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Nikkei Computer

November 14, 2005 Issue <<Contents>>

FEATURE 1 Strenuous Efforts by Some Very Determined Companies IT vendors are improving their ability to excel at the frontlines - An increasing number of IT vendors have started reforming operations at the frontlines of their business in order to improve their productivity and the quality of their products and services, and some of them have been achieving significant results. Underlying this trend is the fact that, the pressure to reduce costs rising, they have come to see the limit in their traditional way of doing business to heavily depend on the efforts of individual employees.  Vendors are now making efforts to break existing taboos without fearing a backlash from their employees at the frontlines.  This article examines the leading companies that have launched these efforts. - Results: Changes at the frontlines that are surprising even top executives - Challenges: Three looming hurdles - Practices: Eliminating impediments without fearing pain FEATURE 2 Investigation of a Noteworthy Project (Special Version) Resona Bank, Ltd. - The bank has completed the integration of the systems of the former Daiwa Bank and the former Asahi Bank by sticking to an economically rational approach

REPORT

[Hot News Report]
- The trading system of the Tokyo Stock Exchange went down.  There was a succession of system failures in other stock exchanges, too.

[Inside]

- The Seibu Group intends to integrate its mission-critical systems to reinforce its internal control

- Other articles


[News & Trends]

- Electronic application is not widespread as yet; in fact, its utilization ratio is still very low, at less than 1%

- Japanese major manufacturers such as NEC and Fujitsu have worked their way out of difficult situations by entering overseas markets

- AXA Life Insurance expands its outsourcing of system development and maintenance to India

- Will special procurement demands be created in the market of systems for bank agencies?

- The arrest of a suspect who stole customer information from Rakuten reveals the flaws in its information security management system

- Internal control auditing standards will be applied to outsourced IT businesses as well

- Corporate clients of Chiba Bank and Hokuriku Bank have fallen victim to a phishing that sent them a fake “network security” CD-ROM that contained a malicious program

- Cisco Systems enters the field of server integration


[From BusinessWeek]
- Novell faces difficulties while switching its business focus to Linux


[News Flash for Each Industry]

- Manufacturing: Three major stationery product manufacturers have spent a year renovating their shared ordering system

- Distribution: livedoor spent ¥20 billion to take over Cecile, a catalog mail order company

- Finance: SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Trust & Banking jointly establish an Internet bank

PEOPLE

Interview
Satoshi Kuroiwa: Visiting Professor, Center for Cooperative Research, Nagoya Institute of Technology
- The essence of the Toyota production system is autonomous distributed control


Real Feelings Expressed by Top Executives
Hisashi Sakamaki: President, Canon Electronics Inc.
- It is essential to increase your employees’ awareness of IT systems before introducing them

CASE STUDIES

Absolute Solution for Enhancing IT Strategy
Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.
- The company drastically reorganizes its IT teams, which consist of 2,000 employees

A Computer That Does Not Work
Vodafone K.K.
- The company has decided to abandon a planned project for renovating its entire mission-critical system, in which it had spent estimated tens of billions of yen

Serialized Novel: Path to Renovation of a Legacy System
- Part 12: Last Spurt

MANAGEMENT/TECHNOLOGY

Key Points in System Design for Increasing Business Value
- An estimate of the initial stage of a project should be done by taking its cost composition into consideration and by making inferences from similar projects that are already completed

A Practical Project-Management Course for Users
- There are ways to minimize cost overruns

Techniques for Management Reforms that Can Be Used Immediately — Business Integration in M&A
- The ultimate goal of a system integration project is not the day when the system first goes into operation.  Issues regarding the system, including its future, have to be considered over the longer term.

Useful Legal Advice for When You Are in Trouble
- It is important to collect and store documents and other materials in preparation for patent risks