IX Knowledge Research Memo (5): "Stable orders from major customers", "Accelerating DX projects" and "Strong talent management capabilities" are strengths.

Fisco Japan · Jul 2 13:55

■強み

1. 大手顧客からの安定受注

アイエックス・ナレッジ＜9753＞の強みは、コンサルティングからシステム開発、運用・保守に至るまで総合的かつ一貫したサービスを提供できる体制を整えていることである。加えて、創業以来長年にわたり構築してきた強固でバランスの取れた顧客基盤も安定した成長を支える大きな強みである。2024年3月期通期における主要顧客の動向を見ると、構成比の大きいトップ10社の顔触れは9位にNTTグループが入った以外は例年通りであり、顧客構成は安定度が高い。トップ5社の売上構成比は59.9%に達し、5社の内訳はNTTデータグループ（産業分野など多様なエンドユーザーの案件）、日立グループ（産業、社会公共分野など多様なエンドユーザーの案件）、KDDIグループ（システム検証案件など）、三菱UFJフィナンシャル・グループ＜8306＞、NECグループ＜6701＞となっている。大手10社の構成比も73.7%（前期は71.9%）と、上位集中度は高く、若干上昇した。同社の過去の経験則では需要が好調な時期には、上位集中度が高まる傾向があるため、現在もそのフェーズに該当すると考えられる。また、売上構成比で11位以降だった顧客が大手10社にランクインしていることから、顧客の新陳代謝やポートフォリオ管理が健全に行われていると言える。

さらに、これらのユーザーとの取引で業務知識やノウハウを蓄積してきたことも強みとなっている。システム開発などで、ユーザーから同社の実績が評価され、大手システムインテグレーターを経由せずにエンドユーザーとの直接取引があるのは、その表れと言える。

2. DX案件の実績と取得資格数が加速

同社では、DX支援を強化する施策を実践してきており、コロナ禍を経てその成果が顕在化してきている。特に同社が力を入れているのが、DXの基盤となるクラウド構築であり、それと並行して採用されるアジャイル開発などの要素技術である。2024年3月期は全社売上高の30.4%にあたる6,618百万円がDX案件売上高となった。前期から5.5ポイント上昇しており、DXが加速していることがわかる。DXを行うスキルを持った人材がプールされているかの指標としては、AWSやMicrosoft Azureが認定する資格の取得数がバロメーターとなる。2024年3月期末の取得資格数は累計で588であり、前年から135資格増えた。

3. 人材マネジメント力

同社は、人材の「採用」「育成」「処遇」における人材マネジメント力が奏功し、人材不足が叫ばれる業界においても計画どおりの人材確保を実現している。

(1) 採用

同社にとって、「人材」が差別化の源泉であることに疑いの余地はない。人材獲得競争が厳しいなか、これまで毎年継続的に50〜100名の新卒採用を行っており、2020年4月に77名、2021年4月に84名、2022年4月に82名、2023年4月に74名、2024年4月に90名（IKI単体では89名）が入社した。システムインテグレーター間の人材獲得競争はもちろん、近年では、事業会社（ユーザー企業）もIT人材の採用に積極的に取り組んでおり、競争は厳しくなる傾向にある。このような状況で同社は、オンライン採用方式を活用し、距離の壁により採用が難しかった地方の優秀な人材の獲得にも成功している。数年前からは中途採用にも力を入れており、即戦力の補強手段として定着してきた。

一方、同社のパートナー企業は全国に40社以上あり、プロジェクトの組成や需要の変動への対応に不可欠な存在となっている。同社とパートナー企業は、プロジェクトのなかでは一心同体であり、同社はパートナー企業の従業員を含めて教育を行う。同社の外注費は7,865百万円（2023年3月期）であり、売上原価の48.8%に相当することからも、その存在の大きさがわかる。

(2) 育成

新入社員は半年間の研修（集合研修3ヶ月、OJT3ヶ月）を経て各部門に配属されるが、同社の手厚い研修・新人サポートは“人を育てる環境が整った会社”として学生の間でも評価が高い。また、事業部によりプレゼンテーションが行われ、自ら配属希望を提出できる形式になっている。さらに配属後のスキルアップ研修などを充実させることにより、モチベーションの維持・向上を図っている。

また、同社は「DXニーズへの対応」を戦略として掲げており、クラウドネイティブ人材の育成にも注力している。AWSの技術者育成では、2022年12月にAWS認定資格取得数が200を超える企業として「AWS 200 APN Certification Distinction」に認定されるなど、積極的な人材投資を行っている。近年では、Microsoft Azureの技術者育成にも注力している。また、クラウド以外でも、RPAやアジャイル開発、ブロックチェーンなど先進技術の習得に力を入れている。2024年3月期末のDX関連の取得資格数の合計では588資格に達している。今後も年間100名以上のペースで資格取得者を育成する計画である。

(3) 処遇

働き方改革にも積極的に取り組んでいる。新規採用に占める女性の比率は約半数、全体でも女性SE比率は約2割となっている。女性の育児休業取得率100%が示すように、女性にとって働きやすい環境を整えている。2022年4月には「おかえりなさい制度」を開始した。一度退社した人材を復帰しやすくする制度で、特に子育てや介護などを理由に退職した人材を復帰しやすくした。既にこの制度で4名が復帰を果たしている。数年前から残業削減にも取り組んでおり、平均残業時間は約14時間と業界平均を下回る。テレワークも管理部門を中心に以前から導入しているが、コロナ禍でさらに全社的な動きへと加速した。また、同社は「健康経営」にも積極的だ。特に活発なのはスポーツで、野球、サッカー、フットサル、バスケットボール、テニスなどのチームが組成され、同業種内で競うリーグ戦で優勝を争うレベルのチームも多い。活発なクラブ活動は横断的な社員のつながりを築き、健康経営のみならず社員の生きがいの創出にも貢献している。社内にストレッチルームを開設するなど、健康維持による生産性の向上にも積極的だ。このような取り組みが認められ、2021年3月には健康優良企業「金の認定」を取得した（2024年3月も継続取得）。また、2024年3月には、同社が掲げている健康経営宣言「安心・安全な職場環境づくり」、「社員ならびに家族の健康の維持増進」の取り組みが評価され「健康経営優良法人2024（大規模法人部門）」にも認定された。ちなみに、同社の平均勤続年数は15年2ヶ月に達しており、その定着率の高さが職場の魅力を表している。

（執筆：フィスコ客員アナリスト　角田秀夫）

Strengths: Bridge International<7039> faces competition in each of its services, but it can differentiate itself from competitors by offering end-to-end services from strategic planning of revenue processes to IT tool support that specializes in sales and marketing. Its main outsourcing service adopts a client-exclusive system, making it possible to change to the optimal business design based on the client's sales environment. As the client's business expands, the company can also expand its contract and transaction size. Moreover, the company focuses on quality, not just expanding business as the market grows, focusing on enhancing the reliability of client companies. As a result, the company has a low termination rate and a high continuation rate. We believe that this has enabled the company to successfully capture new demand as existing companies expand their business.

1. Stable orders from major customers.

The strength of IX Knowledge <9753> is its ability to provide comprehensive and consistent services, from consulting to system development, operation and maintenance. In addition, the strong and balanced customer base built over many years since its establishment is also a major strength that supports stable growth. Looking at the trends of major customers for the full year ending March 2024, the faces of the top 10 companies with a large composition ratio are usually the same except for NTT Group at 9th place, and the customer composition is highly stable. The sales composition ratio of the top 5 companies reached 59.9%, and the breakdown of the 5 companies are NTT Data Group (cases across various industries and end users), Hitachi Group (cases across various industries, social public sector, etc.), KDDI Group (system verification cases, etc.), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group <8306>, NEC Group <6701>. The composition ratio of the top 10 major companies is also high at 73.7% (compared to 71.9% in the previous period), and the degree of concentration at the top has slightly increased. According to the company's past experience, there is a tendency for the concentration at the top to increase during periods of strong demand, so it is considered that this phase is still ongoing. In addition, it can be said that customer metabolism and portfolio management are being well established as customers ranked 11th or later in sales composition have been ranked in the top 10 major companies.

In addition, one of its strengths is having accumulated business knowledge and know-how through transactions with these users. In system development, etc., the company's track record is evaluated by users, and this is reflected in the direct transactions with end users without going through major system integrators.

2. Acceleration of DX projects and acquisition of qualification numbers.

The company has been implementing measures to strengthen DX support and its achievements have become evident after experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, what the company is focusing on is cloud construction, which is the basis of DX, and the technological elements such as Agile development adopted in parallel. In the fiscal year ending March 2024, DX project sales reached 6.618 billion yen, equivalent to 30.4% of the total company's sales, an increase of 5.5 points from the previous period, indicating the acceleration of DX. The number of certifications obtained by AWS and Microsoft Azure is a barometer of whether there are skills to carry out DX projects. The number of certifications obtained at the end of the fiscal year ending March 2024 was 588 in total, an increase of 135 from the previous year.

3. Human resources management.

The company's human resources management ability in the recruitment, training, and treatment of human resources has been successful, achieving planned human resource securing in the industry where human resource shortages are being called.

(1) Recruitment.

For the company, there is no doubt that "human resources" are the source of differentiation. In a competitive recruitment environment, the company has been recruiting 50 to 100 new graduates annually, and in April 2020, 77 graduates, in April 2021, 84 graduates, in April 2022, 82 graduates, in April 2023, 74 graduates, and in April 2024, 90 graduates (89 graduates in IKI alone) joined the company. The competition for acquiring human resources among system integrators is well known, and in recent years, business companies (user companies) have also been actively working to acquire IT talent, making competition even more difficult. In such a situation, the company has succeeded in acquiring excellent human resources from remote areas by utilizing online recruitment methods. In order to secure manpower with DX skills, the company has shifted its focus on mid-career recruitment in recent years and it has become a means of supplementing immediate strengths.

On the other hand, the company's partner companies have more than 40 companies nationwide and have become an essential existence in project composition and response to demand fluctuations. The company and its partner companies are one entity in the project, and the company provides education to employees of partner companies as well. The company's outsourcing expenses amount to 786.5 million yen (fiscal year ending March 2023), which is equivalent to 48.8% of the cost of goods sold, indicating the importance of their existence.

(2) Training.

New employees are assigned to each department after a six-month training period (3 months of collective training and 3 months of on-the-job training), but the company's comprehensive and substantial training and support for new employees is highly evaluated even among students as a company with an environment to develop people. In addition, presentations are made by business units and a system is in place where they can submit requests to be assigned to their desired department. Furthermore, they aim to maintain and improve motivation by strengthening post-assignment skill-up training, etc.

The company has set 'Response to DX Needs' as its strategy and is focusing on fostering cloud-native talent. In AWS technology training, the company has been making proactive investments in personnel development, having been certified as an 'AWS 200 APN Certification Distinction' enterprise with more than 200 AWS certified personnel in December 2022. In recent years, the company has also been focused on developing Microsoft Azure professionals. Additionally, the company has been investing in advanced technologies such as RPA, agile development, blockchain, etc. besides cloud technology. The company has accumulated a total of 588 qualifications related to DX by the end of March 2024. The company plans to continue to foster more than 100 certification holders per year in the future.

(3) Treatment

The company is also actively promoting workstyle reform. Women account for about half of all new hires, with the proportion of female SEs in the company being about 20%. As shown by the 100% maternity leave acquisition rate for women, the company has created an environment that is easy for women to work in. The 'Welcome Back System' was launched in April 2022 to make it easier for people who have resigned due to reasons such as parenting or caregiving to return to work. Four people have already returned to work under this system. The company has been working to reduce overtime for several years, with an average overtime of about 14 hours, which is lower than the industry average. Teleworking has been implemented in the administrative department and has accelerated to an all-company-wide effort during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is also actively promoting 'health management'. Particularly active in sports, the company has formed teams for baseball, soccer, futsal, basketball, tennis, etc., with many teams competing for league championships within the industry. Active club activities build cross-sectional relationships among employees, contributing not only to health management but also to creating a sense of purpose for employees. The company is also proactive in improving productivity through health maintenance, such as by opening a stretch room within the company. These efforts have been recognized, and the company received the 'Gold Certification' for health excellence in March 2021 (and also in March 2024). In addition, the company's health management declaration, 'Creating a Safe and Secure Workplace Environment' and 'Maintaining and Improving Employees and Their Families' Health,' has been awarded the 'Health Management Excellent Corporation 2024 (Large Corporation Division).' By the way, the average length of service of the company is 15 years and 2 months, which reflects the attractiveness of the workplace.

(Written by FISCO Guest Analyst, Hideo Kakuta)

The translation is provided by third-party software.

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ＩＸナレッジ Research Memo（5）：「大手顧客からの安定受注」、「DX案件加速」「人材マネジメント力」が強み

IX Knowledge Research Memo (5): "Stable orders from major customers", "Accelerating DX projects" and "Strong talent management capabilities" are strengths.

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