A New Type of Collaboration Between Fujitsu and Tokyo Century to Change Society through DX

Offering Customers a Solution that Combines Digital and Finance

――What were your business responsibilities before being seconded?

Hattori: I was a business producer at Fujitsu. My mission as a partner for the customers was to apply technology to solve potential problems in addition to those they have already recognized. I was mainly in charge of manufacturers that operated on a global level.

Taguchi: The history of collaboration between Fujitsu and Tokyo Century goes back about half a century. My responsibility before being seconded to FLCS included supporting customers with financing, which covered the product leasing business for Fujitsu’s PCs and servers as well as software solutions.

――What is your current job responsibility at FLCS?

Taguchi: FLCS was formerly known as Fujitsu Leasing, a joint investment by the two parent companies. The name was changed to FLCS in April 2022. Since starting operations as Fujitsu Leasing, its major customers were public institutions such as local governments, universities, and hospitals. The company primarily engaged in leasing Fujitsu products and maintained stable performance. However, in response to the rapid pace of change in recent years, which seems to redefine society every day, we recognized the need to create a new form of collaboration. This led to the formulation of FLCS as it developed from Fujitsu Leasing. Ms. Hattori and I belong to Sales Division II, a new division specialized in digital business development. All of us in this unit are striving to exploit a wide range of markets by focusing on delivering proposals for the emerging DX demand from companies engaging in advanced initiatives while at the same time promoting DX to public institutions, our major customers.

Hattori: For customers working on business model transformation or DX, we determine whether we can offer a customized finance service by understanding the customer’s issues that must be addressed to achieve their vision, instead of merely proposing a typical lease for a limited period of time. By cooperating with Fujitsu and combining digital and finance, we intend to develop proposals for generating value together with our customers.

Two Companies’ Issues Were Overcome through the Business and Facilitating More In-depth Proposals

――How did the business change before and after secondment?

Hattori: When I worked as a business producer at Fujitsu, I tended to think about solutions for customer business issues from the perspective of ICT. I feel that the greatest change since secondment to FLCS has been shifting my viewpoint toward finance.
Now I am engaged in drawing up earnings structures with customers for DX measures or new businesses, planned and deliberated by Fujitsu and the customers, by taking into account business risks and costs.
When I was at Fujitsu, before being seconded, it was not easy for me to make proposals that thoroughly considered account risks and costs, even if I worked together with customers in planning and deliberating the measures or businesses. I often came across situations in which I keenly felt the need for financial knowledge. Working at FLCS has been a real plus for my growth because I can gain this knowledge through practical experience.

Taguchi: The finance business for DX promotion in this project requires, at all times, business risk analysis in addition to credit decisions. In this sense, collaborating with people from Fujitsu has been a great advantage. Since Sales Division II is composed of members from the three companies, Fujitsu, FLCS, and Tokyo Century, we can gain a thorough understanding of the features of Fujitsu products or the technologies we will be offering customers. This has made it possible for us to present proposals that go more in-depth with relation to customer businesses. As the payment methods for end users diversify, I feel that I have acquired the skills for examining each customer and offering a wide range of finance-related options for B2B business as well, including subscriptions and revenue sharing.*

*A type of contract that distributes revenue and profit while sharing business risks among the recipient of the order and the person who placed the order, or among more than one company.

We Will Continue to Address Social and Environmental Issues While Protecting Social Infrastructure

――How do you think FLCS’s business development will impact society?

Hattori: Apart from providing financial value, I think we can play a role in achieving a circular economy. As a manufacturer, making products without placing a burden on the environment is a major consideration for Fujitsu. We have been engaged in lively discussions on this topic, and we also strive to make good use of products in a systematic manner by, for example, reusing and recycling parts from PCs and ICT equipment after their leases expire and supporting new product development and commercialization.

Taguchi: Take PCs, for example. Nowadays, their value is not so much in the entire finished product but in the functions of its parts. Not paying attention to that value is like wasting the real treasure. We will carefully evaluate the value of our products, technology, and service and find a way to make it into a business that will meet the expectations of all our stakeholders while contributing to the future of society.

――What are goals and dreams you have for your work at FLCS?

Taguchi: Just like electricity, gas, and water, ICT is a social infrastructure indispensable in securing people’s comfortable lives and safety. When we look at Fujitsu’s business areas, we realize that its technology is being used in many parts of society. For example, Fujitsu’s AI-powered facility services support the secure operation of the power lines that are essential for supplying electricity. At FLCS, I am enthusiastic about providing a prosperous future to as many people as possible by fully utilizing Fujitsu’s technological capabilities, which Tokyo Century does not possess, along with the additional power of finance.

Hattori: My goal is to become someone who can actively disseminate and materialize ideas for issues impacting society or customers. Beyond a desire for personal growth as one of the players, I also hope to take advantage of the current environment, in which I can engage in finance and acquire the strongest possible managerial perspective and to continue to contribute to the development of Tokyo Century and Fujitsu.

Digital and Finance Are Two Sides of the Same Coin in Terms of Development and Information Utilization

――What is the significance of the collaboration of the two companies?

Kuwaki: In today’s society, where digital technology impacts every aspect of daily life, Fujitsu has established a robust position by offering ICT-related products and services. Are we able to solve every problem of society? No. We need to strengthen the finance aspect to facilitate further contribution. I believe we will be able to provide a road map to new solutions by skillfully integrating Fujitsu’s technology into the financial skills of Tokyo Century.

――Do you mean that digital technology is not everything?

Kuwaki: That’s right. For things like PCs, which used to be the forte of major ICT vendors, commodification has progressed so far that even if we were to incorporate new functions, the market might regard the resulting product as overkill. Development costs must be considered alongside recovery costs early on. Moreover, in terms of information utilization, issues other than digitalization are sure to arise─for example, public services for residents. The sharing of patient data by an administrative agency and a medical institution to support good health would entail complex costs to effectively manage and use. I always felt strongly that we might be able to discover hints for resolving these issues by considering digital and finance factors as two sides of the same coin.

Creating a Strong Organization to Realize the Ideal Future Sought by the Two Companies

――What do you think FLCS’s growth should look like in order to realize the society that the two companies seek?

Kuwaki: Tokyo Century advocates “finance × service × business,” and the business its people promote has the same standpoint as that of customers and partners. Tokyo Century people want to realize an environmentally sound circular economy.
Fujitsu, meanwhile, has a unified vision for a far more comfortable digital society, by focusing on developing advanced technology to integrate the virtual and real worlds and accelerating investment into DX businesses. To bring ourselves as close as possible to the ideal future envisioned by the two companies, members with skills in both finance and digital will work together, and we will continue to grow as one organization, with a sense of unity.

――Thank you. Finally, could you share with us what you see in the future?

Kuwaki: Innovation in digital technology exerts pervasive influence that spreads across many areas. For example, business growth in a virtual world may spawn an epoch-making new form of entertainment. We might forecast a brisker cybersecurity market. We will pay attention to the whole society, continue to push FLCS to take on ambitious challenges, and by doing so offer solutions that respond to the needs of more people. Please keep your eyes on business development in the digital fields undertaken by this new collaboration between Tokyo Century and Fujitsu.

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