Press Releases

April 10, 2014

Hitachi Japan Appoints Masayo Kubota as Managing Director, Hitachi eBworx, Malaysia; ASEAN Expansion Gains Momentum

Kuala Lumpur, 10 April 2014 - Hitachi Ltd., a Fortune Global 500 company, appointed Mrs Masayo Kubota as the Managing Director and Group Chief Executive of its Malaysian subsidiary, Hitachi eBworx – a regional financial software solutions firm.

Kubota succeeded Mr Tan Suan Fong, Hitachi eBworx’s co-founder who has been appointed as the company’s corporate advisor. Tan will be focusing on inorganic growth and new business development across the region for Hitachi.

Kubota, who was instrumental in driving Hitachi’s global IT business as its Director of Global Business, Financial Information Systems said, “Financial institutions are looking for new and creative ways to drive customer satisfaction, employee productivity and ultimately, sustain profitable growth.

“The ability to differentiate is key. Here is where Hitachi eBworx comes in, with innovative IT solutions that can position these banks, especially regional players, at the forefront of their industry.”

The company’s clients comprise a majority of the region’s largest banks, as well as the largest bank in Japan.

She also said, “Just like many our clients, our growth lies in pursuing an ASEAN strategy. Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing regions with GDP growth rates projected to average 5.4% per annum this year until 2018.”

Hitachi eBworx’s business in Indonesia has grown substantially, in tandem with the regional expansion of its clients. To better serve its customers and the Indonesian banking industry, the company has established P.T. Hitachi eBworx, a regional centre.

This new entity will complement Hitachi eBworx’s regional offices in Singapore, Bangkok and Chengdu, China. Two of its regional offices – Kuala Lumpur and Chengdu are also equipped with Development Centres.

In line with the expansion, Hitachi eBworx will increase its workforce strength by 25% or 100 new employees this year. In a year’s time, the company is expected to be 500-people strong.

“A significant number of these additional manpower will be deployed to R&D and product development. R&D is a cornerstone of our business, of which we invest 10% of our gross profit. We will also work closely with our Japanese colleagues to continuously bring technology innovations to our clients,” she added.

One of the focus areas for the company’s R&D is mobility solutions to enable its clients to cash in on the boom in mobile banking.

According to Hampshire U.K.-based Juniper Research, in its study titled, “Mobile Banking: Handset & Tablet Market Strategies 2013-2017”, mobile banking users – numbering 500 million today - are expected to exceed 1 billion worldwide by 2017.

Hitachi eBworx’s latest mobility innovation is the Digitalboard solution. Built for tablets, the Digitalboard is designed using next generation mobile hybrid technology, making it compatible across the various mobile operating systems.

“Meant for banks’ front-line teams, the Digitalboard amalgamates all customer channels, including mobile and social media, into one. This enables staff to better understand the customer’s needs, and to more effectively and efficiently serve them,” Kubota said.

With increasing employee productivity being a key focus area for the financial industry, the Digitalboard is also equipped with a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboard which enables management to monitor employees’ daily productivity in real time.

To help drive banks’ revenue with their existing resources, Hitachi eBworx has also revamped its flagship product, the Digital Credit Management System (DCMS). This solution transformed the way information is used and manage, empowering management to take immediate proactive measures to improve the bottom line and employee productivity.

“The strength of the new DCMS lies in the Performance Dashboard which provides a multi-dimensional real time performance covering all aspects of credit management, as well as sales and marketing.

“From a Credit Risk Management angle, the dashboard of loans approved and the credit scores enable teams to assess their strategies or refine their risk profiling almost immediately – and this is absolutely critical for banks,” she also said.

To drive the higher productivity required, staff are given KPI based dashboards which display the individual’s target KPIs and the comparison against their peers.

Hitachi eBworx is recognised as a regional brand and is a two-time Best of Financial Applications winner at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards. It has also received recognition by The Asian Banker and Financial Insights Innovation Award for its suite of solutions.