The Wave of IT Tools Flooded by Subsidies
Lately, haven’t you been seeing a lot of news about subsidies supporting digitalization and AI adoption? Reports about Postas being certified as a vendor for the “Digitalization and AI Adoption Subsidy,” or the website improvement tool “SiteLead” being selected as an eligible tool for the same subsidy, are coming one after another.
It’s dangerous to simply read these news stories as “You can get a great deal on IT with subsidies.” What we want business leaders to consider is a structural problem created by subsidies: the “ambiguity of the purpose of IT adoption.”
How Subsidies Turn Means into Ends
The mechanism of subsidies is simple. If you introduce an IT tool certified by the national or local government, a portion of the cost is subsidized. At first glance, it looks like a good system that allows you to promote digitalization while keeping costs down.
However, there’s a pitfall here. Because the subsidy exists, it becomes easier to make a decision like “let’s just introduce it for now.” Ideally, the purpose of introducing an IT tool should come first: “What is it for?” and “What problem does it solve?”
But when using subsidies, it’s not uncommon for the goal to shift to “getting the subsidy.” This is a classic example of the problem mentioned in our editorial policy: “the purpose of IT differs from department to department.”
Real-World Examples of Subsidy Use
The POS register system provided by Postas is a tool that streamlines inventory management and sales analysis for retail stores. SiteLead is a tool that visualizes areas for improvement on a website. Both have excellent features.
However, before introducing these tools, business leaders need to clarify their company’s “positioning of IT within the business strategy.” Rather than a short-term view like “a POS register will make inventory management easier,” the essential perspective is “how will this tool contribute to our company’s growth strategy?”
Three Questions Business Leaders Should Ask Themselves
Before using subsidies, business leaders should ask themselves the following three questions.
Question 1: Is this tool “Business IT” or “Management IT”?
Remember the three IT classifications outlined in our editorial policy. A POS register has both aspects of “Business IT, directly linked to sales” and “Management IT, requiring stable operation.” The first step is to clarify which IT classification the tool you’re introducing with a subsidy falls under for your company.
Question 2: Who will be responsible for the operational setup after introduction?
Subsidies support the cost of introduction, but operational costs and personnel training expenses are not covered. There are countless cases where tools are introduced but end up “sitting idle” because no one can use them effectively. Before introduction, you need to decide specifically who will operate the tool and how.
Question 3: How will we measure the ROI of this investment?
Even if the initial cost is reduced by a subsidy, measuring the return on investment (ROI) tends to be neglected. If you introduce a tool simply because “it was cheap thanks to the subsidy,” you may end up with just the tool, without even setting criteria for measuring its effectiveness.
The Essence of Subsidies, as Shown by the Adecco Case
The news that Adecco has launched a digitalization support project for small and medium-sized enterprises in Tokyo should also be viewed in the same context. Behind a major staffing company venturing into digitalization support is the perspective of “combining people and digitalization,” not just introducing tools.
In other words, the essence of a subsidy is not “money to buy a tool” but “money to create a catalyst for change.” If you use a subsidy without this perspective, the introduced tool will lose sight of its purpose, and you’ll end up “stuck at digitalization.”
How to Turn Subsidies into a Management Decision
To effectively utilize subsidies, we recommend following this process.
First, before applying for a subsidy, conduct a “review of management challenges.” Identify which of your company’s operations are inefficient and which processes are bottlenecks to growth.
Second, define the “purpose of IT” for solving that problem in a single sentence. Set a specific goal, such as “improve inventory management accuracy and reduce opportunity loss from stockouts by 30%.”
Third, select a tool that can achieve that purpose, regardless of whether it’s eligible for a subsidy. If it is eligible, that’s simply an additional benefit of “being able to keep costs down.”
Summary: Subsidies are a Means; Management Defines the Purpose
The Digitalization and AI Adoption Subsidy is an effective system that can encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to take the plunge into IT investment. However, if you get swept up by the system and turn the “means into an end,” the introduced tool will become a wasted asset.
The only way to turn subsidies into true growth investments is for business leaders to re-frame IT not as “a technical domain to leave to the experts” but as a “management resource.” When you see news about a subsidy, first define your company’s management challenges, and then ask yourself, “Do we really need this tool?”
Recognize that failing to define the purpose of IT is itself a management decision. The key to successful digitalization is to use subsidies not as a “substitute for management judgment” but as a “tool to support management judgment.”
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