Disruptive Innovation in Japan - Automation Opportunities Via the Cloud
It goes without saying that Japan is a beautiful country with a rich history, a diverse culture and people, and a complicated relationship with economic and technological progress.
And even though we could talk more about each of these topics, Japan remains a major economic power today.
Japan’s long-term prospects
Business news has often talked about long-term population decline and what it means for a country's workforce, especially in more developed countries. Japan is often used as an example of this happening.
Japanese government estimates indicate that people between the ages of 15 and 64 will drop by 2.3 million between 2021 and 2030.
This drop will hurt the economy of a proud country that wants to get its economic growth engine going again and keep taking care of its growing older population.
Even though this is not something that only happens in Japan—in fact, governments and employers all over the world are becoming more worried about it—it is more widespread in Japan.
How Japan reacts could show other countries what to do.
In recent history, new and innovative technology has often been the answer to any problem that society has run into. A key technological pillar has been automation, which is a modern take on something that has been going on since the Industrial Age.
Automation has been going on behind the scenes for a long time and has been a key factor in making the world smaller and more connected. It allowed for manufacturing to really scale, and its exponential effects have put information technology (IT) in a league of its own.
But Japan has a hole that needs to be filled before it can take the lead in automation.
The Japanese government believes that 590,000 jobs in innovation will go unfulfilled by 2030.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
IT is a key part of any company or industry. Not only does it speed up and automate processes, but it also fills gaps in resources, such as a shrinking workforce. Change and new ideas are needed across Japanese businesses, but people haven't been as willing to make them happen. Change is often hard to implement.
Many Japanese businesses still rely on legacy systems today. Here is where the opportunities lie for technology businesses that have yet to enter the Japanese market.
Service providers in the "public cloud," which are companies that offer infrastructure, platforms, and software as a service, have led the way in IT innovations in recent years.
In the ever-changing world of today and tomorrow, cloud-based solutions are more accessible and better able to meet the needs of customers and their organizations.
They can also look better on a company’s balance sheet because they allow businesses to leverage newer technologies without having to invest as much capital.
All of this points to better value for money for companies where technology is a tool and enabler, but not necessarily the main focus of their business.
Between 2022 and 2027, Statista expects that the cloud industry in Japan will grow at a rate of 16.8% per year.
At 13.1% and 16.0% per year, respectively, Japan is expected to grow faster than the United States, which may be starting to mature, and also faster than the average growth rate for the world.
We hope that this has given you something to think about when it comes to Japan's untapped potential and opportunities for businesses, which have seen the benefits of the disruption that innovation can bring.
At Litmus, we are a team of experienced professionals who have worked for and with tech companies in and out of Japan.
We've seen the benefits of the public cloud for ourselves, and we're really excited to help bring more of it to Japan by helping service providers plan and carry out their plans to enter the Japanese market.
Contact us today to learn more about the opportunities in Japan and what we here at Litmus can provide in terms of marketing, consulting, and localization services.
