Customer-facing departments benefit from-advanced companies feel the effects of DX but struggle with a shortage of human resources Japan Top News

On January 26, KPMG Consulting announced the “KPMG Global Technology Report 2022”, which surveyed 2,200 executives in 15 countries around the world on the status of digitalization efforts in companies. Although 99% of digitally advanced companies feel the effects of digital transformation (DX), they are still struggling to deal with human resource shortages and cyber security.

Mr. Hiroyuki Hamada, KPMG Consulting Executive Officer Technology Transformation Supervisor and Sector Unit Deputy Head Partner, explained the survey outline, saying, “We can see distinctive initiatives.”

Customer-facing departments benefit

A survey of 2,200 executives, including 1,090 chief executives (CxOs), 493 vice presidents (VPs), and 602 managing directors, will be conducted in the second quarter of 2022 (April to June). In Japan, a total of 100 people, including 50 CxOs, 29 VP class, and 21 managing directors, responded.

Most companies expect to adopt emerging technologies within the next two years, and 99% of companies say they have benefited from their digital investments. Lack of human resources is an issue in many fields, and the ranking is number one. The lack of human resources in the promotion of DX is a common theme both in Japan and overseas, but the delay in the countermeasure schedule for the security team that each company focuses on has reached 58%.

Recently, major IT companies have announced personnel reductions, but Mr. Yun Chanmo, Partner of KPMG Consulting Technology Transformation Management Unit, said, “[As part of the restructuring of the organization]we are targeting back office systems, not engineers. The number one issue facing Japanese companies is the relatively low cost of securing human resources (salaries, etc., compared to overseas companies).

At the briefing, three points were explained: the growing enthusiasm for technology for customer engagement, the progress of digitalization and continuing threats, and the cyber security team that is busy responding.

As mentioned above, each company has a positive desire to introduce technologies for customer engagement, but they answered that efforts for application modernization and intelligent automation (advanced automation) will decrease within a few years.

For example, 39% of global companies plan to invest in application modernization in the next year, down to 33% in a few years. Japanese companies ranked first in investment in intelligent automation at 43%, but this will drop to 36% in a few years. Mr. Yoon speculates, “Digital investment is increasing, and the company’s existing technology has a certain prospect and is reaching its goal.”

What is interesting is the proportion of sectors that will benefit from technology introduction. Marketing and service departments were ranked high by 44% (37% in Japan), IT departments by 36% (36%), and human resources departments by 34% (34%). The lowest was the purchasing department at 30% (22% in the same period).

“The departments that directly interact with customers are the ones who are benefiting from this. However, there is a slight difference in enthusiasm, even though the same trend can be seen in Japanese companies.” (Mr. Yoon)

The progress of digitization has shown that efforts to convert to DX are not as differentiating factors as before. 99% of global companies (“effective”, “constantly effective”, and “extremely effective” combined), 100% of Japanese companies use digital technology effectively, and most companies make DX a natural choice and profitability (Over 11% for global companies, 22% for Japanese companies).

Regarding cloud migration, 15% of global companies and 20% of Japanese companies are working on continuous optimization, and 32% of global companies and 29% of Japanese companies answered that they are very satisfied. However, some companies cite the shortage of human resources such as data scientists and engineers (44% of global companies, 37% of Japanese companies) and the high cost of system procurement and recruiting human resources (32%, 41%). Remarkable.

Finally, the current state of the cyber security team. While 42% of global companies (48% of Japanese companies) are making strategic progress, talent shortages are also prominent here. Specifically, lack of skills (global companies 40%, Japanese companies 45%), corporate culture barriers (35%, 39%), fundraising and investment (32%, 33%) are challenges to achieving the goals. rose to

In addition, the introduction of remote work/hybrid work environments (37%, 33%), the digitalization of customer channels (34%, 26%), and the increasing complexity of operational technology/industrial control systems (33%). , 37%) is also a major issue.

Even so, many companies are confident in their security measures. “More than half of the global companies are confident about the lack of human resources. Japanese companies, on the other hand, are more confident than global companies,” says Yoon.

Through research, KPMG Consulting points out that companies with high digital maturity in Japan possess the following seven characteristics.

1. Eliminate silos to improve communication between organizations
2. Work to solve the shortage of human resources
3. Cloud construction through close cooperation among stakeholders
4. Cybersecurity experts must be involved in early technology selection and employee training
5. Advanced technology strategy based on customer feedback
6. Preparing to change platform providers to improve customer experience
7. Don’t be afraid to adopt new techniques wisely

On top of that, “New technology investment will spread, but how to solve the shortage of human resources? This will be one of the keywords for successful DX,” predicted Mr. Yoon.