Greetings from the Chairperson

Kunihiro Tanaka
Founder & CEO, President, SAKURA internet Inc.

[Biography]

Born in January 1978
December 1996 Started rental server business while attending National Maizuru College of Technology
March 1998 Graduated from Maizuru National College of Technology
April 1998 Established Inforest Co., Ltd.
August 1999 Established Sakura Internet Inc. Appointed representative director

In 2015, he became a Director of the Computer Software Association of Japan (CSAJ; currently SAJ). Afterwards, he was appointed as Vice Chairperson, and First Vice Chairperson of CSAJ. In 2022, he became Chairperson of the Software Association of Japan (SAJ).

Greeting

IT in Japan started from the manufacturing of personal computers, semiconductors, etc. and with that technology, Japan has made remarkable progress in the IT field. In parallel with this trend, our association was established in 1986, and we believe that we are here now thanks to our predecessors who have made efforts to popularize and raise awareness of software.

Nowadays, “the rise of Internet companies” has become one of the keywords due to the shift to cloud services. Various stakeholders, such as hardware makers, software vendors, and carriers, are uniting through new services in the cloud or the Internet today. Against this backdrop, the software industry is about to grow significantly, and the need for it is being recognized in the world.

I would like to highlight the word “new” as one of the keywords in this era. For example, there are people who are new to the cloud industry and people who are new to the software industry. Also, there are companies that are trying to adopt digital technology, as well as schools and educational institutions that have adopted IT in the educational field. If we look at the keyword “new” more broadly, there are people who are trying to join the workforce by newly getting an education. There are startups that are trying to create new companies. People starting new things or activities are trying to create new businesses and new societies in the world through digital technology.

　Japan is said to have been stagnant for the last 30 years. I think that to overcome this, we need digitalization and IT. In a society where software is a prerequisite, the social structure will change significantly in the future. Under these circumstances, the Software Association of Japan (SAJ) would like to support startups, digital transformation of the educational field, people trying to start cloud-centered businesses by converting the conventional business format, and all the people working on new digitalization.

SAJ has grown significantly in the last few years and is now supported by about 700 member companies. We place significant importance on acquiring new members to increase our influence more than ever. In addition, we feel that it is also especially important to improve the satisfaction of existing members. This is because we realized that there are a certain number of dormant members who have not participated in the activities of the association very much. We can contribute a lot to improving the satisfaction of existing members by focusing on human resources such as the acquisition and education of engineers. In addition, the government has set up the Digital Agency to start ISMAP (Information System Security Management and Assessment Program) and new procurement standards. Amid these developments, I think it is essential to support existing members to grow their businesses significantly while changing their business activities.

On the other hand, I think we must also focus on developing the next-generation managers. SAJ has an activity called “Project Mirai (temporary),” where young managers and leaders gather and meet. I have been active as a leader for several years since its inception, and I was told that the people who led SAJ at the time of its establishment were in their 20s and 30s. I am trying to say that an era of change for the software industry is about to come, and that each company has an urgent need to attract and nurture the next generation of their management team. I think that the SAJ community can also solve this.

　We sincerely hope to be an organization that helps people, companies, and teams that are active in this industry to grow. In other words, we want SAJ to be an organization that supports our members and the industry.

We would appreciate your cooperation.