Leadership Dialogues: Digital Transformation + Business Divisions

Arakawa: The process of digital transformation involves figuring out how to integrate new technologies into our business in order to add new value. Sojitz’s long-standing businesses have been built on relationships of mutual trust that the company has cultivated with its partners over the years, and I think there are significant opportunities for business expansion when we introduce new digital solutions into these businesses that already have a foundation of trust.

I supported many clients to implement systemization and digitalization processes during my time at IBM. As a general trading company, Sojitz has a diverse business portfolio. Given the vast scale of our operations, there is also great potential for large-scale value creation—and I find that prospect very exciting. We handle many businesses that have the capacity to transform society and make the world a better place. That being said, “DX” is not a magic solution. The process of digital transformation requires implementing the right digital technologies to a wide range of differing businesses.

It is therefore essential that all employees have the basic IT skills needed to carry out this task. It takes careful consideration and a commitment to a long-term approach in order to successfully integrate the necessary technologies into our business and enhance corporate value.

Yuasa: I joined Sojitz 31 years ago. I’ve experienced firsthand the rapid evolution of technology, from the days of the typewriter and the telex to today’s innovative tools.

In the 90s, I took up programming as a hobby and created my own programs as I’ve always been the type that enjoyed trying new things. Thanks to that experience, I can picture the basic underlying structure and design of the code when I use the apps that are prevalent today. I try to apply this perspective to consider how we can integrate digital technologies into our current business and ultimately open the door for new ideas and business opportunities.

Arakawa: Programming is the process of simply translating thoughts into the language of code. Programming software is now simpler than ever. Rather than having to code each element from scratch, programming tools now offer intuitive interfaces that allow users to create programs simply by dragging and dropping. You can even run the app you create on your smartphone. For example, you could make a survey app for the purpose of conducting market research. With survey apps, you can gather, analyze, and cross data with other sources to develop business frameworks through a continuous process of trial and error. Technology allows us to take this adaptive approach to our work and improves the quality of the ideas we produce. I hope all Sojitz employees will see digital tools as means for realizing their ideas with speed.

Yuasa: Recently, I heard about a survey that was conducted at one of the Sojitz-operated shopping malls. The mall’s management team had previously thought that their main customer base was made up of visitors from Tokyo, but they were surprised to discover through their survey that most shoppers lived in the mall’s local vicinity. Based on that information, the operators have changed the content of their ad campaigns and are shifting to a new marketing strategy. The data provided them with a more accurate visualization of their business, which led them to come up with new ways to achieve greater customer satisfaction and expand their business. I hope Sojitz can continue to leverage digital technologies as we implement this data-driven growth cycle.

That being said, our business as a general trading company is primarily BtoB and there are relatively few cases in which we directly engage with general consumers.

Arakawa: If we combine digital tools with our market-oriented approach, we can expand our business scope from the BtoC to the BtoBtoC sphere. Instead of using the traditional approach of predicting consumer behavior through intuition, we can use apps and other data sources to more broadly and accurately understand the market. We can hold further discussions with our clients based on the data to develop ideas that allow us to maximize the scale of our business.

If we apply this approach to the agriculture business that your organization is currently involved in, this could look like providing data that farmers need—like weather forecasts or grain market trends—in a smartphone app. Then, communicating with those farmers to better understand what other information or functions would make their operations even more efficient. Gaining an understanding of farmers’ needs through the operation of this kind of app could serve as a stepping stone to enter local supply chains and seize other business opportunities.

Arakawa: Digital transformation is a buzz word at the moment; but no matter how much time and energy we dedicate to DX, we cannot achieve true transformation without business relationships rooted in trust and a thorough understanding of the technologies we use.

Sojitz is a forward-thinking company, with a culture that actively welcomes change. Employees explore uncharted territory in pursuit of their goals and don’t shy away from challenges, like starting from scratch to establish relationships that lead to new business creation. This is the culture that initially drew me to Sojitz and got me inspired to pursue DX here. I felt confident that success was possible if I was working with Sojitz employees.

Yuasa: To me, Sojitz is a place where people can reach their full potential. Sojitz has always been, and continues to be, a company that empowers individuals to pursue their goals.

Arakawa: I feel the same way. True DX has no endpoint, and in the IT industry we refer to DX as an ongoing “journey.” We are at the start of a long journey that involves constantly updating our skills and the tools we use so that we can, in turn, leverage the newest technologies to evolve our business. I am personally excited for this new stage where we can integrate cutting-edge technologies into the business that Sojitz has cultivated over its long history to enhance the company’s corporate value and to ultimately see the fruits of these efforts in real time.

Note: Employee titles and affiliations reflect those at the time of the article’s publication.