Efficiency?

Efficiency?

Nowadays, companies are forced to review their traditional management methods. We have entered an era in which we must pursue the efficiency of operations across the board, including major companies, and survive. This time, I would like to introduce an article on the theme of efficiency.

What is IT?

I often hear the phrase "ITization of business", but what are the merits of ITization? In a word, IT can be rephrased as "efficiency".

For example, by inputting paper-based books, dictionaries, manuals, etc. into a personal computer and digitizing (digitizing) them, the space occupied by them can be effectively used for other purposes. Furthermore, by organizing and accumulating information and creating a database, it is possible to easily search for the desired information from a huge amount of information.

Utilization of the Internet

In addition, by utilizing the Internet, it is possible to improve the real-time performance of information transmission. If you send a postcard or letter by mail, it will take more than a full day at the earliest, but if you use e-mail or SNS, it will reach the other party in a few seconds.

By improving operational efficiency in this way, even if some initial investment costs are incurred, it is highly possible that labor costs and other costs can be significantly reduced in the long run. Furthermore, if you can use the software well, it is not impossible to automate simple tasks and repetitive tasks, so it is no exaggeration to say that there is no industry that does not benefit from IT.

IT industry

The IT industry is roughly divided into three types: "hardware," "software," and "communication networks," and is also known as the high-tech industry. In addition, it is legally a telecommunications carrier and is subject to the Telecommunications Business Law.

In general, people often talk about "hardware is manufacturing," "software is intellectual production," and "communication networks are infrastructure." However, in recent years, the relevance of each has become extremely high. The reality is that stereotypes (fixed ideas) are no longer valid.

IT industry

As you can see from the coining of the IT revolution and the IT bubble, the IT industry is revolutionizing our society. In addition, the IT industry also has the term dog year (dogs grow seven times faster than humans), and it is also a highly changing industry where innovative services are constantly born.

In recent years, there have been an increasing number of cases in which the IT industry is expressed independently of the XX industry, such as the rapidly developing Web industry and EC industry, and it is also characterized by the progress of subdivision and specialization.

Difference between IT industry and Web industry

The IT industry in the job hunting and job change market generally refers to "B to B" or "B to G". In other words, it is a transaction between a company and a company, or a transaction between a company and a government agency (government-affiliated).

On the other hand, the Web industry tends to provide services mainly to general consumers, that is, individuals, and usually takes the form of "B to C". In addition, since the spread of smartphones, the number of “C to C” businesses that provide inter-personal trading platforms such as flea market apps has been increasing. Another feature of the Web industry is that there are many freelancers such as "Web designers" and "Web writers" who undertake projects from companies using crowdsourcing.

IT freelance

Among those who work in IT-related professions, there are also those who work independently as sole proprietors without belonging to a company called IT freelance. These freelancers generally utilize their high level of expertise and IT skills to work at home, where they work from home, or as nomad workers, who work remotely while moving from cafe to hotel.

In addition, various occupations such as bloggers who make a living based on blogs, affiliates who introduce products on their own websites and earn advertising revenue, and YouTubers who post videos on Youtube and earn rewards have been born.

Furthermore, in recent years, the work style of influencers who undertake corporate projects with a strong influence on followers has been attracting attention, centering on Instagram, which is a popular SNS for women.

Famous IT companies / IT companies

The home of IT is the United States (USA), but Microsoft, which developed the Windows OS, is a representative of world-famous IT companies. However, in recent years, the search engine Google, iPhone Apple, social media Facebook, and mail-order site Amazon have been remarkably active, and the number of scenes in which these four companies are collectively called GAFA has increased.

Japanese IT companies

For IT companies active in Japan, "Yahoo", which has established itself as the No. 1 portal site and has a close relationship with the SoftBank Group, operates Japan's largest EC site "Rakuten Ichiba" and is also famous for the team "Rakuten Eagles". "Rakuten" can be mentioned.

In addition, "Mercari", which is rapidly growing with flea market apps, "CyberAgent", which is famous for Ameba Blog and AbemaTV, and "Kakaku.com", which operates multiple word-of-mouth sites such as "Price.com" and "Tabelog", are also famous. ..

Chinese IT companies

Among the IT companies in China, the four companies called BAT or BATH are B (Baidu), A (Alibaba), T (Tencent), and H (Huawei).

Baidu is a search engine, Alibaba is a mail-order site, Tencent is a social media such as QQ space and WeChat, and Huawei is a smartphone development and communication network such as 5G.

Korean IT company

The most famous Korean IT company is Samsung Electronics, which holds the largest share of smartphones in the world in the Galaxy series. In 2018, we are showing a positive attitude toward blockchain products and related services, such as applying for a trademark to store virtual currencies safely on smartphones.

In South Korea, there are other companies such as NAVER, which handles LINE apps used by 80 million people in Japan and more than 200 million people worldwide, and LG Electronics, which is famous for organic EL TVs and white goods. Exists. LG is also focusing on the development of IoT home appliances (smart home appliances) equipped with AI (artificial intelligence) and self-driving cars.

Famous IT president

Bill Gates, who won the top spot in the world's billionaire ranking 18 times from 1995 to 2017, overtook Bill Gates in 2018 for the first time in human history to give $ 100 billion (10 trillion yen) to the famous IT president. Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO), who has built more personal assets.

Other than that, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder) who was named "10 youngest millionaires in the world" at the age of 25, and suddenly in 2018 while taking the position of the richest man in China Jack Ma (Jack Ma: CEO of Alibaba), who announced his retirement and made a noise in the IT world, is also famous.

The most famous IT president in Japan is Masayoshi Son, the richest man in Japan and the founder of Softbank, but Yusaku Maezawa (ZOZOTOWN) and Rakuten, who are planning the first monthly trip as a civilian and are talking about something in private. The name of the founder, Hiroshi Mikitani, can be mentioned.

Why is the IT president profitable?

It's been about 20 years since IT companies and their presidents have become regulars in the ranking of chiefs, and many people may wonder why they are so profitable. In fact, there are three clear reasons why IT companies are profitable.

Reason 1) Gray zone and rate of return

The business of an IT company is born from the fusion of "innovative technology" and "innovative ideas". Many of these business models create gray-zone markets that are not bound by any existing law or rule. In the gray zone market, the digital divide is directly linked to the rate of return, which produces huge profits.

Reason 2) High share and profit margin

Many IT services such as Web services and SNS can be used free of charge by anyone simply by creating an account. It is largely due to the business model unique to IT, in which profits will follow as long as you gain an overwhelming share. Most of these revenues are generated by highly combining personal information obtained from users with advertisements, and combined with low cost, high profit margins are realized.

Reason 3) Tax havens and tax rates

In addition, many of the world's largest IT companies are taking tax-saving measures that cannot be imitated by other industries by using tax havens, which are extremely low tax rates. For these three reasons, IT companies have grown rapidly, and the top IT presidents are joining the ranks of millionaires one after another.

Latest IT trends

Since the beginning of the 2010s, the wave of IT has been rushing into an industry that has nothing to do with IT technology. The services introduced below are completely new business models created by fusing existing genres (industries) with IT. You will get a glimpse of the future of IT and the possibilities of IT.

IT x finance

Internet banking, where banking systems can be used online, has become the norm, but the fintech industry, which combines IT and finance, is expanding rapidly.

For example, "cashless payment" using a prepaid card or QR code, and "social lending" in which an individual lends to a venture company as a lender. Furthermore, a service that can manage virtual currency (digital passage) represented by Bitcoin, accounting processing, household account book, etc. on the cloud is also considered to be a type of FinTech.

IT x retail

With the spread of smartphones, EC (e-commerce), which involves purchasing food, daily necessities, fashion, furniture, and other items online, has become commonplace, but further evolution is expected in the future after 2020.

In January 2018, the first unmanned convenience store "Amazon Go" opened in Seattle, USA, and became a hot topic. In Japan as well, Signpost has developed an unmanned cash register "Wonder Register" that can identify products using image recognition technology using AI, and the realization of unmanned stores has become a reality.

Furthermore, in order to solve the shortage of drivers, which has become a social problem, unmanned home delivery service plans using drones, automatic delivery robots (Scout), self-driving cars (Roboneko Yamato), etc. are steadily underway.

IT x car

Self-driving cars are rapidly developing in conjunction with the fusion with IT, especially the development of AI. Under the umbrella of Alphabet, Google-affiliated Waymo has already started a vehicle dispatch service using self-driving cars in 2018, and is aiming to realize an unmanned taxi in the future.

In addition, car sharing that rents out private cars using unused time, a ride-hailing service that allows you to easily call a taxi with a smartphone app (famous for Uber), and ride sharing that allows you to share the price with a carpool are expanding. I'm showing you.

IT x real estate

The impact of the introduction of IT is also coming to private lodgings, which were originally rented out villas in resort areas or used as homestays overseas.

With the spread of smart locks that can be unlocked with a single smartphone without having to hand over the keys directly, IT-based private lodging services such as Airbnb have appeared. In addition, services such as "share house" and "coworking space" that have developed human relationships on SNS such as Facebook into the real world are completely new mechanisms that were unthinkable before the IT revolution.

IT x flat rate system

In the olden days, we only saw subscriptions to magazines and newspapers when we talked about flat-rate services, but with the development of IT, subscription-based businesses (commonly known as subscriptions) are being created one after another.

For example, video distribution services such as Netflix and Hulu, and music streaming services such as Spotify are famous, but in addition, you can read all-you-can-read manga and magazines, all-you-can-rent clothes, bags, and branded items, and a month's worth of shirts. Flat-rate services that include cleaning are now available. In addition, the wave of subscriptions is a real store, such as "Provision" where you can eat all-you-can-eat authentic French food for 15,000 yen per month, and "NOREL" where you can transfer all-you-can-eat luxury cars such as Benz and BMW for 30,000 yen per month. It has also spread to.