Tomoyuki Namekawa, General Manager of the IT Solutions Department and General Manager of the Finance and Accounting Department, Misawa Homes Co., Ltd.

Transformation through DX! What is the IT strategy of Japan's leading housing manufacturer?

Tomoyuki Namerikawa, General Manager of the IT Solutions Department and General Manager of the Finance and Accounting Department, Misawa Homes Co., Ltd.

■ Profile
After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at Yokohama National University in 1993, he joined Misawa Homes Co., Ltd. After working in sales of newly built detached houses mainly in Kanagawa Prefecture, he transferred to the head office and worked in the Finance and Accounting Department for approximately 20 years from 2003. In 2017, he was appointed General Manager of the Finance and Accounting Department, and in 2023 he was transferred to the IT Solutions Department, where he is responsible for the operation of systems used by the company and the group as well as IT and digital strategies as the department head.

Misawa Homes is a comprehensive Japanese housing manufacturer. Buildings made using the company's proprietary "wood panel" technology are characterized by their high earthquake resistance and airtightness. Since its founding, the company has continued to take on challenges in fields that require advanced technical capabilities, such as supporting building construction in polar regions. We spoke to Mr. Namekawa, general manager of the IT Solutions Department, which supports such technology and the people who work there, about the appeal and potential of DX.

■ Reason for joining the company

Ever since my student days, I've always wanted to do a job that would leave a tangible mark. My job search was just before the collapse of the bubble economy, when the financial industry was at its peak, and many of my friends were pursuing a career in finance. Compared to the financial industry, I found the housing industry more interesting, where the results of my efforts and work are tangible, like a building, and so I decided to enter the industry. Misawa Homes, within the housing industry, offers a job rotation system, allowing me to gain a wide range of experiences, which appealed to me, and I decided to join the company. After joining the company, I worked in new home sales, recruiting, auditing, and other departments, before spending a long time in the finance and accounting department. Currently, as head of the IT Solutions Department, I utilize my accumulated know-how to manage systems used by the Misawa Homes Group nationwide and promote digital transformation.

■Support your business with speedy development!

Misawa Homes operates through five pillars: new construction such as detached houses; stock business centered on renovations; urban development business utilizing commercial facilities and condominiums; overseas business operating in North America and Australia; and wellness business combining medical care and nursing care. A particular strength is its high technological capabilities. The company has also focused on technological development in polar regions, having built Showa Station in Antarctica and recently collaborating with JAXA to conduct research on creating living spaces on the moon. Misawa Homes' unique approach to work efficiently with a limited number of people creates a unique and distinctive character.
Among these, the role of the IT Solutions Department is to pursue better services to improve customer satisfaction and to promote digital transformation within the company to enable flexible working styles.To achieve this, the IT Solutions Department's four departments - the Infrastructure Planning Department, Information Systems Department, Solutions Department, and Innovation Project Department - work together to provide a variety of services.
In April of this year, we launched a new organization called the Innovation Project. In order to take on new challenges using IT and digital technology, we publicly solicited ideas for utilizing IT and digital technology from all Group employees. The ideas collected were then allocated to each business field and further considered. To realize the ideas selected from these, we are working not only with the IT Solutions Department, but also with suitable people recommended by each department who are appointed to concurrent positions, and we are working together to advance the projects. Furthermore, when deciding the specifications and functions of each initiative, we seek the opinions of people who are actually working in the field, with the aim of providing better services.
The thing we prioritize most as we move forward is speed. In the past, we would develop systems by following detailed schedules, but recently we have been using an agile development style, where we make improvements through repeated trial and error, and we are trying to make things usable in the field from an early stage. The IT industry is one where changes happen very quickly. We try not to build things ourselves too much, but to accept trends and provide them quickly.

■We want to deliver peace of mind through the use of DX

The appeal of DX is that it has the potential to inspire people beyond what is generally recognized. We work on it, hoping to provide the excitement of seeing people realize, "Wow, we can do this too!" However, system development requires a large investment. Therefore, it is our mission to create value that exceeds the investment amount. There is always a sense of tension, thinking, "We have to create something that all employees, not just a few, can feel the benefits of!" (laughs). Moreover, excluding direct business investments, the biggest expense in the company is actually spent on system-related maintenance and development. That is why we make sure to report figures at management meetings to see if the budget is being used effectively.
With this innovation project, I am both nervous and excited to see what numbers will come out in the future.
One example of a DX initiative that has already become widespread is working from home. Since COVID-19, the increased use of web conferencing and cloud services has made working from home possible, and flexible working hours have been introduced. This work style reform is a great initiative for those raising children, as it allows them to spend more time with their children than ever before.
Although it's not at the level where it can be called DX, as an example of our unique efforts, we have made improvements to the tool for creating hazard maps in preparation for natural disasters. Until now, we had to prepare presentation materials by putting the data for each of the many pieces of land into them one by one, which was very difficult to create, but recently we have changed it so that it is displayed simply by entering the address, which means we can enter a lot of land information and enable customers to compare land more efficiently. Because a home is one of the biggest purchases in life, we work hard every day to ensure that our customers can choose land and purchase their home with peace of mind.

■ Adapting to change

Our company started out in the new construction business and has now expanded into a variety of fields. We believe that the structure of our business will continue to change in the future. As these changes occur, our systems must also continue to adapt. In order to keep up with the development of technology in the world, we are constantly catching up on the latest information and considering how we can incorporate it into our business.

■Message to university students

Once you enter the workforce, the time you have available becomes very limited, so while you have plenty of free time as a student, it's a good idea to take the time to reflect on yourself on a daily basis. This daily reflection will surely lead to better results in your job search. Use your time to think carefully about what you want to do. We hope you will move in the direction you want to go.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 9, 2024 by Rikkyo University fourth-year student Narina Ogata

International Christian University, second-year student, Maruyama Mitomo; International Christian University, second-year student, Watanabe Waka; Rikkyo University, fourth-year student, Ogata Narina