Business Overview 4. DX Regional Collaboration Project Signpost's DX and Regional Collaboration Project started in March 2022 with the establishment of the DX and Regional Collaboration Division. It aims to provide products and services that contribute to regional collaboration by collaborating with local financial institutions nationwide, utilizing its own DX technology and open innovation. In August 2022, it began working with Oita Made Co., Ltd., which was established with the investment of multiple companies in Oita Prefecture, including Oita Bank, to sell original products made in Oita Prefecture to both domestic and overseas markets and to match local companies and Signpost's products and services in order to promote the revitalization of Oita Prefecture's economy. In addition, in April 2024, it started offering DX support services for medium-sized and small businesses. As the first effort, it supports the creation of DX declaration by (The) Fourth Hokuriku Bank, Ltd. (Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture) to deploy DX declaration support services to the market. Furthermore, it will realize new solutions by commercializing its own technology and open innovation and promote regional collaboration through innovation.
1. Business Overview. P-B Systems <4447> is an independent SIer based in Fukuoka, with expertise in system virtualization technology and strong cloud-based infrastructure building capabilities that builds various information systems for mid-sized enterprises, SaaS providers, and public agencies. The secure cloud system business is the core of the business, supporting total security, resilience building related to cybersecurity, and the realization of DX with cloud technology, ranging from digital work promotion to experience-sharing VR theaters with MetaWalkers, a series of emotional system businesses. The company is also fostering metaverse businesses. The company has claimed to have been a "small group of professionals in system virtualization" to date. However, steering toward further growth in the future, the company plans to expand its scale from the FY2024, aiming to transform itself into a "professional group of hybrid clouds."
AIAI Group <6557> operates AIAI NURSERY, approved nursery schools, and AIAI PLUS, a child development support facility, in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Osaka. The company also sells preschool education programs. In the 2024 fiscal year, AIAI NURSERY opened five new facilities (one of which expanded capacity and relocated), and AIAI PLUS opened three new facilities. At the end of the period, AIAI NURSERY had 86 facilities (30 in Tokyo, 3 in Kanagawa, 42 in Chiba, and 11 in Osaka), AIAI PLUS had 20 facilities (2 in Tokyo, 15 in Chiba, and 3 in Osaka), AIAI HOUSE had 2 facilities, and AIAI FACTORY had 1 facility, for a total of 109 facilities. Its approved nursery schools ranked sixth in the industry. As of the end of the 2024 fiscal period, AIAI Life Care spun off AIAI HOUSE and AIAI FACTORY to QLS Holdings Group in May 2024 and excluded them from its consolidated subsidiaries.
2. Features and strengths
AIAI NURSERY is a child welfare facility based on the Child Welfare Act. It is a facility certified by the governor of the prefecture, meeting the installation standards set by the government for area and number of employees, such as childcare workers. The facility is operated by receiving facility-type grants (subsidies for nursery school children and childcare workers, subsidies for facility lease, etc.) borne by the country and municipalities. AIAI MINI, a small-scale care facility, is a newly established care facility established by the Childcare and Child-rearing Support System targeting children aged 0 to 2 years old and with a capacity of less than 19 people. The facility is approved by local governments and is operated by receiving childcare fees from users and community-based childcare subsidies. AIAI PLUS is a child development support facility that provides child development support such as instruction on basic daily activities, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and training for adapting to group life for pre-school children (children who are not yet elementary school students) with delayed development. It nurtures sensory integration to process and organize sensory information necessary for appropriate behavior by working on a program (sports program, learning program) of 95-minute courses twice a week, supporting development. To meet the diverse needs of children's development support, specialized experts provide individual services related to support programs. In response to the increasing number of developmentally challenged children, the company will expand AIAI VISIT, which provides therapy services (visiting support for nursery schools, etc.) by visiting its own AIAI NURSERY and other companies' nursery schools and kindergartens over a wide area. AIAI PLUS and AIAI VISIT charge service fees from users in addition to filing for disability welfare service fees to the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies (KOKUMIN KENKO HOSEI KUMIAI). However, users can essentially use the services free of charge due to subsidies from local governments. The revenue of AIAI VISIT is calculated as "the number of visiting support staff × the revenue per visiting supporter" and the revenue per visiting support staff is calculated as "the number of contracts × the number of visits × the visiting unit price", the latter of which varies according to the visiting support staff's years of experience.
AIAI PLUS is a facility that provides developmental support for pre-school children (children who have not yet entered elementary school) with delayed development. It offers support for child development such as instruction on basic daily activities, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and training for adapting to group life. By working on a 95-minute program (sports program, learning program) at least twice a week, the facility cultivates sensory integration necessary for appropriate behavior to process and organize sensory information. To meet the diverse needs of child development support, specialized experts provide individual services related to support programs. In response to the increasing number of children with developmental disabilities, the company has significantly expanded AIAI VISIT, which provides therapy services (support visits to nursery schools, etc.) by visiting not only its own AIAI NURSERY, but also nursery schools and kindergartens managed by other companies across a wide range. In addition to filing for disability welfare service fees to the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies (KOKUMIN KENKO HOSEI KUMIAI), AIAI PLUS and AIAI VISIT charge service fees from users. However, users can essentially use the services free of charge due to subsidies from local governments.
AIAI Group's "AIAI Triple Education Zone" boasts unique preschool education programs that have received high praise, and efficiently deploys a dominant strategy focused on Chiba prefecture, Tokyo, and Osaka city. It has abundant knowledge and experience in the field of developmental support for preschool children with high demand in recent years, and has established a system within the company that provides three "educational" services: childcare, developmental support, and education, with a synergy effect through AIAI's three-stage education zone. As a result of these features and strengths, it has an overwhelming share in Chiba prefecture, making it easier to obtain rental information on land and buildings for facilities in Chiba prefecture, and has an advantageous situation in recruiting new graduate childcare workers.
AIAI Nursery is not just a nursery that takes care of children, but also a "child's talent development center" that promotes pre-school active learning by providing large playground equipment "AINI" and rainy day-compatible large playground equipment "AINI BOX" (a comprehensive athletic facility that enhances children's physical abilities), as well as implementing programs that enrich sensory experiences related to numbers, figures, and characters in dedicated learning rooms at each facility. In addition, the rainy day-compatible large playground equipment "AINI BOX" received the 15th Kids Design Award in August 2021. In terms of cost, the company has reduced the clerical work of childcare workers by promoting paperless operations through its in-house system. AIAI PLUS renewed its service contents in April 2021 and started a new developmental support program as a "program specialist" that supports learning and exercise.
One of the company's strengths in AIAI PLUS and AIAI VISIT's therapeutic services is that it offers its own unique therapeutic program that integrates learning and exercise, which is the only one of its kind in the industry. The company has also shortened the processing period, which used to take about two months, to as short as two weeks from inquiries through DX (digital transformation)-optimized operations. It also provides evidential therapy using AI-based developmental analysis functions, which compares the developmental record big data of about 5,000 AIAI Nursery children with the developmental progress of children of the same age group to visualize the deviation rate of the specific child's development.
(Authored by FISCO guest analyst Masanobu Mizuta)