Why the in-house IT (情シス) team at Japanese companies is increasingly overloaded, the five core challenges they face, and how to solve them without inflating fixed costs.
The real role of the IT department
At many companies, the Information Systems department (often called “情シス” in Japan) is casually seen as “the people who fix computers.” In reality, this team carries the entire digital backbone of the business: infrastructure operations, security, account management, user support, business-system development, and leading digital transformation (DX).
The problem is that this workload keeps growing in step with digitalization, while headcount stays almost flat. The result is that a strategic function is forced to operate in constant firefighting mode.
“The work keeps piling up, but the team never grows.”
A sentiment you’ll hear in almost every IT department — cases stack up while headcount stays the same.
The root problems information systems teams face
Working with many Japanese companies, BAP has found that the difficulties usually come down to six main areas:
① Talent & skills gapNot just too few people, but the wrong skill mix: cloud, AI, security, modern architecture. In-house training takes years. | ② Operations & maintenance loadKeeping existing systems running consumes most of the team’s time, leaving almost no room for new development. |
③ Aging legacy systemsOld, patched-together systems dependent on a few individuals — the very “2025 digital cliff” risk METI has warned about. | ④ DX pressure from leadershipExpected to drive digital transformation, yet without the resources to both operate and innovate at once. |
⑤ Knowledge locked in individualsCritical system knowledge lives in a few people’s heads. When they leave, it becomes a genuine operational risk. | ⑥ Hard to prove valueIT is treated as a “cost center” and struggles to demonstrate contribution — so budgets and headcount get squeezed. |
Why the load on IT departments keeps rising
Three forces are squeezing the in-house IT team at the same time, turning overload into a structural — not temporary — problem:
| ~790,000IT professionals Japan may be short of by 2030 (widely cited METI figure) | 2025 CliffRisk of major economic loss if companies fail to escape legacy systems | Every deptWants to digitalize — but central IT has hard limits |
Three currents — a structural talent shortage, urgent DX pressure, and fast-rising expectations from the field — converge on a single bottleneck: the Information Systems department.
In-house · Hiring · Outsourcing
Faced with this, Japanese companies usually consider three directions. They are not mutually exclusive — the optimal model often keeps the strategic core in-house and outsources what can be standardized.
Because it grants access to development capacity immediately, without raising long-term fixed costs, system development outsourcing is increasingly seen as a strategic lever rather than a stopgap.
Why outsourcing pays off
⚡ Speed to launchPartners come with a ready team and process — projects start in weeks instead of the months hiring takes. | 💰 Cost optimizationShift from fixed costs to per-project variable costs. Offshore in Vietnam offers a clearly competitive cost structure. |
📈 Flexible capacityScale the team up or down by project phase — nearly impossible with fixed permanent hiring. | 🚀 Access to new techPartners accumulate cloud, AI and blockchain expertise across projects that in-house teams can’t build overnight. |
The three outsourcing risks to confront directly
Outsourcing is not risk-free. The three main risks below are all manageable with the right partner and the right method:
The path to a successful engagement
BAP — a development partner, not just a contractor
BAP Solution Japan Co., Ltd. — a software development and offshore company serving the Japanese market, with a legal entity and offices in Tokyo and Osaka. Why BAP fits Japanese companies:
Talk to BAP — free consultation →
We understand your business problem before writing the first line of code.
