Company Introduction

Kashino Management Co., Ltd., a professional services and consulting firm based in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, aims to use the power of AI to maximize the potential of each employee and contribute to solving the management issues of local small and medium-sized enterprises.

Kashino Management has a long history, having been founded 40 years ago as a tax accountant's office by the father of current president Shingo Kashino. Shingo and his brother took over the business, and 18 years ago they also started a consulting business. Kashino Management has been working closely with clients to solve their management issues, such as business succession and M&A. In recent years, they have been strengthening their support in the area of management resources, particularly in the area of "people," such as by helping to build personnel evaluation systems.

Shingo says, "Our strength is that we can provide one-stop services from business plan formulation to implementation support, based on our knowledge of finance and accounting." Kashino Management has supported the growth of its clients by combining the expertise of tax accountants with the strategic thinking of consultants. Although it is a small office with only about 20 employees, it has earned the trust of local companies.

"However, as the speed of environmental change increases, we ourselves must continue to change," Shingo said, expressing a sense of crisis. The rise of AI is bringing about a wave of major change in the world of legal professionals.

A sense of challenge

Representative Director Shingo Kashino turned his attention to AI because of his sense of social mission to correct the digital divide. There is a huge disparity in the use of AI and IT between urban and rural areas, and between large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises. However, in an age where the internet is widespread and cloud services are commonplace, Kashino believes that with the help of AI, we will enter an era where anyone can innovate on an equal footing, regardless of their boundaries.

"The 'jobs that will disappear in the future' announcement in 2015 was a big shock," Shingo recalls. Data entry and auxiliary work for professionals will be replaced by AI in the future. 80% of Kashino Management's employees are not professionals, so the risk of losing their jobs cannot be ignored. Kashino felt a growing sense of crisis, saying, "Professionals protected by the government may survive, but assistant work will disappear one by one." In order to protect the jobs and futures of his employees, he decided to make AI his ally.

"AI is not a threat, but rather an opportunity. If you learn, anyone can be on the same level as others in utilizing AI." So says Kashino, who decided to introduce a generative AI like ChatGPT called "Corporate Reskilling" and a chatbot for businesses called "AI Works." The goal is to expand the future possibilities of employees and let them experience how the power of technology can change the way they work.

Benefits of using generative AI

After the introduction, Kashino himself took the initiative to start using AI, using it for a wide range of purposes, including creating meeting minutes, drafting emails, summarizing sales materials, and coming up with ideas for lectures.

The use of AI is gradually spreading among employees. There is a movement to increase the efficiency of each task with the support of AI, such as creating internal documents, drafting emails, and writing scripts for social gatherings.

"Subsidy application work is a perfect subject for utilizing AI," says Shingo, his eyes shining. Up until now, employees have had to create application documents manually. If this can be automated with AI, it will be possible to significantly reduce the time required. "With the time saved, we can discuss our clients' vision for the future. That's the added value we get as consultants," says Shingo.

By making full use of AI, it is possible to not only improve the efficiency of operations but also to increase the value provided. Kashino Management has begun to put this into practice.

Future outlook

Kashino believes that in order to advance the transformation of the legal profession, it is first necessary to change the mindset within the company. By utilizing AI, peripheral tasks can be automated and the time saved can be used to focus on dialogue with customers. He believes that this will lead to the creation of consulting services with higher added value.

For example, the AI can learn company regulations, FAQs, sales materials, etc., and the chatbot can automatically respond to customer inquiries. This alone should greatly reduce the burden on assistants. Furthermore, if the AI learns the vast amount of information the company has accumulated over the years, such as the history of its customers from its founding to the present, it will be able to provide more insightful advice.

"Using AI will accelerate our own growth," says Kashino. Instead of waiting to be taught by senior employees as in the past, employees will learn proactively by asking questions to the AI. This will allow employees to acquire the "ability to learn" rather than the "ability to be taught."

Perhaps at the heart of change lies a sense of crisis and mission. "Accounting firms have the most information about their clients. Our mission is to have AI learn from that information and turn it into added value."

Going beyond the boundaries of professional services, designing the future of the region with the power of technology. Kashino Management Co., Ltd.'s challenge has just begun. In addition to leading the use of AI within the company, Shingo plans to work with other companies in the same industry in the region to drive industry change.

"We want to carve out the future for Japan's legal profession from Kanazawa. That's the kind of ambitious goal we are aiming for," Kashino says with a laugh.

Fostering a regional economic ecosystem and spreading the benefits of technology from the region to the whole country. Kashino Management's challenge has only just begun.