interview 01 The Reborn AEON Smart Technology will be a central leader of the Group’s DX initiatives. Representative President and CEO Jerry Black
Creating a new company culture by cultivating personnel to be responsible for technology.
AEON Smart Technology (AST) was founded in 2020 with the missions to realize the “digital shift” transformation of the AEON Group, which consists of 300 companies. In December 2024, AEON IBS’s IT business was spun off and merged into AST to form a single company. The newly reborn AST, now larger in scale, welcomed a “second founding.”
I assumed the role of Representative Director and President in March 2025. I am committed to lead and to strongly push forward with AST's DX (digital transformation) initiatives. I believe an essential part of that transformation is to “foster a company culture in which everyone in the organization helps to nurture and grow one another.” So ultimately it is our HR strategy that is pivotal. An important role of AST is to serve as a hub for cultivating and nurturing personnel specialized in technology. In hiring as well as in personnel development and cultivation, all personnel from top management to frontline workers need to be well-versed in technology, take on the teamwork responsibility, and be capable of contributing towards innovation.
We need to provide personnel with work opportunities and possibilities so that they can continue to view AST as an attractive place to work where they can really experience personal growth. Our people will feel the sense of accomplishment to be engaged in development that impacts the AEON Group and society in a positive way. We encourage our people to speak freely and openly with each other, affirming innovation and creativity while helping one another, regardless of gender and having the freshness of thinking that comes with diversity. As we work, we need always to be mindful of the impact that our work has on our clients and businesses.
That mindset needs to be entrenched throughout the entire organization as we build an inclusive, innovative company culture in which we all help to nurture and grow one another. If we continue this transformation, we will become a truly one-of-a-kind company.
Cooperating to pool all of the AEON Group's resources and achieve real DX.
At AST, we are intensively focused on achieving “real DX.” The AEON Group contains many different affiliate companies and operating companies, and I think the biggest issue it faces is the complexity that arises from that multi-layered structure. Resolving this issue requires close collaboration within the Group to push transformation initiatives forward and ensure consistency in projects. Outside of AST, the AEON Group also contains AEON DMC (Digital Management Center) in China, operating companies, functional companies, and other DX-related companies and departments, and deepening coordination between these will certainly strengthen the overall organization. What steps should we take to more rapidly provide better services that will make AEON consumers happier? Our raison d'être is to continuously ask this question to provide ever more value. I believe that is the path to “true” DX.
In the AEON Group's business strategy, AST will transform itself to assume an even more central role in the future. Of course, AST will continue to focus on building the Group's shared system infrastructure and core technologies, including its databases and AI platforms. Meanwhile, AST will also take a central role in business operations themselves, such as AI-enabled value optimization and supply chain optimization such as warehouse management systems, in order to accelerate the DX process. In AI application development, as well, we will collaborate with DX departments and the DMC organization to produce new technologies.
Technology that can live up to each and every customer’s expectation, even ten years from now.
The code of conduct that AST should prioritize is to really dive deeply into the question of “how our customers/consumers shop.” We need to maintain a future-oriented perspective focused on how shopping will be conducted a decade from now, then work backwards to know what actions we can start now in order to fully utilize the available technology. That perspective and those actions are crucial.
For example, in the future, online shopping and home deliveries will certainly be common. This great shift will impact consumers and retailers in a dramatic way. Physical stores will still have an everyday role in local communities. However, many benign processes will be automated and the stores can focus more on the “customer experience.” The in-store, that now serves as shelf-stock will be less important as home delivery increases. The size and roles of stores will change. The retail industry will see more technological progress in the future ahead. Customers will use VR, AR, and AI agents as they shop, and there will likely be all sorts of new forms of shopping available. Marketing and communication will become more complex, and AI and data analysis will be utilized to achieve more accurate demand forecasting and inventory management. In this way, it is important to take a wide variety of perspectives as we think about how the present connects with the future.
It will also be increasingly important to be closely in touch with the needs of each and every customer. By providing customers with personalized information, we will best serve them by making relevant and personalized offers at the best timing, thereby improving the shopping process. In the past, towns had small commercial streets with family-run businesses where your customers were your neighbors and everybody knew each other. The shopkeepers knew the preferences and tastes of their shoppers. However, as formats became larger and internet shopping became prevalent, while shoppers had more choice, the shopping experience was less personal. We will use the power of technology to achieve that personal product curation that used to be done by neighborhood small shops interacting daily with their customers. Retail has returned to emphasizing strong personalization with customers.