Alephant (kentama.jp) is a shift-scheduling SaaS designed for independent shops and small-scale stores. It mainly addresses the common pain points of monthly staff scheduling in restaurants, retail, security, factories, and other on-site operations: collecting preferred shifts, making manual adjustments, and avoiding missed notifications. It is not positioned as an HR system for large chain enterprises, but rather as a low-barrier way for small businesses to complete the full scheduling workflow.
Based on the available text, the product covers four key steps: submission, management, automatic generation, and sharing. Employees submit their preferred shifts through a dedicated link without needing to log in. Managers can see who has and has not submitted availability, then automatically generate a monthly schedule based on the collected preferences. After generation, they can still fine-tune specific slots as needed, and then share the finalized schedule directly, reducing the risk of missed communication across multiple channels. In terms of permissions, the text only indicates a basic distinction between employee and manager roles; it does not disclose more granular approval flows, branch-level permissions, or audit capabilities.
Pricing is relatively clear: from 5000 JPY per month per location. The FAQ also mentions that under certain conditions, users may contact support to discuss pricing. The text does not mention a free plan or free trial, nor does it specify payment methods. Deployment appears to be an online web service, with no mention of self-hosting, on-premises deployment, or private enterprise deployment.
The page does not disclose third-party integrations, APIs, webhooks, mobile apps, or connections to attendance and payroll systems, so it is better viewed as a standalone lightweight scheduling tool. On the security side, the terms only state that users are responsible for managing their own accounts and that personal information will be handled appropriately in accordance with the privacy policy. There are no visible details about encryption, backups, permission logs, or compliance certifications. The terms of service also reserve the right to change, terminate, or interrupt the service with liability disclaimers, so companies should further confirm SLA and data processing terms before procurement.
Its strengths are a focused workflow, login-free submission for employees, automatic schedule generation, and manual fine-tuning. It is well suited to small shops without dedicated HR staff that still rely on spreadsheets or chat apps for scheduling. Its limitations are the lack of ecosystem and compliance information, and the available text does not demonstrate capabilities such as complex scheduling rules, centralized multi-store management, or payroll/attendance integration.
Access from mainland China, network stability, and cross-border payment support are unknown. If you operate stores in China, it may be better to first evaluate local scheduling and attendance solutions such as DingTalk, WeCom, or Lark. For stores operating locally in Japan, Alephant can be considered as a lightweight scheduling SaaS candidate.
โ This review is compiled from public sources and does not constitute a purchase recommendation. Verify all facts on the vendor's official site. Verify on kentama.jp official site.
kentama.jp is an Japan SaaS Tools provider. TG4G tracks its product information, an overall rating of 7.0/10, and a China-accessibility score of Workable. Click "Visit Official Site" to reach kentama.jp directly.