Message from the President

Ever since our establishment in 1972, we have been providing solutions through the supply of systems and services to regional societies with which we maintain firm partnerships, including local governments, rural department stores, specialist stores and other such retailers. However, a greater manifestation of regional issues, such as low birth rates, the aging of society, and depleted populations in rural communities, coupled with multifaceted social issues, such as climate change, is resulting in the diversification of customer needs and an expansion of business models investing in solving new social problems in such areas as work automation aimed at reforming working styles, and cashless payment settlement, etc. We believe that providing solutions for not only the companies to whom we supply systems but also to end users enables us to contribute to the creation of a sustainable society, and also enhances the sustainability and corporate value of the company and its affiliated Group companies. We have therefore established a set of Basic Sustainability Policies to be enacted throughout the entire Group as we move toward realizing our corporate philosophy of "Providing moving experiences and encouraging smiling faces with the power of empathy."

Of the various social issues we face, the one that will have the greatest affect on our business affairs is the issue of local communities. The foundation that enabled ITFOR to grow in the first place was our powerful bonds with regional societies. For example, we have continued to regularly host various user briefings and study workshops centered around regional banks, local governments and rural department stores, who represent our client base, to share and jointly solve issues that we would not know about if we did not maintain close communications with the local community. Among these issues is the problem of sustainability faced by regional societies; an issue that could not be ignored for any longer. We therefore clearly stated in our third mid-term management plan that we intend to contribute to regional revitalization and that promoting ESG management is equal to promoting sustainability based on our business strategies, and we set up a Sustainability Promotion Committee to commence work on these initiatives. I also participate in the Sustainability Promotion Committee, and up until now we have discussed many topics with our employees from the perspective of the environment in which we find ourselves, situations pertaining to social issues, and our SDGs, which represent common goals targeted by the whole the world. This has resulted in us deciding on five initiatives on which to place the emphasis (= materiality), which involve Reducing the Burden on the Environment, Contributing to Society through Regional Revitalization, Improving Productivity and Enhancing Added Value through the Promotion of DX, Strengthening the Management Foundation, and Deepening Human Resources, and we are currently investigating detailed measures to enact for each of these. We have already established KPIs and are steadfastly moving ahead with them to ensure that these initiatives are woven into our management strategies in the future.

We believe that we must continue providing surprises into the future through our unique systems, structures and services while manifesting the "power of empathy" for our customers in order to provide them with moving experiences and smiling faces, and become supporters from a certain point of view for the daily lives and the various life stages of people.
The work we are involved in is generally summed up as B to B, but we intend to recognize each of the issues faced by people beyond this definition to ensure that our work is summed up as C to B to B as we move ahead with solutions so that we are able to provide moving experiences and smiling faces to our customers, the regional societies beyond them, and everybody else in our value chain.
We will constantly face up to and help solve all stakeholder issues, provide surprises in a manner typical of the Group, and contribute to ensuring a sustainable society.