supervisor walks over from the back — Illustration of intended use, still in development. Actual app screens will differ.

Records when it matters

Designed to pick up early signs in voices and words and start recording, keeping the 30 seconds that led up to them. Saving continuous recordings is not part of the intended use.

The next words, on screen

Scripts for the first response, a warning, a second warning and ending the conversation. Based on what is being demanded and how, it offers a guide for deciding how to respond.

Call for backup, then report

Supports calling a supervisor or the security office for backup and drafting the incident record. Designed to carry through from recording and reporting to aftercare.

How it works at the counter, in six scenes.

Illustrations of intended use, still in development. Select a scene to switch the description. Actual app screens will differ.

Guard: standbyWatching over the counter

Standby

Tap Start Guard on the device at the counter. On standby, the screen shows that it is running, and audio is handled in the device's temporary memory. It is designed not to save or send that audio.

Guard: checkingReview the first response

Checking

When it picks up early signs, it starts recording, including the 30 seconds that led up to them. It shows a first-response script and a gauge of the situation so staff can think about what to do next.

Illustration of an employee holding up a palm and speaking calmly to a customer who is leaning in and talking forcefully

Guard: warningCheck the wording of the warning

Warning

Depending on the situation, it moves to the warning stage. Staff choose whether to give the warning themselves or use a recorded warning message, and the course of events is recorded.

Illustration of a supervisor who has received a backup request on a smartphone heading to the counter where a customer is being served

Guard: backup requestTo a supervisor or the security office

Call for backup

Requests backup from a registered supervisor or the security office. The design includes a way to cancel before the call goes out and a way to summon help at once when there is danger. It does not automatically call emergency numbers.

Illustration of an employee and a supervisor sitting side by side after the incident, reviewing a draft incident record on screen

Guard: incident recordTurn what happened into a report

Record and report

Drafts an incident record from the conversation and how it was handled. Staff check it and add details, then submit it to the internal consultation desk.

Illustration of an employee in a break room holding a warm drink while a colleague listens

Guard: afterwardA break, and someone to talk to

Aftercare

Points staff to a break and to where they can get support. Caring for staff and adjusting their duties is done by the organization, including supervisors and the consultation desk.

Handle records
by your own rules.

Protecting staff, and taking customers' legitimate feedback seriously. With both in mind, the purpose of each record and how it is handled are made clear.

Illustration of a standby tablet showing only a clock, a locked file of records, a laptop where an authorized staff member reviews the list of records, and a supervisor discussing viewing rules — A device on standby, and records protected by permissions. People decide how they are handled.

Phone records and access control

Call recordings and transcripts are stored on a server you manage.
Role-based permissions control screens, data and operations.
You can set how long recordings are kept and have them deleted automatically.
Which AI services are connected and what data is sent are reviewed according to the features you use.

Counter Guard design principles In development

On standby, audio is handled in the device's temporary memory and is designed not to be saved or sent.
The screen shows that Guard is running, and the microphone-in-use indicator is never hidden.
The AI offers only a guide. People decide whether something counts as customer harassment.
Backup requests go to a supervisor or the security office. It is designed not to dial emergency numbers such as 110 (the police) automatically.

Decide how recording is announced, who can view records, how long they are kept and how consultations are handled, in line with your internal policies.

Keep your current PBX,
and support the work done by phone.

AGEphone Cowork is an AI calling platform that sits behind your existing PBX or cloud PBX, connected over standard SIP. Without replacing your phone service, it adds features such as call records, AI assistance and customer management.

Cloud operation is standard. Installation on your own servers can also be considered, to fit your information-management policy.

Architecture diagram (labels in Japanese): calls from the public telephone network (PSTN) reach your existing IP-PBX, which connects over SIP to AGEphone Cowork in the cloud (SIP proxy and media server, recording, transcription and real-time AI responses). Smartphones work as extensions of both the IP-PBX and AGEphone Cowork.

Illustration of an existing PBX connected to desk phones and smartphones, with a service for conversation records, customer information and staff messaging added alongside it, checked by an administrator on a laptop — Keep your phones as they are, and add the features you need alongside.

AI on your calls

Transcription and summaries, draft daily reports and business documents, and AI call answering help with the work that follows a call.

Customer records and documents

Brings together customer details on incoming calls, customer management, and quotations, order confirmations and other documents.

Site broadcast and push-to-talk

All-site broadcasts, chimes and PTT keep stores and work sites in touch.

Manage your phone system on the web

Configure extensions, groups, call transfer, IVR and more from a Japanese-language admin console.

Smartphones as extensions

With AGEphone Cloud, staff can use their company extension even when out of the office.

Permissions and encryption

Role-based permissions, TLS and SRTP encryption, SSO/SAML, and backups.

Use cases, architecture and system requirements in detail

Workplaces we have in mind

Illustration of an employee wearing a headset taking a call while checking customer information on a laptop

Sales and inquiry desks

Conversations are recorded and put to use in customer follow-up and handovers. Writing reports after calls is supported too.

Illustration of a receptionist using a tablet at a store counter, with a supervisor right beside them ready to help

Stores and in-person reception

Brings phones, site broadcasts and staff messaging together. Support for face-to-face service is being explored in Counter Guard, which is in development.

Illustration of a field worker in a helmet using a smartphone outside a site office

Multiple sites and staff on the move

Smartphone extensions and push-to-talk keep people in touch wherever they are, and help share information between sites.

These are illustrative use cases, not customer case studies.

Architecture and system requirements

Illustration of an administrator pointing to the admin console on a laptop and checking the settings for a desk phone, a smartphone and a counter tablet against a configuration sheet with a colleague

Server OS	Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
Hosting	A cloud VPS (such as AWS Lightsail) is standard. Installation on your own servers is also supported
Admin console	A modern web browser such as Chrome, Edge or Safari
Phone endpoints	SIP desk phones and softphones, WebRTC clients, smartphones (with AGEphone Cloud)
Existing PBX integration	Connects over standard SIP. Compatibility and required settings are checked case by case
Counter Guard	In development for use on iPhone and iPad. Supported OS, recommended models and PBX integration requirements will be announced at release

Plan a deployment around the equipment you already have.

We review your current PBX, desk phones, extensions and sites, then decide which features to add. Whether you can keep your phone numbers and desk phones, and whether a SIP connection is possible, depends on your phone service and equipment, and we will advise you on both.

Illustration of a consultant in front of a desk phone and an existing PBX showing a screen with recording, notes and backup icons, while the customer's representative checks a list of their equipment

We deploy it
around the way you work.

We learn how your phones and counters operate, what equipment you have and what your internal procedures are, then work out the features and setup you need together.

Illustration of the four stages of deployment, from left to right: interviewing frontline staff, reviewing desk phones and the architecture diagram, testing headsets and tablets, and sharing procedures with staff

Interviews about your operations and equipment
We look at problems on the phone and at the counter, the number of extensions, your sites, your existing PBX, and how consultation and backup are organized.
Setup and feature review
We explain SIP integration, devices, AI features, record handling and costs.
Configuration and testing
We configure connections, recording and permissions, and check that calls and response support fit the way you work.
Procedures and go-live
We show staff and managers how to use it, and set up routines for records, consultations and debriefs.

Pricing and setup costs
are quoted individually.

Ask about a configuration and quote

We quote pricing, setup costs and maintenance and support terms based on the number of extensions, your sites, cloud or on-premises installation, and which AI features you use.

Please also ask us about Counter Guard's release timing and trial conditions.

Frequently asked questions

Illustration of a consultant at a round table using a tablet to explain things to a customer's representative who is holding a list of questions — Talk to us about devices, records and operations before you decide.

Does deploying it satisfy the legal duty to take customer-harassment measures?

No. AGEphone Cowork is a tool that supports those measures on the front line. Setting and communicating a policy, setting up a consultation desk, caring for affected staff and preventing recurrence remain the employer's responsibility.

Can we deploy Counter Guard right away?

Counter Guard is in development. The video and illustrations on this page show features still being developed. Supported devices, release timing, PBX-side settings and trial availability will be explained when you consult us about a demo or deployment.

Does the AI decide what counts as customer harassment?

The AI only offers a guide for deciding how to respond. Legitimate opinions and requests are not treated as harassment across the board. The organization makes the final decision and response, taking into account what was demanded and how, the background and the circumstances of the business.

How should customers be told that conversations are recorded?

Define why you record and how recordings are handled, then let customers know in a way that suits your operations, such as a notice at the counter or an announcement on the phone line. How to announce it and how to handle records should be decided together with your internal policies and rules.

Are conversations saved while it is on standby?

Counter Guard, which is in development, is designed to handle audio on standby in the device's temporary memory without saving or sending it. It is intended to switch to recording when it picks up early signs. The final conditions for saving and sending will be announced at release. This is separate from call recording on the phone system.

Do we need to cancel our current PBX or cloud PBX?

No. AGEphone Cowork sits behind your existing PBX, connected over standard SIP, so a setup that keeps your outside lines and existing extensions can be considered. Whether it can connect and which settings are needed are checked against your PBX and phone service.

Where are call recordings and transcripts stored?

Call recordings and transcripts are stored on a server you manage. You can set how long recordings are kept, automatic deletion and role-based viewing permissions. How data is handled when AI services are connected is reviewed according to the features and services you use.

What devices are needed, and what does it cost?

For phones, you can use SIP desk phones and softphones, WebRTC clients, and smartphones with AGEphone Cloud. Counter Guard is being developed for use on iPhone and iPad. Pricing, setup costs and maintenance terms are quoted individually based on the number of extensions, your setup and the features you use.

Illustration of a frontline employee at a table describing what happens at the counter while a consultant listens and takes notes

Tell us how your counters
and phones work today.

We will work with you on procedures that support your staff and on a way of using the system that fits your workplace.
Ask us about connecting to your existing PBX, documentation, a demo or a quote.

Request documentation Ask about a demo

In the contact form, write "AGEphone Cowork" and tell us which documentation, demo or consultation you would like.

The description of the legal framework is based on materials published by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as of 2 October 2026. For the specific measures required, refer to the Ministry's guidelines.

Counter Guard is in development. Screens, specifications and release timing may change. Using the AI features requires API configuration for the corresponding services, among other setup.

The illustrations on this page show intended use. They do not depict actual product screens or customer deployments.

AGEphone and AGEphone Cloud are products and services of ageet. Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.