Japan Firms Strengthening Human Resources for Digital Transformation

Tokyo, Aug. 30 (Jiji Press)--Major electronics, information technology and communications firms in Japan have been beefing up their efforts to secure high-level IT personnel, in order to speed up digital transformation, a Jiji Press survey showed Monday. According to an industry ministry estimate, companies in the country are expected to face an estimated shortage of around 450,000 IT professionals in 2030. The survey found that 11 of 12 responding firms in the electronics, IT and telecommunications sectors have already drawn up or intend to draw up plans to increase the number of highly skillful IT professionals. On concrete ways to attract such personnel, the option of "offering favorable working conditions such as higher salaries than those of general office employees" was picked by seven companies and that of "introducing a job-based employment system" was chosen by the same number of firms, with multiple answers allowed. All the responding companies said that they are looking for IT experts specializing in artificial intelligence, which is becoming indispensable for all technology fields. Electronics maker Panasonic Corp. <6752>, for instance, secured over 1,100 workers with basic AI knowledge by fiscal 2020 that ended in March and plans to develop 200 project leaders by fiscal 2024. Z Holdings Corp. <4689>, which owns internet portal operator Yahoo Japan Corp. and messaging app provider Line Corp., aims to increase the number of AI engineers in the group by 5,000 each in Japan and abroad by fiscal 2025. The survey also showed that as human resource development measures, "reeducating conventional IT engineers" was cited by 11 firms and "providing technical education to employees with nonscientific backgrounds" by eight. In this regard, Z Holdings launched a community within the group to nurture AI engineers, regardless of whether they have backgrounds in science or humanities. Electronics firm Fujitsu Ltd. <6702> has been holding lectures and training courses on design thinking, an innovation methodology, for its employees in and outside the country aiming to develop all of them into digital transformation human resources. END