FUJITSU is having trouble winning the tech workers it needs to expand its IT consultancy arm and take on bigger system integrators such as Accenture.
The Tokyo-based company, which is fighting to differentiate itself in Japan’s crowded industrial electronics sector, was targeting a five-fold expansion in its consultancy team to 10,000 workers in the business year to March 2026. But making headway has been tough, according to corporate executive officer Yoshinami Takahashi.
“The progress has been slow, and we are struggling,” Takahashi said on Monday (Aug 5). To help it expand, Fujitsu is looking for companies to acquire both at home and abroad to obtain workers, he said. “We have a lot in our pipeline.”
Founded in 1935, Fujitsu has shifted focus away from hardware, and its service solutions segment – which includes system integration, consulting, cloud, network, data centre and security services – now accounts for more than half of revenue. The company seeks to expand its ability to prepare artificial intelligence tools that match clients’ needs.
Slimmer margins are hurting Japanese companies’ ability to poach experienced workers from rivals, however. The operating profit margin at Fujitsu’s service solutions segment was 7 per cent last quarter. Accenture’s was 16.4 per cent.
Fujitsu’s in-house technology, which spans supercomputers to data storage, gives the company an edge over other rivals that need to integrate solutions from elsewhere, Takahashi said. Its IT solutions and consulting team Fujitsu Uvance also helps clients minimise carbon emissions while increasing profits from carbon credits, he said. BLOOMBERG
