The Digital Agency will be launched in September 2021. The revised Personal Information Protection Act is scheduled to come into effect in April 9. Japan's data utilization is starting to move forward in a big way.

While GAFA and BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) dominate the global economy, Japan has been called a "data underdeveloped country." Japan has come up with "information banks" as a way to balance the protection and utilization of personal data. They are attracting attention from around the world as a "third way" where personal information is neither monopolized by specific companies nor managed by individuals at their own risk. What are the benefits that companies and individuals can gain from the spread of information banks? What is the new image of society that will emerge from them?

"All about Information BanksWe spoke with Masahiro Hantani, author of "The Personal Data Utilization Revolution" (Diamond Inc., 2019) and a leader in the field of personal data utilization at NTT DATA Corporation.

This article will be delivered in two parts. (The first part is ）

NTT DATA Corporation
General Manager, Financial Business Promotion Department, Digital Strategy Promotion Department
Masahiro Hanatani

Joined NTT DATA Corporation (then) in 1996. Until 2004, was mainly involved in overseas business in Singapore and Malaysia. Since 09, led the creation of new businesses related to My Number within the company. Since 16, has led the creation of new businesses such as personal data business and blockchain business. In 18, he was a member of the Data Collaboration Infrastructure Sub-Working Group of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Cabinet Office. Member of My Data Global.

Providing data to companies ultimately benefits consumers

── As information banks become more widespread, what benefits will they be able to enjoy for both companies and individuals?

First, the biggest benefit to individuals isImproved efficiency of communication with companiesit might be.

Until now, we have mostly learned about various products and services through publicity and advertising. Therefore, companies bombard us with various emails and advertisements in an attempt to make themselves known to as many people as possible.

For example, my daughter will have her coming-of-age ceremony next year, so she is receiving a mountain of advertisements for furisode rentals. This is despite the fact that she has already made a reservation. Many people may find advertisements from these companies annoying, but the reason we continue to receive advertisements is because we have not provided our personal information. If only the information that "I have already made a reservation to rent a furisode" was shared, the unnecessary advertisements would not arrive.

The printing and postage costs of unnecessary advertising are reflected in the price of the product and are borne by us, the consumers. In other words,"If information does not circulate, consumers will lose out."It is no exaggeration, though.

If personal data were to be distributed, communication with companies would become more efficient. This would allow companies to invest in more essential things, such as products and services, and we, the consumers, might be able to obtain better products and services. Since this is not a direct effect, it is difficult for people to notice it, butProviding your data also benefits you as a consumer.I would like you to know this.

The biggest benefit to companies isTo be able to compete with ideas.

Until now, the larger and more capitalized a company was, the more data it had. In many cases, the winners in data-based advertising and promotion activities and data-based product and service development were companies with more data, i.e. large companies.

On the other hand, while I was a judge for a venture business contest, I saw many small local venture companies with great business ideas.In many cases, companies were forced to abandon their business because they did not have the data to verify hypotheses or development took too long.It is

What if all data was collected in an information bank and available to all companies, regardless of size? What if data was collected by "companies that come up with products and services that are attractive to me (the consumer)," regardless of past performance? Small companies with great ideas might suddenly become front-runners.

Information banks are guided by people who don't need to be in the city center, don't need huge capital, and don't need history.A world where a single idea can make a business successful. A major transformation in which the center of economic management is shifting from large corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises and ventures, and the source of competitiveness is shifting from capital to ideas.Can be expected.

The key to advancing data utilization lies in establishing mechanisms rather than improving data literacy

── In order to promote the distribution and utilization of personal data, it will be necessary to foster an awareness among consumers of the need to "actively utilize" data, as well as to increase literacy regarding data utilization. What kind of literacy will be required of consumers as information banks are implemented in society?

There is no doubt that IT literacy among individuals will become even more important. In a world where personal data is actively distributed and utilized, it is not difficult to imagine that there will be people who will try to misuse that data. In this situation, unless people understand "where their data is currently being used" and develop the ability to determine "whether it is OK to provide data to a company" when granting permission to provide data, they will continue to be at risk of having their data misused and suffering damage.

It is difficult to rely on individual will in this regard.Need to create a system to support consumersProbably. Specifically,To accumulate the history of consent to data provision and information on the recipient companies, and to provide a place where such information can be viewed as needed.This may also be a function that an information bank should undertake.

As one of the functions to support consumers, NTT Data conducted a demonstration experiment in 2020 to rate the security of "personal information handling terms" in campaigns and other events on corporate websites using a score. As a result of the experiment, about 9% of users responded that "the display was useful as a deciding factor for consent," which gave a certain sense of success.

A secondary effect was that it encouraged the participating companies to take a more proactive approach. Since users would not give their consent if the scores remained low, the companies voluntarily improved the content to get a higher score. As a result, most of the companies began to score high, at 80 to 90 points, naturally creating a safe and secure environment for users.

It goes without saying that it is essential to improve the IT literacy of each and every consumer, but this is not something that can be achieved overnight. Ultimately, it will need to be incorporated into school education. Some private companies are already offering their own literacy education programs for elementary school students, and I think a national effort is needed in the future.

A realistic approach would be to steadily advance such literacy education while quickly establishing mechanisms for companies and the government to support consumers.I think

── In order to increase consumers' willingness to provide their own data, I think it is also important to build up a sense of "gaining benefits by providing information." Who can give them that sense, and how?

The information bank certification system was launched in 2018, and seven companies are already working on information bank-related businesses. I think we are now at the stage where we need to build up a track record.

Results of utilizing personal data, especiallyThe two sectors that are seen as likely to be the first to provide benefits to consumers are "healthcare" and "finance."I hope that if just one killer application emerges in these two fields, it will act as a catalyst to rapidly increase momentum for the utilization of personal data.



List of Certified Information Bank Businesses

^{Source: Information Bank Promotion Committee, Information Technology Federation of Japan
List of Certified Information Bank Businesses (as of October 2021)https://www.tpdms.jp/certified/}

Companies are entering an era where they will compete based on philosophy and ideas

── In your book "All about Information Banks," you point out that we are entering an era in which individuals will be at the center of business and society. In this "information banking era," will individuals take the lead in the relationship between individuals and companies?

With this in mind, I have come to realise the need for information banks in the coming age.

The COVID-19 pandemic has inadvertently led to the spread of remote work, and the new social norm of "no need to commute" and "no need to live in the city" has spread rapidly. With the time previously spent commuting now being able to be spent on other things, we expect that more people will take on side jobs or dual careers by utilizing their skills, and work styles will become more flexible than ever before.

In that case, the relationship between an individual and a company is not necessarily one of "belonging to a company,"The style of "working for multiple companies that need your know-how" will become more commonI think.

In a society where individual skills and know-how are circulated through information banks, this type of work style will become easier to realize.It will be.

Of course, I don't think that the entire population will shift to this type of working style, but I think that the distribution of personal data through information banks would be effective in allowing people who want to do so to have more freedom in choosing the way they work.

── In an era where individuals are becoming stronger, what should companies do to be chosen by customers and employees?

Of course, factors such as "good cost performance," "good quality," "high convenience," "good salary and benefits," and "jobs that can only be done at this company" are still important as ever.

However, in the future, more than just these factors, a company"What kind of philosophy do you have?"I believe that more importance will be placed on this.

This is because when an individual decides whether or not to provide personal data,They come to consider "whether it is useful to society" as an important criterion."I will provide my health data if it helps develop new medicines and vaccines," or "I will provide my purchasing data if it helps reduce CO2 emissions."The desire to support companies with philosophies that resonate with people is likely to become even stronger in the future..

In the "information bank era," companies need to:Having a clear philosophy and communicating it after taking a fresh look at what our company can and should do to make society betterIt can be said that what is required is...

── In a society where information banks are in place, I think there will be almost no difference in the amount and type of data that companies can obtain. Will it be difficult for companies to "differentiate themselves through data" in the future?

I don't think that the fact that "data utilization will be a source of competitiveness for companies" will change. Because,Even if the amount and type of information available remains the same, how to analyze and interpret it, and how to translate that interpretation into output (products, services, and communications) still depends on the ideas of the company.It is.

In the "information bank era" where everyone has equal access to data, how we use data will become even more important.The key is to have a good ideaabout it.

A fair society where large companies and small and medium-sized companies, long-established companies and not-so-long-established companies, urban companies and regional companies can all compete on the same level. A society where ideas can be used as a weapon. I hope that such a society will become a reality as information banks become more widespread.

[Interview and text] Chiaki Saito
[photograph]Daisuke Koike
[Planning and editing] Yuko Kawabata (XICA)

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