How does Mitsui & Co. develop DX business personnel who understand digital and business?

Mitsui & Co., one of Japan’s leading general trading companies, is promoting DX by combining operational technology, which is a trading company’s functions such as product knowledge, business knowledge, sales capabilities, and logistics functions, with digital power such as robotics and big data.

Mitsui & Co.’s “DX Comprehensive Strategy,” which was formulated in March 2021, is a “DX Business Strategy” that aims to strengthen businesses by combining the power of digital with the data held by each business site to create new value. It consists of a “data-driven management strategy” that makes quick and accurate decision-making by thoroughly utilizing data, but the “DX human resources strategy” underpins the DX comprehensive strategy.

The aim of the DX human resources strategy is to produce next-generation management personnel who are equipped with DX as a standard, and to establish constant innovation through DX as part of Mitsui & Co.’s corporate culture.

Mitsui & Co.’s DX human resources strategy defines the human resources responsible for DX as “business human resources” with business knowledge (human resources a), “DX business human resources” who are familiar with business and digital (human resources b), and “DX human resources” with digital skills. They are classified into three types: “technical personnel” (c personnel). Let’s take a look at each.

First, Mitsui & Co. used to refer to human resources who were familiar with a wide range of businesses, products, and regions as “business human resources.” There are 8,000 people in Japan and at overseas subsidiaries.

We need DX business personnel who understand digital and business

On the other hand, DX technical personnel, who are top digital experts, are being produced in-house within the group at IT strategy subsidiaries such as Mitsui Knowledge Base, and Mitsui & Co. also has a certain number of them.

At Mitsui & Co., we believe that we cannot advance our DX strategy with business personnel and DX technology personnel alone. The gap between the two sides is so deep that not only can they not communicate well, but they are also unable to cooperate. To bridge the gap between the two, they came to believe that they needed DX business personnel who understood both digital and business, and decided to focus on in-house DX business personnel.

Eishi Kamatani, assistant manager in charge of human resources strategy in the Digital Strategy Department, says:

“We call it “total DX power,” but one is raising the level of DX literacy among all employees.The other is developing DX business personnel.DX technical personnel such as data scientists We believe that it is not possible to proceed with DX for a trading company by simply lining up the two.What we need to do is to proceed with DX by combining business and digital, and we will also work with external data scientists as necessary. That’s why developing DX business talent in each department within the company is an important issue.”

Mitsui & Co. began training DX business human resources in the fall of 2020. We launched the “DX Human Resources Certification System” in 2021, which certifies human resources who meet certain standards as DX human resources, such as having advanced DX skills and practicing DX in their work, and we have conducted certification seven times so far. I’ve been doing it.

The DX personnel certification system is divided into six levels depending on knowledge and experience, from “DX practitioner” to “B1 Cadet”, “B1 Personnel”, “B1 Specialist”, “B2 Personnel”, and “C Personnel”, and certification is carried out every six months. It will also be recorded in the personnel ledger. From the third round, the number of applications from overseas corporations has been expanded.

For certification, in addition to a documentary review of track records, applicants of B1 and higher will undergo an interview based on evaluations by external advisors.

How do you develop DX human resources?

So, how do you develop DX human resources?

Although there is a form of evaluating the experience of implementing DX projects within the company, the “Mitsui DX Academy”, which opened in May 2021, plays an important role.

Here, we offer “DX skills training” which includes basics for all executives and employees to advanced training for developing advanced DX personnel, “boot camp” to develop DX business personnel through OJT through practical DX projects, and cutting-edge There are courses such as “DX Executive Education,” in which students are sent to overseas university courses for the purpose of acquiring DX skills and knowledge and building a network with advanced DX specialists. In addition, we have developed a training system tailored to each student’s goals and level.

For example, by taking two or more basic courses (8 hours), passing a confirmation test, and gaining experience in improving business operations using RPA (Robotic Process Automation), you can become certified as a DX practitioner. You can receive it. This is recommended to all employees.

“There is a level of difficulty in raising the level of DX literacy of all employees through the “total DX force.” We used various ideas such as using the company’s intranet to introduce success stories saying, “Working on DX can improve your work results.” (Mr. Kamatani)

One such measure is to visualize a dashboard that summarizes the course status and arouses a competitive spirit within the company.

Mitsui & Co. employees have a strong competitive spirit. If your headquarters lags behind, you feel like you can’t lose to other departments. These measures to stimulate competitive spirit were effective.

Furthermore, training systems play an important role in career paths. If you are certified as a DX human resource, it will be recorded in your personnel ledger and can be used as a reference when making appointments or promotions. If you are promoted to the next stage and succeed, your compensation will increase as a result.

A good example is Tomoru Jinnai, who was appointed president of GEOTRA, a joint venture with KDDI that promotes urban DX using AI and human flow analysis, at the age of 29.

However, that doesn’t mean everyone is positive about DX.

“For example, if you use Power BI, you can make decisions based on data and it is very useful, but some people say, “I don’t have to use something like that in my daily work.” Some people said that when it was first introduced, but now we live in an era where you can’t work without a computer, and I think time will solve the problem.” (Mr. Kamatani)

Aiming to in-house DX human resources of 1,000 people

In the case of b1 personnel, they must take not only the basic course but also 3 advanced courses, and also have a total of 2 DX projects, one of which requires them to be active as a leader.

“It is not easy to become a B1 person.As the term “DX business person” suggests, it is a person who utilizes digital technology in business to transform.” (same)

However, the activities of these DX promotion organizations also had a major impact on the Digital Strategy Department. Until then, IT departments realized that they could contribute value through digital technology in the tailwind of DX.

“The department that was previously in charge of internal systems has now become a leader in transformation using digital technology as a weapon.Our department is quantifying the value contribution of DX, and we are also looking at the extent to which we have achieved results. This has been clarified and I feel that I am contributing to our group.” (Mr. Kamatani)

For example, as an example of the performance of B1 personnel regarding productivity improvement, if you use a BI tool, a bar graph will be automatically generated in real time as the data is aggregated. A while ago, bar graphs were created one by one by inputting the data collected in Excel, but once a platform is created on the system, bar graphs can be created automatically. These efforts also contribute value in the form of productivity improvements.

As a result of these activities, the number of employees who want to work in the Digital Strategy Department is increasing.

The Digital Strategy Department has already started about 400 projects, conducted 100 PoCs (proofs of concept), and has successfully commercialized 50 projects through investment and other means. The company plans to put even more effort into developing DX business talent in the future.

As of April 1, 2024, the company has 231 DX business personnel, and plans to have over 1,000 DX business personnel in-house, including DX practitioners, by the end of March 2026.

Tatsuya Isshi, a senior director and analyst in the research and advisory department at Gartner, an American research firm with expertise in IT and DX, has the following to say about the challenges facing Japanese companies in developing DX human resources.

“I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the need to develop IT human resources, but even though I haven’t decided what kind of work they will do yet, I’m thinking of developing IT human resources because I’m going to do DX. I think that’s a bit strange.First of all, you have to decide clearly what kind of job you want. If there are no human resources with such skills, you will have to hire them from outside or train internal employees.The IT skills that are essential for normal work should be learned through semi-compulsory education. I think that’s fine, but it’s not just the operating principles of AI or the development of machine learning; it’s also important to educate yourself about security, such as Windows shortcut keys and basic analysis functions in Excel, so you don’t fall for phishing. Now, we use smartphones as a matter of course, but I would like you to remember how you first learned how to use them. It’s fine if they are forced to learn. Above all, I think it’s an issue that needs to be thought about from a work-oriented perspective, not a DX-oriented one.”