The Definition of “Digital Talent” Is Too Narrow
The editorial “Fostering Digital Talent: Actively Recruit Veterans Too” from the Japan Agricultural News may seem like a topic specific to the agricultural sector at first glance. However, this argument contains issues that strike at the heart of managers in all industries.
When you hear the term “digital talent,” what kind of person comes to mind? Many managers picture someone “young,” “able to program,” or “familiar with the cloud.” But this narrow definition is itself the biggest obstacle to DX (Digital Transformation) promotion.
The editorial points out that the business knowledge and on-site experience of veteran employees are essential for the success of digitalization. This applies not only to agriculture but to all industries: manufacturing, logistics, retail, and services.
Why Are Veterans Kept Away from Digitalization?
There’s a common scene in many companies. When launching a DX promotion project, the members selected are almost always employees in their 20s and 30s. Veterans aged 50 and over are left out because “they don’t understand digital.”
This decision seems rational at first glance. However, the problems this structure creates are more serious than you might imagine.
The essence of digitalization is not “replacing work with systems.” It’s about understanding the core of the work and designing how to reproduce and improve it digitally. It is the veteran employees who have supported the front lines for years who are intimately familiar with on-site tacit knowledge, exception handling, and customer relationships.
If you exclude them from the project, the designed system will diverge from the actual on-site reality. The result is a “system that no one uses.” This is a classic failure pattern I have observed across numerous clients.
“Experience” Also Boosts Security Operations
The article from KeyMan’s Net, “Conditions for ‘Smooth Security Operations’ According to 1,000 Personnel,” sheds light on this issue from a different angle.
The article cites “communication with the field” as a condition for smooth security operations. Creating a security policy on paper is meaningless if the people on the ground don’t understand and can’t implement it.
What’s crucial here is the veteran employees’ “ability to build relationships with the field.” Through years of interaction, they understand the circumstances and human relationships within each department. Utilizing this network makes the permeation of security rules significantly smoother.
In one manufacturing case I was involved with, a 55-year-old plant manager volunteered to be the instructor for in-house security study sessions. Because he could explain “why this rule is necessary” in the language of the workplace, the team’s buy-in increased, and the incident rate was halved within six months.
No matter how logically a young IT staff member argues, it takes time to gain the trust of the field. This is where the “experience value” of veterans comes into play.
Three Risks of the “Veterans Not Needed” Mentality
Managers assuming “digital talent = young people” face the following risks.
Risk 1: Tacit Knowledge Becomes Isolated and Isn’t Passed Down
Knowledge held by veterans – like “that client concentrates orders at the end of the month” or “this product has large seasonal fluctuations” – is often not documented. If they are not involved in the digitalization project, this tacit knowledge won’t be reflected in the system and remains isolated.
Consequently, the system may stop functioning after the veteran retires. This is one cause of the “IT discontinuity” occurring in many companies.
Risk 2: Digital Literacy Becomes Polarized
The more you keep veterans away from digitalization, the less their literacy improves. This strengthens the feeling that “it has nothing to do with me,” widening the gap further. To break this vicious cycle, you must involve them in the project from the very first step.
In one logistics company, drivers in their 50s were asked to participate in a project to improve the dispatch system. By reflecting the “voices from the field” they proposed, dispatch efficiency improved by 15%. At the same time, the participating drivers themselves started teaching other members how to use the system, naturally improving overall literacy.
Risk 3: The Organization’s Overall Digitalization Speed Slows Down
Projects that exclude veterans are more likely to face resistance from the field. Resentment like “some young whippersnapper who doesn’t know the field installed a random system” arises, and it takes time for the system to take root after implementation.
On the other hand, when a veteran is the face of the project, the field’s sense of acceptance changes dramatically. The trust built on “if that veteran says so” accelerates the implementation speed.
How Managers Can Implement “Veterans × Digital”
So, what specifically should be done? I recommend the following three steps.
Step 1: Expand the Definition of Digital Talent
Redefine “digital talent” not as “someone knowledgeable about IT,” but as “someone who can improve work using digital tools.” IT skills can be learned later. What matters is “whether they understand the work.”
Management itself should declare this definition change and reflect it in the evaluation system. For example, making participation in a digitalization project a condition for promotion is one idea.
Step 2: Build Teams Based on “Roles,” Not Age
When forming a project team, select members based on roles like “business knowledge,” “IT skills,” and “relationship-building ability,” not age or position. Assign veterans the role of “representing the voice of the field” and younger members the role of “implementing the technology.”
When this division of roles is clear, each person’s strengths can be utilized. The veteran points out, “This won’t work in the field,” and the younger member proposes, “Then we can solve it with this technology.” This collaboration creates digitalization rooted in the actual workplace.
Step 3: Accumulate Small Successes
For veterans, digital tools can be “scary.” Instead of aiming for a large-scale system implementation from the start, begin with small tools they use in their daily work.
For example, replace paper reports with Google Forms. Automate manual data entry in Excel using Zapier. These small successes help alleviate veterans’ “aversion to digital.”
I had a client where a 58-year-old accounting manager, after finding that “Freee made invoice processing easier,” voluntarily started an in-house study session. He was initially skeptical, but that was the moment he became a champion of the initiative.
“Experience × IT” Enhances Management Reproducibility
News like Uchida Yoko IT Solutions being certified as an IT implementation support provider for the “Digitalization/AI Introduction Subsidy 2026” and the announcement of subsidies up to 30 million yen for small and medium-sized logistics companies should be read in the same context.
Subsidies can help you introduce tools. However, whether those tools can be effectively used on the ground comes down to the human element. Especially for SMEs, rather than leaving everything to external support providers, the perspective of in-house development involving your own veterans is essential.
Combine the “on-site experience value” of veteran employees with the “digital-native thinking” of younger staff. This is the implementation of “Management IT” that enhances the reproducibility of management – true DX that goes beyond mere tool introduction.
Managers should reconsider the definition of “digital talent” right now. The veteran employees in your company might actually be your most valuable digital talent.
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