Hitachi merges five Chinese ICT companies in digital solutions drive

07 March 2019 Consultancy.asia

Japanese conglomerate Hitachi will integrate five of its business service companies as part of a digital consulting push in China, with the merged entity to operate as Hitachi Solutions.

In an effort to enhance its digital solution business “as a strategy to further expand business in China”, Japanese multinational conglomerate Hitachi has announced that from the beginning of April it will combine five of its information and communications technology business services companies into a single entity, to operate under the banner of Hitachi Solutions (China).

The four group companies to be integrated into the existing Hitachi Solutions line include Hitachi Beijing Tech Information Systems, Hitachi Systems and Hitachi Consulting Information Technology Delivery (Guangzhou), and Hitachi Consulting (China), with the business restructuring designed to achieve greater efficiency in the development of digital solutions.

“As the Hitachi Group has been aiming to further develop its business in fields of focus such as industry, urban, energy, and elder and nursing care, the importance of digital solutions using Hitachi Group’s accomplishments in the operational technology and IT business as well as its diverse accumulated knowledge and expertise has been growing,” the firm said in a statement. Hitachi merges five Chinese ICT companies in digital solutions drive According to the firm, the merger – by combining the knowledge, knowhow, resources and solutions in the IoT and data analytics fields accumulated by each of the five companies – will allow Hitachi Solutions to better develop its technology to support solutions for challenges faced by society and corporations in China, with the move forming part of a broader global push from Hitachi to develop its social innovation business.

With the aim of helping to build a sustainable society and improve people’s quality of life, Hitachi’s Social Innovation initiative brings together ‘thinkers and doers’ for creative collaboration based on advanced digital technologies. “Currently, the Hitachi Group has been accelerating the global development of its social innovation business and China is one of its most important markets,” the firm said with respect to the merger.

Based on figures provided by Hitachi, the current individual business entities to be merged – each established between 2003 and 2011 – are together home to approximately 450 employees, with broadly ranging capital. The Tokyo-headquartered Hitachi Group as a whole has a global headcount in excess of 300,000, with consolidated 2017 revenues (till the end of March 2018) pushing $90 billion.