Tatsuji Fujii is Shift's Country Manager for Japan
In this installment of the “Four Questions with” series we talk with our Tatsuji Fujii about his career path and what attracted him to Shift, trends in the Japanese insurance industry, and his best advice for Japanese insurers looking to get started started with AI/GenAI.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your career path and what brought you to Shift?
Tatsuji Fujii: I have over 20 years of experience in the consulting and IT services industry, working with clients primarily in the financial and insurance industries. During this time, I have worked on a diverse range of projects, which has given me the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of industry specific needs and trends. In particular, I have always strived to provide my clients with the best services and solutions to facilitate their business growth.
In today's world where pandemics and disasters occur frequently and at unexpected levels, we recognize that insurance companies are expected more than ever to solve social issues such as improving people's health and protecting people from serious disasters. I joined Shift because I believe that we can further contribute to solving social issues together with insurance companies. Shift plays an important role in fulfilling social responsibility together with insurance companies, and I find it very attractive to be able to utilize my experience and expertise. Contributing to building a sustainable future while fulfilling our social responsibility is an important theme in my career.
Our goal is to continue to grow with our clients by leveraging our experience and expertise. In particular, we hope to help our clients further enhance their competitiveness through AI technology and data analysis. I would also like to keep learning so that I can contribute to the development of the industry as a whole.
Q: How would you describe the insurance market in Japan and what makes it unique?
Tatsuji Fujii: The level of insurance penetration in Japan is very high compared to many other countries. People regard insurance as a part of their daily lives and have a very high level of trust in insurance companies. Against this backdrop, insurance is not just a financial product, but plays an important role in providing people with peace of mind. At the same time, however, there have been cases of fraud against insurance companies, and maintaining the trust of policyholders is one of the major challenges.
Shift has established a solid track record with non-life insurance clients in Japan. Based on this track record, we are promoting measures to further build trust. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic fraud against life insurance companies has been on the rise. This situation is a major challenge for the insurance industry as a whole and requires strategies to maintain trust, especially for life insurance customers. We are actively addressing this emerging need and recently began working with one of the leading life insurance providers in Japan!
Q: Why do you believe AI and GenAI are so well adapted to helping Japanese insurers solve some of their toughest challenges?
Tatsuji Fujii: We believe that the Japanese insurance industry faces a number of challenges. Among them, the decline in the workforce is a particularly serious issue. While the workforce is shrinking, fraud against insurance companies is becoming increasingly complex, and new approaches are needed to address this. In this situation, we believe that the use of AI is highly likely to contribute to solving further challenges for insurance companies.
The introduction of AI provides a means for insurance companies to significantly improve their operational efficiency. The use of AI is essential to properly allocate labor and address social issues with limited resources. For example, data analysis using AI will enable us to quickly identify customer needs and risks and provide appropriate services. This will enable insurance companies to conduct business more effectively and improve customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, generative AI is becoming a familiar tool for insurers to improve operational efficiency. Generative AI enables more efficient operations in document creation, data organization, and even customer service. This allows staff to focus on higher-value tasks and increases overall productivity.
Shift’s AI enables insurers to improve the accuracy of fraud detection and risk management. Data analysis based on fraud trends is important to detect fraud, which is becoming more complex every day. Our AI is a powerful tool for fraud detection by performing such data analysis.
Again, we believe that AI will play a very important role in solving the challenges faced by Japanese insurance companies. We believe that the proper use of these technologies will lead to greater efficiency and reliability in the insurance industry. At Shift, we are realizing new value delivery by combining existing AI with generative AI. We will continue to actively incorporate these new technologies to further contribute to our clients' development.
Q: What advice would you give to Japanese insurers evaluating AI and GenAI solutions?
Tatsuji Fujii: We believe that identifying the business challenges faced by insurers and then identifying the most appropriate response is the first step toward effective problem solving. We believe that if AI is the solution, careful consideration should be given to how it is applied. We believe that an approach based on specific needs will produce the most effective results.
If you decide that you need our assistance in this process, we would like to hear from you. We have been providing AI solutions specialized for the insurance industry for more than 10 years and have accumulated a great deal of knowledge in the process. This experience allows us to propose customized solutions for our clients' specific fraud detection needs.
In addition, Shift began researching and experimenting with the use of generative AI nearly five years ago. During that time, we explored how generative AI can be synergistic with our fraud detection solutions and today those capabilities are available in our solutions delivering practical applications for insurers. We can help our customers develop and implement specific strategies to effectively utilize generative AI.
We believe that the proper use of AI and generative AI by insurance companies should enhance our credibility as an industry. We hope to grow together with our clients and together pioneer the insurance industry of the future.
