The Risk of “Neglect” Outweighs the Risk of “Not Using”
When many business owners hear “digitalization,” they hesitate, citing “costs” and “unclear benefits.” However, local governments and SaaS vendors are now rolling out initiatives one after another to lower the barrier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Ota City in Gunma Prefecture is offering up to 1 million yen (approx. $6,700) in DX promotion subsidies for fiscal year 2026. freee has released a SaaS management tool featuring Japan’s first custom SCIM integration. Hornetsecurity has begun offering a new solution for M365 that is easy for SME administrators to use.
These may seem like unrelated news at first glance. However, they share a common thread: “an opportunity for SMEs to reclaim the price they’ve paid for neglecting IT.” This article analyzes these three news items through the lens of “a vacuum in management decision-making.”
Ota City’s Subsidy Reveals a Lack of “Management Decision-Making”
The Ota City DX subsidy attracts attention for its maximum amount of 1 million yen. But the amount isn’t the key point. What matters is that the subsidy is structured in stages: “formulating a management plan,” “reviewing business workflows,” and “introducing IT tools.”
This is evidence that the local government recognizes many SMEs are in a state of “not knowing where to start.” In other words, there are still many companies that haven’t decided “what should be digitalized from a management perspective” before even introducing IT.
As stated in our editorial policy, IT is not a “technical area to be left to specialists” but a management resource that management itself should define and design. Before applying for a subsidy, business owners must define “where the waste is in their own operations” and “which data, if visualized, would speed up decision-making.” Otherwise, the subsidy will end up being nothing more than a “waste of money.”
Specifically, first, from a “management IT” perspective, design a system to centrally manage management indicators like sales, costs, and inventory. Then, select tools for “business IT” and “administrative IT,” such as accounting software and sales management systems. If you get this order wrong, you’ll end up with a proliferation of tools, scattered data, and unresolved reliance on specific individuals.
Three Questions to Avoid Making the Subsidy an “End in Itself”
When considering a subsidy application, business owners should ask themselves the following three questions:
1. Why is digitalization necessary? (Purpose)
2. Which operations will be changed, and in what order? (Priority)
3. After implementation, who will operate and improve it, and how? (Sustainability)
If tools are introduced with these three points unclear, IT will be “neglected” again once the subsidy runs out.
freee’s SaaS Management Tool Questions the “Dark Side of SaaS”
freee’s announced “custom SCIM integration feature” may seem like a mere technical update at first. SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) is a mechanism for automatically synchronizing user information across different cloud services.
However, the fact that this feature is touted as “Japan’s first” itself speaks to the “lag” in IT management among Japanese SMEs. While ID management automation is standard practice in large corporations, the reality for many SMEs is that “staff manually register and delete accounts.”
I had a client, a company with 30 employees, that was spending three hours a week managing SaaS accounts. The deletion of accounts for former employees was delayed, leaving the company exposed to information leakage risks. This is a classic problem caused by the absence of “administrative IT.”
freee’s new feature is a first step toward visualizing and automating this “dark side of SaaS.” Specifically, accounts for freee accounting, payroll, and other services will be automatically created and deleted in line with employee onboarding and offboarding. This not only reduces the burden on administrators but also lowers security risks.
Visualizing SaaS Management Transforms Management Decisions
More importantly, introducing a SaaS management tool allows you to see “how much you’re spending on which SaaS” at a glance. In many SMEs, different departments sign up for SaaS independently, and the overall cost is unknown. This makes it impossible to measure the ROI of IT investments.
Business owners should first take stock of the SaaS their company uses, sorting them into “truly necessary tools” and “unused tools.” Then, they should introduce a management tool like freee to constantly visualize costs and usage. This is the practice of “management IT” that enhances the precision of management decisions.
Hornetsecurity Demonstrates the “Democratization of Security”
The new solution Hornetsecurity has started offering for M365 emphasizes that it is “easy for SME administrators to use.” This is evidence that security measures are moving from a “black box that only specialists can handle” toward “democratization,” where even business owners and general affairs staff can manage them.
Many SMEs use M365 (formerly Office 365). However, its security settings are complex, and not a few companies are “just using the default settings.” This leaves them defenseless against targeted attack emails and ransomware risks.
Hornetsecurity’s solution resolves this state of “neglect due to troublesome settings.” For example, features like automatically quarantining suspicious emails and visualizing the danger of attachments can be set up with intuitive operations.
This shifts security measures from “something to be left to the IT department or specialists” to “something management should be responsible for managing.” In the event of a security incident, the ultimate responsibility lies with management. Therefore, business owners should promote the “visualization” of security measures to the extent they can understand them.
Three Costs of “Neglect”
The common message across these news items is that “the price of neglecting IT is growing larger and larger.” There are three main costs of neglect:
1. Increased security risks (information leaks, ransomware damage)
2. Decreased operational efficiency (reliance on specific individuals, chronic manual work)
3. Loss of competitiveness (inability to make data-driven decisions)
Ota City’s subsidy, freee’s SaaS management tool, and Hornetsecurity’s security solution all provide an “entry point” for resolving this “neglect.” Business owners are now being forced to decide whether to pass by these entry points, thinking “it’s too much trouble” or “it’s fine for now,” or to use them as an “opportunity to redefine their company’s IT.”
Conclusion: The Last Chance for Management to Define IT
The three news items covered here can all be grouped under the theme of “IT adoption for SMEs.” However, the essence lies in how to reclaim “the price paid for management not defining IT.”
Subsidies are a means, not an end. SaaS management tools are tools, not a management strategy. Security measures are a cost, but also an investment. Whether or not a company can correctly understand these points and integrate them into its business strategy will determine its future competitiveness.
The era of “leaving IT to the specialists” is over. Business owners themselves must define, design, and operate IT. That resolve is now being tested.
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