Tetsuya Akiyama: Promoting the Digitization and Digital Transformation (DX) of Local Government Operations Through the Implementation of Electronic Bidding Systems

"It is my goal to help promote the implementation of digitization and DX for local government operations through the popularization of electronic bidding systems."

Based on this goal, Akiyama has been working on the implementation of electronic bidding systems for various local governments since joining the company.

Electronic bidding is a system that allows public institutions such as local governments to place bids over the Internet when seeking outsourcing work from private companies. Electronic bidding was first seen in Japan in the early 2000s, and as of February 2021, around 40% of local governments in Japan have introduced it (according to research conducted by Nippon Denshi Ninsho Co., Ltd., that was published in an article on the front page of the Daily Engineering & Construction News on February 25, 2021).
Conventional forms of bidding require supervisors to perform various tasks such as collecting documents submitted by bidders, opening the bids, and selecting impartial witnesses to ensure fairness. Electronic bidding systems can not only significantly reduce the amount of work to be performed by supervisors, but can also lighten the workload of the bidders. This makes it easier for more bidders to participate in the process. Increased bidding competitiveness due to more bidders inevitably leads to better outsourcing orders, which ultimately leads to improved services for residents. Electronic bidding has been shown to bring benefits to not only local governments but also bidders and ultimately residents. Therefore, many local governments are actively promoting the introduction of electronic bidding amid calls for digitization of local government operations.
Hitachi Systems has been a key figure in promoting the digitization of local government operations by releasing the Electronic Bidding System in 2004, followed by the " Electronic Bidding Cloud Service in 2005 (originally called the /Electronic Bidding ASP), which was the first in the industry to include cloud computing functionality. These two solutions currently account for a large share of the systems used by local governments around Japan, and one of the key players behind this success is Akiyama.
Since joining the company in 2002, Akiyama has dedicated his time to facilitating the implementation of systems for public institutions such as local governments.
In his first year, he participated in a project to develop a new electronic bidding system to be used by a prefectural government. At that time, electronic bidding was still in its infancy, and Hitachi Systems as well as other system vendors across Japan were struggling to develop robust electronic bidding systems. Although he encountered various difficulties throughout the project, Akiyama was able to quickly acquire know-how in electronic bidding systems through his experience of the entire development process from the basic design phase to final operation. After that, Akiyama continued to be placed in charge of the development and operation of various electronic bidding systems and eventually became highly respected throughout the company as a professional in electronic bidding systems.

In 2011, nine years after joining the company and fulfilling his role by working on many large-scale projects, he reached a turning point in his career. He left his role in the development and operation of the electronic bidding systems for individual local governments and was assigned to work on the development and operation of the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service.
The Electronic Bidding Cloud Service is a cloud-based service released in anticipation of growing demand for short-term and low-cost implementations of bidding systems. Since its release in 2005, the number of local governments that have implemented the service has steadily increased, and with the recent proliferation of cloud services in Japan, the number of inquiries they receive has been increasing year by year. Akiyama took on this new role in order to provide support for these growing demands, and this new endeavor greatly changed his outlook and fundamental approach to his work.
In regard to this change in his career, Akiyama describes it as follows:
"My first role involved custom-made electronic bidding systems. Since these systems were made-to-order, we were required to include functions that met the individual needs and fell within the allocated budget of each client. However, when I shifted my role to the development of cloud-based services, I needed to predict what functionality would satisfy the requirements of a large range of users even before any orders had been received. At first, I had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that we needed to be conscious of marketing factors such as how many issues faced by clients could be solved by the functionality we developed, and how much it would increase the value of our service."
Upon this shift to his new role, Akiyama needed to challenge himself with a foray into the entirely new field of pre-sales activities. Along with sales representatives from all over the country, he was tasked with visiting local governments that had not yet implemented electronic bidding systems. He would ask them about problems they were having with their current bidding method and explain how the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service could solve those problems. He worked on adding new functions that were desired by clients and created plans to increase the number of local governments which would implement the service.
As the introduction of new systems in local governments requires budget approval from the legislature, it is not unusual for new contracts to take more than three years before they were awarded. The experience of performing pre-sales activities with various sales representatives over a long period of time greatly expanded Akiyama's perspective as a business person.

Another new challenge Akiyama needed to take on was product management. If he found out during the pre-sales activities that it was necessary to add new functionality to the cloud service, he needed faithfully pass on these requirements to the company and obtain the budget to develop these new functions. In his new role as a product manager, he worked hard to make the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service even more attractive to clients.
Hitachi Systems usually recommends active business investment as a method to expand the sales of services. However, any new business investment required the submission of a summary of the benefits of the investment that would be subject to internal review. This summary included the cost and time required to develop the new functionality and how many new users this new functionality would likely attract. This internal review would only be approved after undergoing rigorous final checks by multiple people in charge, including the direct superior, managers, and executives.
In regard to his current role, Akiyama said: "My current job gives me the exciting experience of launching a new business over and over again. It allows me to improve my ability to accurately grasp the needs of users, my ability to design functions for services to satisfy these needs, and my ability to plan to what extent and how fast these new functions would attract new clients. At first, my business investment applications often failed the internal review. However, that allowed me to train myself to be a better business person."
Thanks to Akiyama's tireless efforts, new functionality keeps being added to the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service each year. This continuous enhancement of functionality is one of the strengths of the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service and one of the reasons why it is supported by so many local governments.
By 2020, Akiyama's tireless dedication was starting to really pay off. In that year, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many local governments to want to reduce face-to-face contact during their bidding operations. This resulted in a significant increase in inquiries for electronic bidding systems. After passionately working as its product manager for so long, the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service received a great deal of praise for its rich functionality and ability to satisfy the requirements of so many clients.
This great achievement was recognized by the company and he received the 2020 President's Award for establishing a business model that was suitable for the post-pandemic "new normal."
When Akiyama took up his current position, the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service had only around 30 users. However, this steadily grew to surpass 135 organizations by December 2021, giving the service a high share in the electronic bidding cloud services market. Looking back at the path of his career up to that point, Akiyama said: "I was only able to help develop this first-class service thanks to the valuable cooperation and support of my colleagues. I'm deeply moved by their tireless devotion."
As the service grew, Akiyama's range of work and action expanded, which drastically increased the number of individuals and organizations that he interacted with throughout his work duties. These interactions were not limited to within the company, but also extended to related companies around Japan and even partner companies that possessed advanced technological capabilities.
Since joining the company, Akiyama has devoted himself to the implementation of systems that serve public institutions, and the more he has pursued this path, the more refined his engineering skills and experience in the business became. He is committed to uncovering his full potential while never giving up his goal of promoting the digitization and digital transformation (DX) of local government operations in Japan through the implementation of cloud services for electronic bidding.

Akiyama's Mission

Forging New Business Partnerships to Facilitate the Spread of Electronic Bidding Systems

Until now, the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service has been sold and put into operation under the leadership of members of the Hitachi Group such as Hitachi Systems. Going forward, there is a desire to establish a scheme that allows companies outside of the Hitachi Group to sell and implement the service to further promote its adoption. As part of this scheme, Akiyama will aid the development of educational programs and take part in business negotiations so that partners have the skills to fully implement the system over its entire life cycle, from the initial explanations of the service to implementation and operation. This will ultimately accelerate the speed of digitization and digital transformation (DX) of local government operations.

Collaboration with Partners to Enhance the Functionality of Electronic Bidding Services

With the rapid advancement of information technology, requests from users of the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service have diversified beyond the usual requests for expanded application functionality to also include the areas of system infrastructure, networks, and security. To respond to this more diverse range of requests for improvements to the service, Akiyama will actively collaborate not only with other departments within the company but also with partner companies that possess advanced technological capabilities.

Nurturing the Next Generation and Strengthening the Organizational Structure

One of the reasons why the Electronic Bidding Cloud Service is supported by so many users is the presence of system engineers who are experts in electronic bidding. With nearly 20 years of experience in implementing electronic bidding systems, Akiyama can be considered a true specialist in the field, and he recognizes the need to pass down some of his knowledge to the next generation. In addition, by strengthening the organizational structure as part of his role as a manager, he hopes to create an organization that can fully satisfy the increasing needs for digitalization and DX promotion of local government operations.

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The information provided is believed to be accurate as of February 2022. Please be aware that this information may have been updated since the initial publication.

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