These direct marketing lists below include Japanese companies such as NEC, NTT Advanced Technology, Casio Computer, LINE Corporation, NTT Communications, GMO Internet, etc.
Japan's challenges in accelerating digitalization
Digitalization requires human resources on both the development and user sides, but there is currently a significant shortage. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' 2020 Telecommunications Usage Trends Survey, more than 50% of enterprises overall responded that there is a shortage of ICT human resources, and many enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, are unaware of the need for digitalization. When broken down by company size, the proportion of companies reporting a shortage was higher among large companies, which have more opportunities to compete with foreign companies, at just under 80%, while the proportion was only around 50% among SMEs, which have more direct business relations with domestic companies.
In terms of areas where IT skills were in short supply, the highest proportion of shortages were for network technicians. In addition to the basic areas of digitalization, such as network engineers and system development engineers, a higher proportion of large enterprises than of SMEs also reported shortages of security personnel and data scientists who carry out market analysis to identify demand. The areas of ICT skills required are also expanding. In addition, the total number of ICT personnel in Japan is inadequate, and they are unevenly distributed in the information and communications sector compared with major Western countries.