ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it will improve its Group Data Management Platform using advanced IT tools and accelerate its business expansion and the evolution of its business models through profitability-oriented digital transformation (hereinafter, "DX") and data utilization.

While data utilization is expected to boost profitability through increased operational efficiency and the creation of new businesses in many industries, one challenge ITOCHU faces is how to improve environments to enable efficient data utilization with the goal of implementing cost-effective DX as there are a wide range of labor expenses generated by data collection/compilation, data processing/analysis and the development of AI models for data utilization.

Since 2018 ITOCHU has proactively recruited data experts and promoted the improvement of its environments while positioning ITOCHU Group Data Management Platform, which consists of the system environments and personnel structure required for data utilization, as a common function within the group. Currently, it is promoting an array of DX projects leveraging the Group Data Management Platform.

The following four efficiency-increasing tools have been recently introduced to the Group Data Management Platform. ITOCHU will sequentially promote their full introduction to implement efficient and flexible data utilization.

Tools to be introduced and their proven effects
*The figures are estimates based on the company's actual performance.

① Data collection/compilation: Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (Informatica LLC U.S.A.)
　Reduce development/modification/troubleshooting costs in intersystem data coordination by 40%
② Data processing/analysis and AI development: Databricks (Databricks Inc. U.S.A.)
　Reduce the work hours required in the preparation of data analysis environments by 80% and the time required for data analysis operations using high-speed parallel processing, etc. by 50% or more
③ Data accumulation/processing: Snowflake (Snowflake Inc., U.S.A.)
　Reduce creating database/processing time by 80% through high-speed parallel processing
④ Operation/monitoring: Datadog (Datadog, Inc., U.S.A.)
　Reduce troubleshooting time by 50% through monitoring/visualizing data processing

ITOCHU has enhanced its DX promotion scheme through the tie-up with BrainPad Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Takafumi Kusano, CEO & Representative Director), a leading company in data utilization, and ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Ichiro Tsuge, President & CEO), an ITOCHU group company. This initiative supports DX promotion in ITOCHU group and expands its practical domains centering around the consumer sector as it moves towards the future.