Key to Successful Digital Transformation for Municipalities: A Case Study of Meguro City
Adopting intra-mart® and Asteria Warp as an Integrated Platform For Flexible Selection of Business Systems and Breakaway from Vendor Lock-in

Focus Systems Corporation (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Keiichi Mori) has updated the internal information system of Meguro City (Meguro-ku, Tokyo; Mayor: Eiji Aoki), looking ahead to maximize the benefits of digital transformation (DX).

Meguro City had previously adopted an exhaustive all-in-one package that covered systems such as financial and document systems. However, despite the merit of introducing a balanced package system all at once, the city faced difficulties in addressing specific needs due to the generic nature of the system's structure.

The city even fell into vendor lock-in, as the number of vendors able to build the system was limited by the nature of the all-in-one package's multiple business systems, which increased the scale of implementation.

This upgrade to a system structure that allows optimal selection of products for each business enabled the city to break free from vendor dependency, respond to legislative revisions and system trend changes, and increase resident convenience, offering a highly flexible and scalable IT environment that can support a local government for five or even ten years at a reasonable cost.

Introduction Results

• Significant reduction in manual master maintenance work due to the centralized management of staff/affiliation information, etc., and automatic integration using a data linkage tool
• Digitization (dematerialization) of application work through workflow function
• Seamless business execution environment provided by a staff portal function that visualizes the progress of each business system and offers an integrated authentication infrastructure
• Eliminated the risk of vendor lock-in by functioning as an integrated information infrastructure for each business system, enabling the optimal selection and introduction of products from multiple vendors for each system

Increasing Momentum of DX for Municipalities and the Issues

As stipulated in the Municipal DX Promotion Plan by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, municipalities are urged to improve resident convenience in administrative services and increase operational efficiency to improve citizen services with limited human resources. However, in reality, many municipalities struggle with issues and challenges that hinder their progress in DX, including securing and training digital talents, fostering a shared understanding throughout the organization, and concerns about drastic reforms.

Source: "Municipal DX Promotion Plan" Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications https://www.soumu.go.jp/denshijiti/index_00001.html

[About Focus Systems]
Established 1977. Focus Systems Corporation is involved with the development and operation of systems in highly social areas such as the public sector, communications, and also actively promotes business development predicated on the trends of the times such as IoT, Cloud and AI. Our corporate slogan is “Put Our Heart into Technologies.” Connecting individuals through technology, each one of us here at Focus Systems works with passion and sincerity.
HP: https://www.focus-s.com/

[About Asteria]
Asteria is a software development company that delivers products and services as an expert in connecting society and business. ASTERIA Warp, which integrates systems and data with no code, has been introduced to over 10,000 companies (as of August 1, 2023). Asteria also offers other no-code products, including Handbook X, a digital content platform; Platio, a mobile app development tool; and Gravio, an AI/IoT platform, actively contributing to DX promotion
HP: https://en.asteria.com/

[About NTT DATA INTRAMART]
NTT DATA INTRAMART offers a wide range of services, such as intra-mart, a platform that supports enterprise application development utilizing advanced technology, SaaS, consulting, educational support, and system development. Since 1998, the company has planned and developed its own system development frameworks, business components, and application series, which have been installed in over 9,500 companies as of March 31, 2023. Together with more than 200 company partners, NTT DATA INTRAMART supports transforming business models and improving the satisfaction of companies and their employees.
HP: https://www.intra-mart.com/

[ Inquiries regarding this matter]
Focus Systems Corporation
Digital Business Business Headquarters
Sales Planning Department
E-MAIL: db_sales@focus-s.com

[Inquiries regarding interviews and public relations ]
IR/PR Office
E-MAIL: koho@focus-s.com
TEL: 03-5421-7790

◆Related information System common infrastructure - intra-mart https://bberc.focus-s.com/im-info/
Business automation support solution - ASTERIA Warp Core https://www.focus-s.com/service/asteriawarpcore