Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.

07/30/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/30/2024 19:32

Digital transformation contributing to growth

"As a member of Daiichi Sankyo, I want to contribute to growth through the promotion of digital transformation (DX) while actively incorporating advanced technologies."

After a more than 20-year career as a system engineer and IT consultant, Junka Kaneda joined the Company-Wide Transformation Promotion Group of Daiichi Sankyo's Digital Transformation Planning Department in July 2023. While in the past she was in a position to help companies solve their problems from the outside, Junka can now support an organization's growth as a member of the company.

Looking at the company from a different perspective and utilizing my skills

After working for a Japanese IT company for about 20 years, I worked for a non-Japanese IT consulting company for two years where I was in charge of customers in the pharmaceutical industry. I have experience in system proposals, implementation, operation, and consulting, including five years of discovering new technologies and IT startups in Silicon Valley, USA.

I wanted to be part of a company where I could make good use of my skills, and since I had been doing pharmaceutical industry-related work for a long time, I strongly felt that a pharmaceutical company like Daiichi Sankyo would be a good match for my next job.

In the future pharmaceutical industry, the potential of IT will expand more and more

In this era, it is becoming possible to provide services not only for treatment but also for health promotion, prevention, and prognostic care, and it is expected that digital technology/IT, which is exerting a great influence, will become more and more important in the pharmaceutical industry in the future.

My decision to join the company was that my understanding of advanced technology that I have cultivated so far, my experience of planning and launching new initiatives, and negotiating with vendors in other countries, which I thought would be useful in Daiichi Sankyo's expanding DX field.

From the launch of "DS-GAI" to its popularization

I am a member of the Digital Transformation Planning Department and focus on promoting and raising awareness about the in-house generative AI system Daiichi Sankyo-Generative AI (DS-GAI), which has a variety of functions, such as chat responses based on files and internal data, and image generation, making it a highly convenient and safe (from a data risk management perspective) tool that is well worth using.

More than half of Daiichi Sankyo's employees in Japan have experienced DS-GAI, and the average number of daily users is currently already over 600. I think we need to focus on raising awareness about how people can use DS-GAI in specific work tasks. I believe that by effectively using DS-GAI in all departments, we can significantly change the way employees work.

Becoming a global company ahead of the curve with coordinated and flexible collaboration

In the context of generative AI, I participated in the launch of a virtual organization related to generative AI between Japan, the United States, and Europe in order to unify the activities globally and help us work in a coordinated and flexible manner.

This is a project that will strengthen the organization and contribute to the business going forward. I instinctively feel that Daiichi Sankyo is moving forward to become a more unified global organization.


Impressed by the speed of work and the attitudes of colleagues

What impressed me when I came to Daiichi Sankyo was the tremendous sense of speed at which the release of DS-GAI and the addition of functions proceeded. The fact that we were able to release such an advanced system in a short period of time is thanks to the attitude of the staff members and everyone at all levels of management, from the operational to the senior level, who understood the importance of such a system and supported its development and implementation.

Contributing to company growth motivates me

I joined the company with the desire to look at the organization as a staff member from within the company and contribute to growth, and I feel that through my responsibilities I am contributing to improving work efficiency and the globalization of the company by participating in DS-GAI and the virtual organization.

My team is made up of people from different backgrounds

The company-wide Transformation Promotion Group to which I belong has about ten members with diverse backgrounds, who have all joined together to form the new team.

The group includes colleagues who have been seconded from group companies, colleagues who have been transferred from other parts of the company, and colleagues like me, who have been hired from outside Daiichi Sankyo.


Supporting employees and promoting the company through IT

Our goal is to promote DX based on IT that proactively uses new technology to set up internal mechanisms from the foundation. I believe that promoting DX will not only improve internal work efficiency and productivity, but also create new value. I will also continue to grow so that I can contribute to the company's growth through the power of DX.