Strengthen Services by Establishing IT Governance and Promoting Digitalization

Japan Automobile Federation (JAF)

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Established in 1963, JAF is an organization for automobile users with a membership of about 20 million. It not only provides roadside assistance, but also promotes motor sports and traffic safety awareness, and assists in disaster-affected areas. With the automobile sector facing major changes, including the shift to CASE (connected, autonomous, share & service, electric), JAF is undertaking its own transformation to provide services that match the changing needs of automobile users.

Mission-critical priority

JAF was seeking to shift its business from the traditional model of providing services in response to requests, toward one of providing new services utilizing digital technology, based on its vast store of member data.

Data from the organization’s various activities, including roadside assistance and motor sports licensing, had been scattered, making it difficult to improve efficiency and expand into new services.

In addition, to accelerate investment in the digital realm, JAF needed to establish IT governance and focus the organization on digital efforts, as well as build a system to assess IT investments.

Also essential was enhancing the IT literacy and skills of employees, to advance digitalization going forward.

How Gartner helped

JAF utilized Gartner services in the following areas:

  • Insight and guidance on specific issues through inquiries with Gartner experts and the Gartner executive partner:
    • One-on-one meeting with a Gartner expert at the Gartner IT Symposium/ Xpo™  conference
    • Discussions of varying perspectives on important initiatives including digital transformation and corporate planning 
    • Discussion on business strategy planning
    • Assessment of cost estimates for specific projects, including operations and maintenance
  • Workshops with executive partners, to help establish an organizational culture of managing IT investment

Business impact

Through cross-organizational efforts, JAF has achieved the following results:

  • Advanced digital transformation as a companywide policy, with top management involvement.
    • Reorganized the systems department into a DX promotion department, responsible for the operation of IT systems as well as spreading digitalization across the company. Secured DX talent through nationwide recruitment.
    • Established JAF IT Academy to help improve IT literacy, and required all employees to pass grade Pre-2 or higher of the ICT Proficiency Assessment.
  • Educated employees in ways of thinking about IT investments, and is building a system for evaluating the appropriateness and impact of investments. Reduced annual costs by 40 million yen (USD $350K) in operations and maintenance. 
  • Currently transforming core systems, developed in-house, into ERP and data-integration tools. Data integration will enable improvements in operational efficiency, as well as the development of new digital services.

Industry:
Services (public-service organization funded by membership fees)

Revenue:
70.9 billion yen (USD $622.3 million)  (Consolidated, in FY ending March 2020)

Employees:
3,478

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Yoshinori Hirono

DX Promotion Director, Board of Directors Member, Japan Automobile Federation (JAF)

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