Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.167 2025.09.01 Takahashi Minoru

PPAP is comfort for the Japanese soul

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


In the business world, there are “good people” and “not-so-good people.”
If you had to choose one or the other as a partner with no other conditions,
I believe everyone would choose to work with the former.


After working for many years, eventually
you will encounter a situation where a “good person” has lost out to a “not-so-good person.”
.
I’m sure you’ve also witnessed the moment when a competitor in your industry
and went out of business
to some extent.


This phenomenon is not limited to your industry;
but is a phenomenon seen quite frequently in the IT world as well.
On one hand, there are “good people” who put great thought into their work, seriously consider the benefits for their clients,
and build sincere, steady, and consistent communication—
there are certainly those who,
to secure a contract.
As you can see, the latter tend to survive better,
and the same is true in our industry.


I’m sure that all of us, including ourselves,
must sincerely hope, from the bottom of our hearts, that the former are the ones who succeed.
However, reality is often harsh,
and I believe there are inevitably many cases where, due to economic principles, the latter is chosen and the former loses out.
I’m sure you can all recall
a few instances of this in your own past.


However, in the IT industry, dealing with “those who aren’t like that”
often leads to higher long-term costs. I can say this with certainty based on experience.
Endless additional fees, redesign costs due to communication errors,
or having a useless system implemented that increases on-site labor costs
or even the introduction of a system that was unnecessary in the first place, rendering the entire project a waste from the start—
If you think back or recall stories from acquaintances,
you might be able to think of a few examples, right?


“Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to choose a different vendor from the start?”
There must be quite a few of you who have wondered this.


Since it is people who build systems,
the compatibility between you (or the employee in charge at your company) and the assigned SE
has a significant impact on the quality of the system and its usability.
When selecting a system development company, I highly recommend
as one of your selection criteria.


However, I realize it’s difficult to include a comment like “Is this person nice?” in an approval form,
and since personal evaluations cannot be quantified, they may be seen as subjective factors for the decision-maker.
but at the very least, compared to hiring someone who is clearly “not a good fit,”
you’re likely to achieve better results in the long run.


I hope you find the above helpful.
That's all, Thank you for reading.

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