Case Studies System I Co., Ltd.
System I was not able to ask its clients (top tier system integrators) for high prices as it was a subcontractor. By contrast, SHIFT has clients in a wide range of industries from enterprise to entertainment. In addition, as a prime vendor, SHIFT directly works with end users owing to its strong customer base, which provides upsell opportunities to group companies like System I.
Leveraging SHIFT’s customer base and sales capabilities have allowed System I to increase end user clients and raise the price per engineer in a short period of time.
Keisuke Kuzukawa, President and Representative Director
Investment date 2019/03
Business Overview Based in Tokyo and Kanagawa, we provide software development and consulting services. We have extensive knowledge in developing server-side applications using Java, PHP, C language, and has participated in many large-scale financial projects. Leveraging know-how of SystemI and SHIFT, we deliver high-quality systems to our customers.
When I met SHIFT’s senior management team, I felt SHIFT was the best partner for System I.
When I succeeded as President, Masatomo Sano, then-President and current Chairman of System I, he introduced me to SHIFT as a capital and business alliance partner. I would assume that Mr. Sano took the time to deliberately consider what was best for System I and who would be the best alliance partner, and in the end, Mr. Sano chose to partner with SHIFT, hoping that SHIFT would assist System I in stabilizing its business base and growing faster
When I first heard about the partnership talks, of course, I had high expectations, but at the same time, I had concerns, such as how my employees would be treated and how our corporate culture would change.
However, when I met Masaru Tange, SHIFT CEO, and his executive team, and they communicated their vision to me enthusiastically, I felt that if these people became my partners, they would be highly reliable. Furthermore, I still clearly remember that right after the meeting, I agreed with Mr. Sano that SHIFT would be the best alliance partner for System I.
Leveraging SHIFT’s track record of successful capital and business alliances, we hope to create new opportunities.
Although it has not been long since we joined the SHIFT Group, we are already benefiting from the partnership. For example, we increased the number of end user clients and the price per engineer.
SHIFT has an overwhelming number of clients in a wide variety of industries. Before joining the SHIFT Group, we had worked with a few customers, but now by leveraging SHIFT’s customer base and sales capabilities, we work with end user clients who had not done business with before the partnership.
In fact, this partnership gives us better financial results. Moreover, we enjoy working on exciting projects involving industries that we have not done business with before.
Needless to say, our existing clients are important, but we hope to grow on new opportunities by working with new people.
Working on projects with end user clients increased opportunities for employees to improve their careers.
Another benefit from this partnership is that my employees now have several ways to advance their careers. They work on projects with end user clients in various industries. In addition to financial results such as revenues, we are now able to offer a variety of projects to our engineers, and they can pick ones they would be interested in.
Moreover, we can participate in seminars by Hinshitsu University (SHIFT’s training/learning services) and study sessions run by other SHIFT Group companies. This has enabled us to enhance our training and career development efforts. Seeing the employees taking the seminars and coming back with a positive attitude gives me more confidence in them.
Make the software engineering skills of your engineers globally competitive. This can be achieved if you team up with SHIFT.
SHIFT has a solid track record of setting aggressive revenue targets and achieving them like a magic. You will gain a lot as a manager if you work with SHIFT and see them setting ambitious targets and pushing forward toward achieving them.
While I am President of System I, I am also an engineer. My dream is to make world-class the level of software development skills of my company’s engineers and eventually of Japan’s. Since SHIFT’s sales are amazing, all we need to do is improve our technical skills. By continuing to work on a wide variety of projects for SHIFT customers and pursuing high technological capabilities, I am confident that their skills will be much better, and their skills will be globally competitive in a not-so-distant future.
