Supporting the OMO strategy
of a major drugstore chain
by leveraging my experience from working
at a major domestic system integrator

Starting an IT startup after working
at a major domestic SIer
In addition to his main business,
also works as a consultant for Sevenzen.

After working for a major domestic SIer for 15 years, Mr. Nishimura founded Fam-Time Co., Ltd., a company which develops application businesses. While running the company himself, he also works at Sevenzen as a freelance consultant. The first project with Sevenzen was the OMO strategy planning for a major drugstore chain.

Mr. Nishimura: “This was a project where our client, a major drugstore chain, envisioned what kind of system environment they should build when implementing OMO in the future. In the past, the company’s information system department outsourced much of its system development and strategy planning to IT vendors, so they lacked know-how on As-Is/To-Be analysis and document creation for implementing the OMO. Therefore, me and another consultant became in charge of supporting the information system department.”

“What is the optimal system environment
for OMO? ”

Exchanging knowledge with partners to envision the ideal system environment.

In his previous job, Mr. Nishimura gained a lot of experience in fields such as the manufacturing industry. However, it was his first experience consulting BtoC businesses like retailing.

Mr. Nishimura: “The project focused on “What is the optimal system environment for a drugstore’s OMO? ” For example, when OMO is implemented, the consumers’ purchasing experience can branch into several patterns, such as “order online, receive by delivery”, “order online, receive at the store”, “pay at the store and receive by delivery”. The point of the project was how to configure the system environment in order to implement such a structure. I myself had little experience of consulting in the retail industry, and had trouble at times, but the other consultant who was involved in the project with me had extensive experience in the retail industry, which was very reassuring. You can say that Sevenzen’s strength lies in their ability to bring together diverse human resources and combine their knowledge to provide the best value to clients.”

The appeal of working as a Sevenzen freelancer
is that “you can acquire skills
that you cannot get in your main job”.

On the other hand, you were able to make good use of your experience from your previous job. In particular, your ability was put to good use as a “bridge” which connected clients and vendors.

Mr. Nishimura: “Since I was originally working on the vendor’s side, I was familiar with “what kind of document we should create to make it easier to convey our intentions to the vendors”. In addition, I have developed and released my own apps, so I am familiar with the current technological scene. In the project, I was able to make use of that experience to improve mutual understanding between the client and the IT vendor. Although it was a short period of about four months, I think we were able to show to an extent the path towards building the ideal system environment. On the other hand, through my experience in the BtoC business, I was able to acquire some know-how that I could use in my own business. The work I get through Sevenzen the valuable in the sense that I can acquire skills that are difficult to acquire in my main job. I plan to continue working at Sevenzen as a freelancer and expand my own business.”