Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.72 2017.07.01 Takahashi Minoru

Your business system is your company itself

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


We believe that “business systems are the company itself,”
and we strive to create systems every day with this in mind.


This stems from our noble purpose of taking pride in our work and striving to be of service to company presidents,
but
I also believe that “even without that, there are certainly elements that make it true, in practical terms, that the system is the company itself.”
Below, I will explain why we value our systems so highly.


① Humans have a finite lifespan, but systems do not
Even the most outstanding employees can only remain productive for 20 to 30 years,
and even at their peak, that’s likely no more than about 10 years.
Systems, on the other hand, can store data for as many years as needed.
While hardware becomes outdated over time, its lifespan can be extended with sufficient investment.


② If systems evolve to an extreme degree, humans will become mere subcontractors to the systems
Systems are imbued with a company’s vision, and that vision is embodied in the rules governing the system’s inputs and outputs.
In other words, these rules can also be described as restrictions.
If the system evolves to an extreme degree, humans (employees) will be forced to comply with everything the system dictates (restrictions) from start to finish.
This represents the realization of what the CEO might consider the ideal (?) scenario: a system that makes people work.
*Surprisingly, many CEOs build systems with this very outcome in mind.
　　It’s a scenario where the CEO leads the creation of the system, and the system then leads the employees in their work.


③ Handover is relatively simple
Handing over responsibilities to new employees requires a tremendous amount of effort.
However, the reality is that even if you invest the necessary effort,
the reality is that this is rarely the case.
This is because human capabilities and strengths largely depend on elements that cannot be put into words, imitated, or replicated.
In contrast, system handover (replacement) is far simpler than human handover.
In most cases, even without design documents, verifying all functions and data allows us to infer about 60–80% of the system’s behavior.


In conclusion, our stance is:
“While employee development is certainly important, let’s also nurture our systems at the same time.”
to the CEOs of each company.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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