2021.12.02
IT Honorable Mention Awards (Areas: Social Problem Solving, Transformation)
NTT COMWARE CORPORATION (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Masato Kuroiwa; hereinafter, "NTT COMWARE") received an IT Honorable Mention Award (Area: Social Problem Solving) and an IT Honorable Mention Award (Area: Transformation) in the 2021 (39th) IT Award presented by the Japan Institute of Information Technology.
The IT Honorable Mention Award (Area: Transformation) was presented jointly to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Jun Sawada; hereinafter, "NTT") and NTT Business Associe Corporation (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Shinji Oota; hereinafter, "NTT Business Associe").
Deeptector® (Nest-Building Detection Service) automatically detects nest-building by crows using AI, preventing power outages
NTT COMWARE has been engaging in social problem solving through the use of IT such as image recognition AI, focusing on maintenance tasks such as inspection and testing of infrastructure that supports a safe and secure society. Electric power companies conduct daily inspections of facilities for the purpose of preventive maintenance to ensure a safe and stable supply of electricity. Power outages as a result of nest-building by crows are a particularly frequent occurrence in early spring, calling for early detection and removal. A major issue has been the manpower needed to conduct patrols since crows continue to build nests even after they have been removed. In April 2021, NTT COMWARE launched the Deeptector® (Nest- Building Detection Service) which utilizes the image recognition AI Deeptector® to automatically detect the presence of nests and assess the situation based on videos and images of the facilities captured by patrol workers, notifying workers of the results in real time. The new service alleviates the workload of patrol workers and contributes to the early detection and removal of nests.
NTT COMWARE was presented with the IT Honorable Mention Award (Area: Social Problem Solving) in recognition of two factors. One is the idea behind the Deeptector® initiative, which links the use of image recognition AI for inspection and testing to social problem solving (CSR) through business activities. The second is that the initiative offers promise as a way of engaging in social problem solving by extending its application to electric power companies and in future to the inspection of facilities in the vicinity of roads.
2. IT Honorable Mention Award (Area: Transformation)
Realization of a talent management platform to better visualize information on the NTT Group's 200,000 employees
The NTT Group comprises companies in diverse industries and business categories, which makes the management of information on talent (employee skills, etc.) as well as training and evaluation processes complicated. The cost of the systems that support these operations is also an issue. We have been working on unifying business processes and the integration of system platforms in the NTT Group as a whole, with the aim of promoting the understanding and utilization of talent information in accord with the trend of the times, and providing an environment that enhances the career development and engagement of each employee, as well as making system cost improvements.
NTT as the project owner led the entire group, with NTT Business Associe as the business owner normalizing information management and unifying business processes, and NTT COMWARE as the system owner mobilizing its project management and technical capabilities in large-scale development. The result was the integration of a talent management system platform used by 200,000 employees at some 80 NTT Group companies, completed within the space of around one year. We are continuing to further improve operational efficiency and provide additional functions to enhance the practical use of the platform beyond its initial release.
The IT Honorable Mention Award (Area: Transformation) was presented in recognition of the value of visualizing the internal resources of a company in an era of transformation that calls for the development of new markets and the reform of businesses. A human resources platform across group companies was recognized as the first step to achieving a more large-scale transformation.
NTT COMWARE will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by strengthening its software development capabilities and working to engage in social problem solving that uses AI and digital technologies.
*1: The IT Awards, presented by the Japan Institute of Information Technology, go to a company, organization, institute, or individual who made a remarkable effort and achieved results in business innovation using advanced IT technologies, such as business creation in Japan's industrial fields and administrative agencies, construction and promotion of effective business models, or productivity improvement. The IT Honorable Mention Award is presented to those whose achievements are recognized as having future potential and viability for development.
*"Deeptector" is a registered trademark of NTT COMWARE CORPORATION.
*Other names of companies, products, and services are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
