Progress of Sustainability Initiatives
In June 2022, we invited Ms. Arisa Kishigami, an ESG specialist, to engage in stakeholder dialogue. This was part of our initiatives to enhance value exchange with various stakeholders aimed at gaining new insights and making further improvements. In the dialogue, we described the Group’s efforts to date to create social value and address social issues and how we have communicated these activities, after which Ms. Kishigami gave her opinions from an objective standpoint.
- Date: Thursday, June 16, 2022
- Attendees:
[Outside experts]
Ms. Arisa Kishigami (ESG specialist)
[TIS Inc.]
Masakazu Kawamura (Executive Officer, Division Manager of Corporate Planning SBU/Director responsible for promotion of corporate sustainability)
Reiko Oka (Executive Officer, Department Manager of Corporate Planning Dept. and Deputy Division Manager of Corporate Planning SBU)
Attendees
Ms. Arisa Kishigami
ESG specialist
Ms. Kishigami joined FTSE Russell in 2007 and became Head of ESG for the Asia-Pacific region of FTSE Russell in 2015, where she promoted ESG-conscious corporate and investment behavior in the region.
Since becoming independent in April 2019, she has engaged in activities aimed at establishing a virtuous circle between investment and business activities for a sustainable society.
Ms. Kishigami is also a board member of the Japan Sustainable Investment Forum (JSIF), a specialist advisor to Chronos Sustainability, a member of the Expert Committee on Sustainable Finance of the Financial Services Agency, and a member of various government ministries’ study groups.
Masakazu Kawamura
TIS Executive Officer, Division Manager of Corporate Planning SBU, Director responsible for promotion of corporate sustainability
After working in the Financial Business Division and other areas, he became General Manager of the Business Administration Department in 2017 and Executive Officer and Deputy General Manager of the Planning Division in 2020. He has been in his current position since 2021. He has also served as director of MFEC Public Company Limited, a listed subsidiary in Thailand, since 2021.
Reiko Oka
TIS Executive Officer, Department Manager of Corporate Planning Dept. and Deputy Division Manager of Corporate Planning SBU
She has worked as a systems engineer and project manager in the industrial business sector, and since 2016 has been General Manager of the Development Department. In April 2019, She assumed the position of Deputy General Manager of the Planning Department, and in October 2019 also became General Manager of the Corporate Sustainability Office . She has been in his current position since April 2021.
Utilizing Human Resources
Kishigami : Discussions held at the World Economic Forum and other organizations have revealed that a major shortage of human resources engaged in ICT-related activities will be one of the major risks facing the world in the next 10 years. Although attracting ICT human resources appears to be a material issue for the TIS INTEC Group from the outside, I feel that it would be good to proactively communicate your thoughts and the measures you are taking to attract and utilize human resources in light of the social situation.
Kawamura : We recognize that attracting human resources is a truly critical issue. To this end, we established a new independent Human Resources SBU to enhance the planning and promotion of human resource strategies. We also presented our employees with our Human Resources Department Manifesto, which declares that we look back and clarify in detail what measures and environment the Department will pursue in the current fiscal year and in the future. By committing to this manifesto and steadily implementing its measures, we are building an environment in which employees can contribute to our business with peace of mind and job satisfaction. In addition, we regularly give employees a review of “what we achieved, what we did not achieve, and what we will do again.” According to feedback, these reviews have improved the relationship of trust between employees and management. In response to your point, we realized that attracting ICT human resources is not a matter of competing with IT vendors. Rather, we need to view the ICT human resource shortage as a social issue common to the IT services industry and create a sustainable situation by fostering an ecosystem for such human resource development. In this sense, I am keenly aware of the need to create attractive workplaces, systems, and programs that make people want to work in the IT industry.
Oka : Recently, I have had numerous opportunities to talk with students and young employees. I found that, in addition to aspirations as conventional system engineers, many want to work in areas beyond so-called contracted development, such as DX consulting and new businesses utilizing digital technology. I would like to enhance our ability to address social issues by providing a place for people with such aspirations to play an active role in society.
Diversity
Kishigami : The term “diversity” tends to emphasize attributes such as hiring more women or foreigners, but diversity outside of these explicit differences is often overlooked. While increasing diversity of gender and other attributes, I feel we need to first make people feel that their differences are positive. Even the same Japanese people can have different perspectives derived from varying experiences, such as overseas work, hobbies, and extracurricular activities. I think it is important to understand how to incorporate these experiences and make them work in a positive way.
Oka : To ensure diversity, we have encouraged female employees to play an active role in the Group as a management priority. To this end, we used questionnaires to gather opinions from employees and engaged in repeated dialogue with them. I now feel a more positive attitude emerging among responses to the question, “Why should women be encouraged to be more active?” By recognizing these differences and engaging in dialogue about the need for diversity, we are fostering a positive culture about not only empowering women but also the importance of ensuring diversity in business development.
Promoting services that provide solutions to social issues
* At the time of this dialogue, TIS INTEC Group had identified four areas to focus on with respect to addressing social issues: Financial inclusion, urban concentration/rural decline, low-carbon/decarbonized society, and health concerns. We have adopted “sales from services that provide solutions to social issues” (services that address the four areas) as one of the KPIs of our Medium-Term Management Plan (2021–2023).
Financial inclusion
Kishigami : Providing access to our financial system is a social issue. To increase the number of people with such access, the Group actively engages in IT-based projects to promote cashless operations. Despite many positive factors, there are also potential negative and harmful effects, such as unintentional access by children through mobile phones and people becoming overextended due to weak financial literacy. I feel that perhaps you should enhance your disclosure of such risks from the consumer’s perspective while also making efforts to increase financial literacy in general.
Kawamura : For example, we are making very strong efforts to prevent fraudulent payments. On the other hand, I realized that we lacked the perspective of society as a whole, including the negative factors that could impact users and consumers. I also felt the need to be attentive so that our services would not be used in unintended ways. Through this dialogue, I’ve learned the importance of disseminating information in a broad and deep way.
Oka : Another challenge is that the value of our services depends on the digital literacy of users, so the results are not equally beneficial. For example, those who are not good at managing passwords may abandon or risk losing our services. I felt the need to reevaluate areas that we have taken for granted.
Urban concentration/rural decline
Kishigami : I hear that you have a great deal of experience in implementing information systems for governments. I’m also told that the introduction of individual systems for each municipality is creating inefficiencies for society as a whole. When addressing this social issue, I feel it is important to communicate the efforts you are making in addition to your system installation record.
Kawamura : Based on the same understanding of the issues, the Group is forging ahead in developing and providing systems and services that can be shared while strongly emphasizing ease of use and standardization, rather than developing systems from scratch based entirely on customer requirements. Having each local government adopt systems and services created under this concept will lead to greater utilization of IT and eliminate inefficiencies across the entire nation. This theme needs to be promoted throughout Japan, not only by us, but also through cooperation among local governments.
Low-carbon/decarbonized society
Kishigami : Agricultural DX is a broad topic that can be effective not only in addressing urban concentration issues but also in categories such as decarbonization and biodiversity. To tackle decarbonization, companies must not only make individual efforts but also include all stakeholders in its operations and services. This means getting the entire supply chain involved. Especially in the agricultural sector, where supply chains tend to be complex, I feel that using IT to identify and manage all parties in the supply chain will enhance overall reliability and convenience.
Oka : I think you are suggesting the importance of traceability. Generally, however, I feel that the Company is lacking when it comes to considering the perspective of the circular economy. While utilizing blockchain and other digital technologies, I would like to not only improve the functionality and convenience of our services but also help enhance overall efficiency by promoting information linkage and status management throughout the supply chain. To this end, I feel the need to standardize data and information and create cross-industry platforms.
Health concerns
Kishigami : In health issues, we tend to focus on the physical aspects, such as medical care and prevention. However, a look at trends among institutional investors in the United Kingdom and elsewhere reveals a growing interest in corporate responses to mental health issues. More and more people are focusing on maintaining good health both mentally and physically, so we should pay attention to the mental health perspective.
Kawamura : To cite an example of corporate efforts other than our own business, we are actively promoting teleworking as a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. In the process, we have found that by stepping up efforts to prevent employees from becoming isolated, for example by using smartphone apps to facilitate communication, we have been able to stimulate conversation and improve working styles. We will continue addressing mental health as an important management issue for the Group and use the knowledge and experience thus gained to benefit the next chapter of our business.
Providing reliable products
Kishigami : As AI technology moves from the research phase to the practical phase, it is being incorporated into more and more services. This has led to growing concern about the potential bias created by AI and other new risks to society. To avoid an increase in unintended risks, we need to utilize knowledge from the humanities, such as philosophy and cultural anthropology, and approach risk analysis from the perspective of human behavior and ethics. I also think it is important to communicate externally about the existence of these potential risks and how to address them.
Kawamura : It is important to think about how AI itself and services that use AI will affect human behavior. As you suggested, I feel that having people with knowledge of philosophy and cultural anthropology in the Company would increase diversity and enable us to consider risks and opportunities from various perspectives, and thus provide safer and more reliable services.
Progress of efforts to address material issues
Kishigami : I can see that you are strongly aware of the connection between addressing social issues and your company’s business. It is important to make this approach sustainable rather than transitory. On the other hand, rather than addressing single social issues, I think you would make better progress if you raised your perspectives to include how your business is impacting society at large.
Kawamura : KPIs are an effective part of the Group’s management system. I believe they are a good tool for visualizing activities and realizing improvements. We started with financial KPIs, then branched out and applied KPIs to processes linked to finance. We are also working on KPIs in non-financial areas. In particular, we are becoming more aware of the importance of KPI design related to human resources from the perspective of improving social value and the value we provide to customers. As a further evolutionary step, I would like to quantify and target our corporate activities in terms of not only business figures, but also social impact, and incorporate the perspective of what value we provide to society into the management of the Group.
In conclusion
In addition to the suggestions summarized above, Ms. Kishigami made various other observations, including suggestions on business and human rights and corporate governance. In the process, we became convinced that we can improve the value of the Group significantly if we enhance our entire social ecosystem. We also realized that there are always negative factors to good change and confirmed the importance of efforts to mitigate such factors. We will continue using insights gained from this dialogue to enhance value exchange with various stakeholders and become a corporate group that is needed by society, while also fostering a happier society.