Article

CFO Webinar 2021 April

Enabling the Future of Work: Cloud Transformation

The CFO Program for foreign companies in Japan held CFO Webinar "Enabling the Future of Work: Cloud Transformation" for CFOs and finance controllers on April 28th, 2021. It attracted approximately 20 participants and received high evaluation.

-Overview-

1. Our Perspective on the Future of Work: Re-Architecting Work, the Workplace, and Workforce

This session started with the question toward participants: “A year into the pandemic, what does the Future of Work mean to you?”
The answers to this question included “flexibility,” “productivity,” “redefining priorities,” and “more nights at home." The same questions have been asked to the audience for the last five years, however, it seems the things we are thinking about today have become quite different from those before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicole Scoble-Williams, Partner and Asia Pacific Future of Work Leader of Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting, said COVID-19 has created a time machine into the “Future of Work.” Japan has suffered a digital defeat against the pandemic over the last year, and there are data showing many organizations in Japan have really struggled to shift to remote working. Although they are now focusing on digitalizing work, they need to explore the question: “Is the accelerated Future of Work that we have experienced over the last year the Future of Work we want for the next ten years?” We believe that now is the time to consider redefining our Future of Work vision and redefining it in a way where we are putting a focus back on the importance of humans in the Future of Work – Humanizing the Future of Work.

The three key actions on Humanizing the Future of Work:

  1. Re-Architect Work “Work at the Centre”
  2. Unleash the Workforce “Access, Curate, Engage”
  3. Adapt the Workplace “Dynamic Stability in the Next Normal”

For more details, please download and see the session material.

PDF, 2.8MB

2. Stories from the Front: How Companies are Using Cloud to Enable the Future of Work

Erik Almadrones, Monitor Deloitte Partner and Cloud Strategy and Transformation Leader of Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting, introduced some different examples to describe what the future of work looks like and how humans work more productively with technologies.

Firstly, he explained data showing that labor productivity in Japan is relatively low and that Japanese workers are less engaged than workers in all other OECD countries. He also indicated the correlation between cloud technologies and the potential of Japanese workers with the data, “Cloud Spending Rates and Growth Highlights.”

Secondly, the following two actual case studies were introduced to describe how to use cloud-based technologies to rethink work and re-architect work to increase productivity.

Case 1: How an auto manufacturer used cloud-based collaboration tools to enable remote engineers to minimize downtime on the production line.
Case 2: How a major retailer re-imagined its virtual leadership huddle to create more engaging events for a remote leadership team.

For more details, please download and see the session material.

3. Why Now? Near-term Incentives for Starting the Journey Today

Why should we take action on this NOW? David Bickle, Partner of Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co, explained near-term tax incentives which were recently announced by the Japanese government.
There has never been a better time to talk about how cloud can enable the Future of Work. New 2021 tax guidelines create real incentives for companies in Japan to invest in Digital Transformation, including the acquisition and development of cloud-based systems to improve productivity. The new incentives are set to expire in 2023, however, given the lead time required for Digital Transformation programs, now is the time to start planning how to take advantage of these new incentives.

[INCENTIVE TYPES]
The following tax incentives have been established for investment in cloud-based systems to create new demand for products and services, and to improve productivity.

  • 30% special depreciation
  • 3% tax credit (5% if data is linked to external party)

The incentives provide accelerated tax saving (special depreciation) or incremental tax saving (credit). Relative merit depends on the taxpayer’s profile. In addition, the tax incentives apply to capitalized investment based on accredited business adaptation plans, certified under the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement (“ICE”) Act.

For more details, please download and see the session material.

-Program-

Date: 28th April, 2021

Time: 8:30 am - 9:30 am

Agenda:

  1. Welcome remark
    • Pankaj Arjunwadkar / Partner, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC,  The CFO Program for foreign companies in Japan 
  2. Our Perspective on the Future of Work: Re-Architecting Work, the Workplace, and Workforce
    • Nicole Scoble-Williams / Partner and Asia Pacific Future of Work Leader, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC
  3. Stories from the Front: How Companies are Using Cloud to Enable the Future of Work
    • Erik Almadrones / Monitor Deloitte Partner and Cloud Strategy and Transformation Leader, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC
  4. Why Now? Near-term Incentives for Starting the Journey Today
    • David Bickle / Partner, Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co.

 

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