JAFCO's role is not limited to "investment". The BD (Business Development) Department, which provides various support to realize the growth of investee companies, mainly provides support in the three areas of "marketing/sales," "HR," and "back office."

This time, we would like to introduce an example of "marketing and sales" support. In commercializing the DX readiness training program for all employees provided by Life is Tech Inc., which develops IT education business, JAFCO BD Department worked together with the company to complete the entire process from program development/brush-up to customer development.

We interviewed Mr. Yuta Komori, Executive Vice President and COO of Life is Tech Inc. We will deliver a real commercialization story in a dialogue format with Tatsuya Nagaoka, who is in charge of investment in JAFCO, and Yutaro Saka, who is in charge of BD support.

【profile】
Life is Tech, Inc. Executive Vice President and COO Yuta Komori
Worked on new service development of "Entertainment x Recruitment" at a human resources consulting company. After becoming independent, he worked as a content director for "Real Escape Game" at SCRAP Co., Ltd., and co-founded Life is Tech, Inc. Chief Operating Officer of Services, Marketing and Organization. Certified workshop designer by The Foundation of Global Life Learning Center.

[What's Life is Tech Inc.?]
Life is Tech is an EdTech company founded in 2010 with the mission of "maximizing the potential of each and every junior and senior high school student". Aiming to "develop 1.2 million innovative human resources by 2025", Life is Tech provides "Life is Tech! Lesson, " an EdTech teaching material for junior high and high school students for programming learning, to more than 500 local governments nationwide, 2,650 public and private schools, and about 500,000 people (*) "It also operates Japan's largest IT/programming camp & school "Life is Tech ! ," in which 52,000 people have participated to date, and " DX readiness training," a digital human resources training for companies aimed at DX for all employees. Until now, Life is Tech has provided comprehensive digital entrepreneurship education for junior high and high school students, university students, and working adults, and will continue to accelerate the development of digital human resources who can change society. (*)=As of July 2022
Service site: https://life-is-tech.com

[Business launch] Developed the first corporate service
Life is Tech Mr. Komori × JAFCO Nagaoka

Life is Tech Yuta Komori (right) and JAFCO Tatsuya Nagaoka (left) in charge of investment

ーFirst, please give us an overview of the "DX Readiness Training".

Komori This is a training program for companies, especially for enterprises, to aim for ``DX for all employees''. One of the most common issues faced by companies is how to spread DX to business-side employees. At our company, we offer a program that combines theoretical courses and practical courses so that even those who are not good at digital can enjoy learning.

ーI heard that JAFCO was the first company you consulted with when starting up your business. What kind of things did you consult about?

Komori Since our founding, we have provided IT education services for children, schools, and local governments. It was my first time to provide a service for companies and working people, so I learned what kind of challenges companies have in human resource development, what kind of needs they have when providing IT education to working people, and the real voices of companies. I consulted Mr. Nagaoka, the venture capitalist in charge.

Nagaoka It was the end of 2020. I was surprised by the sudden consultation, but I immediately made appointments with several major companies with which I had connections. Life is Tech is not a company that teaches programming, but a company that teaches IT skills to find and solve everyday problems. When I heard about the new business this time, I felt the passion to embody that stance.

ーWhy did you decide to expand your business, which had been focused on middle and high school students, to include adults?

Komori At the time of founding, we decided to focus on six years of junior and senior high school education. To date, we have educated more than 50,000 junior and high school students. In the realm of education, it takes that long to see real results. At our company, we are starting to see results, with camp and school graduates starting businesses and making their first exits. However, I noticed that when they choose to find a job, the exit is very biased. Japan should have many excellent companies in any industry, but most exits were concentrated in well-known technology companies.

I want graduates to innovate in more companies. To that end, I felt that it was important to accelerate DX on the corporate side. Companies where DX is pervasive not only have an environment that utilizes data and human resources who are strong in digital, but also value agile thinking and diversity to continue to operate DX. In order to increase the opportunities for graduates to think, "I want to play an active role here," I decided to remove the borderline of six years of middle and high school years, which I had been sticking to.

ーWhat kind of needs emerged when you actually talked to major companies?

Komori They understand that it is important to develop DX human resources, but I have found that no one has drawn up an overall picture of how to specifically develop them. How do we use our assets for that? With that in mind, I formed the program, and at the stage where I could see the shape to some extent, I asked Mr. Nagaoka, "Would you like to try it out at JAFCO?"

​ ​Nagaoka I was surprised by Mr. Komori's high level of ability to catch up. After visiting only a few companies, he made a program based on the key points. It was around mid-January 2021, just one month after receiving the first consultation, that the training was conducted within JAFCO. The purpose was to create an introduction case for customer development and to brush up the service. I gathered members from various departments such as the Investment Division, which I belong to, BD department, and Administration Division, and held it for one day, and the content was very well received. Rather than simply learning about digitization, it was structured so that it could be understood from the point of view of the meaning of the data.

Komori The true value of data is demonstrated when it is uploaded to the cloud. If it is on a PC, it is just information, but if you upload it to the cloud, everyone will be able to access it. I believe that the main reason why DX development is not progressing is that there is no discussion of "why should we use digital" and "how to use it in our daily work". There is an overwhelming lack of "why" in the world. At our company, we have always made it a core business to think about that and have people discuss it, so even if the target is a member of society, we have created a program that emphasizes that part.

- How did you use the trial within JAFCO for subsequent brush-ups?

Komori There were two major changes. First of all, in the training, I had them create an app for DX, but at first, I taught them based on programming, just like I did for junior high and high school students. However, I realized that it takes time for working adults to learn programming, so I decided to use no-code tools. The other point is that I made it a flow to write a flow chart before application development. This is because the real purpose is not to develop an application itself, but to acquire the ability to think about strategies and what problems to solve with an application. I am very happy to have had the opportunity to test the service through the trial. We were able to get to know our customers better by directly receiving their reactions and impressions.

Nagaoka In the company, I said, "This is a chance to experience creating a business from scratch," and trainees participated not only as a client but also as a service creator/provider. I think this made a good environment for trial. 

[Customer development] Develop leads at seminars and study sessions to attract customers
Mr. Komori of Life is Tech × Saka of JAFCO

Mr. Komori (right) and Yutaro Saka (left) in charge of JAFCO BD support

ーWhat was the reaction to the trial in the BD Department where Saka-san belongs?

Saka My department also achieved great results. For example, DX will not succeed as long as Excel management remains in place. As Mr. Komori said earlier, it is important for DX to have a database on the cloud. It's a rudimentary thing, but I kept saying, "Let's switch to a spreadsheet," within the company, but many people said, "It's hard to use." But it wasn't until after Life is Tech's training that everyone understood what I was saying. This trial was a valuable opportunity for us to experience "this is what DX is".

- Mr. Saka, you also had the same sense of challenge as Mr. Komori regarding DX.

Saka That 's right. I also held DX webinars for major companies, so when I talked with Mr. Komori, I was happy to know that "He is thinking the same thing!," and " He is even planning to turn it into a service!." 2021 was just the time when DX was becoming popular. I think it was the best timing, with a sense of issues in the world and the evolution of technology, all of which overlapped perfectly.

​ ​Komori Mr. Saka is a very flexible person. When I first started developing customers with Mr. Saka, the "DX readiness training" service was not yet solidified, but he allowed me to create it together.

- How did you develop new customers?

Saka First of all, we held a seminar to attract customers with the theme of DX. Starting with the premise of "What is DX?" and "Why do you do DX?," the seminar also covered "How to make DX successful?", and "How do you develop DX human resources?." About 120 to 130 people participated against the target number of participants of more than 100 people. After the seminar, we gathered participants who were particularly interested in the topic and held a one-hour small group study session. Here is the flow of trying to form motivation for the introduction of "DX Readiness Training". Mr. Komori designed the process from the A-ha experience to the closing, and it was so excellent as a customer acquisition method that we are now expanding this format to other companies as well.

Komori After this study session, I actually interviewed several companies. Also, during the trial at JAFCO, we made a video introducing the flow of the training and the application we actually developed, which make it easy for customers to imagine how the service works, so they are also very useful for business activities.

Life is Tech! Example of "DX human resources training" program

-How is the introduction to companies progressing?

Komori Fortunately, we have received a very high evaluation. From the beginning of the launch of the service, we aimed to expand it throughout the company, and that is beginning to come true. For example, Marui Group Co., Ltd. originally planned to hold a seminar for leaders, but it was offered to about 20 people, including the president, after receiving an offer from the executives. "DX Readiness Training" is a training where you can learn how to think, so even people who are not good at digital understand the need to solve problems digitally, and Marui Group is currently promoting reforms for DX throughout the company. In addition, the essence of DX in management is not "using digital", but the idea of "what is the management issue and how to use digital to solve it," which is necessary for decision-making. By having them understand this, we were able to demonstrate that the program is effective for management. We are currently in the process of expanding this to executives of other companies as well.

​ ​Saka At one of the companies that introduced it, the "DX readiness training" won the president's award, right?.

Komori Yes. We received the President's Award as a joint project between the Human Resources Department and Life is Tech. As the introduction to companies progressed, and seeing the chemical reaction that occurred when the company implemented it, I realized again that "our service may not fit into the framework of training." An employee who hated digital technology at first and would not listen to me when I talked about it became absorbed in app development and said, "It's fun." What we do is change people's minds.

It is said that by 2030, various things will be automatically optimized and there will be a surplus of 2.1 million clerical and production workers, and a shortage of 1.7 million specialized technical workers who lead technological innovation and apply it to business. It is necessary to convert them to IT jobs, but the current measures will not be enough. In many cases, human resource development at companies is promoted based on probability theory, and only the employees who grow are trained, and the employees who are left out are given up. There are parts that can't be helped because it takes cost and power when you think about it in terms of economic rationality and logic, but someone has to do it. In that respect, since our company has been doing "maximizing the potential of each individual as much as possible" since our founding, we are confident that we can do it even if it is to B.

ーIt's been over a year since you launched your business. How is your business going now?

Komori I was just about to consult with JAFCO about future sales measures. At first, I was conducting sales to corporate human resources, but now I'm focusing on the management planning and DX promotion team. Recently, there are many companies that have entered the next phase after formulating their DX strategy, the phase of how to develop DX human resources, and the people in those teams have a clearer problem, so our service fits. First of all, I feel that it will be easier to expand the training companywide by obtaining a consensus with the top management of DX human resource development. On the other hand, there are cases where the management planning and DX promotion teams do not have a mission to develop human resources, so we are considering how to get the personnel department to understand our value.

-Lastly, Mr. Komori, what kind of existence is JAFCO?

Komori JAFCO is a partner who thinks and moves together. I am very grateful to have a partner who does both. There are many things you don't know until you try a new business. There are cases where you plan perfectly from the beginning, but our style is agile. Mr. Nagaoka and Mr. Saka have provided various opportunities, such as opportunities to listen to the needs of major companies, opportunities to test services within JAFCO, and opportunities to develop leads at seminars and study sessions. With their help, the business started to turn around. As a partner who led us to the realization of our first to-B business, we hope that they will continue to accompany us in the future.