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."
Data Application <3848> is a market leader in the EDI middleware market, mainly deploying data integration platforms such as EDI and EAI. In terms of product structure, 100-300 billion yuan products' operating income accounts for 4.01/12.88/0.06 billion yuan respectively.
(1) Product line
The flagship product is the 'ACMS' series, and the promotion of products such as the Enterprise Data Platform 'ACMS Apex', the Web-EDI system platform 'ACMS WebFramer', the data handling platform 'RACCOON', the document data utilization and EDI integrated solution 'OCRtran', and the next-generation team collaboration platform 'Placul' are strategic products. The Enterprise Data Integration Platform 'ACMS Apex' is software that can easily build a secure and high-availability data integration infrastructure by utilizing existing business application assets. The Web-EDI system platform 'ACMS WebFramer' is a system platform for easy IT of transactional business and can be integrated with the 'ACMS' series, which has become the de facto standard of the EDI system. On the other hand, the data handling platform 'RACCOON' is software that can realize data processing and conversion at the time of data linkage or migration without code. The document data utilization and EDI integrated solution 'OCRtran' is a paperless automation solution that can convert paper documents into data using AI-OCR technology and seamlessly link them to business systems in cooperation with 'ACMS Apex' and WINGARC1st <4432. The next-generation team collaboration platform 'Placul' is a new cloud service that realizes 'DIGITAL WORK', where individuals continue to grow with the organization. It supports self-management through team collaboration task goals and tasks so that work can be done in the same way for office work and telework in organizations that have undergone digital shifts. Also, the 'ACMS' series, including the BtoB server 'ACMS B2B' that covers all intercorporate trading and the EDI client 'ACMS Lite Neo' for small and medium-sized businesses, is an important product for the company to cultivate the existing EDI market.
The latest product version upgrade with new features and options includes the 'Advanced Edition', which is equipped with the full version of 'RACCOON' as standard and was released in March 2022 as an ACMS Apex series top model and strategic product. We aim to expand market share by promoting this product. In addition, we started selling the latest version of 'ACMS WebFramer' and its options in July 2023, the latest version 2.6 of 'RACCOON' in November of the same year, and the latest version V1.8 of 'ACMS Apex' in March 2024.
Note that the 'ACMS' series of the company operates in mission-critical systems of more than 2,600 companies and 13,500 sites. In June 2023, 'ACMS Apex' was adopted for SCSK <9719>'s EDI system linkage platform service 'Smartkura 2.0'. In addition, 'ACMS B2B' was adopted for the new service 'IQRS Gateway Service' of IQRS.net operated by Mitsukoshi Isetan Systems Solutions Corporation in February 2024, 'ACMS Apex' was adopted for the IT infrastructure cloud migration of Senko Information System Co., Ltd.'s data center in March of the same year, and 'ACMS WebFramer' was adopted for the Web-EDI system that complements Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc.'s distribution BMS in June of the same year.
The company's "ACMS" series operates mission-critical systems for over 2,600 companies and 13,500 sites. In June 2023, SCSK's EDI system collaboration platform service "SumaKura 2.0" adopted "ACMS Apex". In addition, in February 2024, "ACMS B2B" was adopted by the new service "IQRS Gateway Service" of IQRS.net operated by Mitsukoshi Isetan System Solutions Co., Ltd., and in March of the same year, "ACMS Apex" was adopted during the IT infrastructure cloud migration of Senko Information Systems Co., Ltd.'s datacenter. In June of the same year, "ACMS WebFramer" was adopted by the web-EDI system complementing Kanseki's<9903> distribution BMS.
(Authored by FISCO guest analyst Masanobu Mizuta)