June 25, 2021 The DX & SX Era

I’d like to share some thoughts on DX and SX, concepts that I mentioned in installment 65 (in Japanese) of "Let's Go Operation First", my serialized Column that’s published in our monthly email newsletter.

I’m pretty sure you've heard of DX, or Digital Transformation. We offer DX solutions (in Japanese) as part of our service line-up; furthermore, the concept seems to have become such a buzzword in-and-around the IT industry, especially since last year, that barely a day goes by without seeing either the term or two-letter abbreviation.

There are numerous meanings and definitions of the two-word term, however, the one most often cited as the original meaning is from a paper published in 2004 called " Information Technology and The Good Life ". This was 17 years ago, so it's not exactly a new term.

In the thesis, the authors, Prof. Erik Stolterman and a colleague, discuss the changes that the application of digital technology brings to our lives. I feel that is often used in the sense that information technology makes society better, but what I personally would like to focus on, as in the original sense, is the reference to aesthetic experience.

The aesthetic experience is explained in detail in the article "What is Digital Transformation" by Spelldata, Inc., a company we work with to improve display performance. The article explains how aesthetic experience is an effective way to understand how digital technology is transforming society, which is something I've been focusing on recently with SX.

SX, or Sustainability Transformation, is a term that, as far as I know, has become well known since the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established the Study Group on the Creation and Realization of Sustainable Corporate Value (in Japanese). In the Group’s interim report (in Japanese), the committee defined SX as "the synchronization of corporate sustainability (earning power) and social sustainability (social issues and future markets)".

As I wrote in my Column "Initiatives Toward Achieving the SDGs and Web Design", an increasing number of companies are proactively working toward implementing the SDGs. As society continues to change rapidly, the importance of SX will only increase in the future. This is because it’s directly linked to the sustainability of companies themselves as well as the contexts in which they work to solve social issues through their core businesses.

I'm not trying to argue that SX is more important than DX. I believe that they’re both about aesthetic experience, and that both will be essential concepts in the design of future corporate activities. Instinct tells me that we’re entering an era of DX & SX, not one or the other.

In Japan, a revised Corporate Governance Code has just been published. One of the key points of the revised code is "Attention to Sustainability and ESG", this focus provides us with an indication of the coming of such an era. At Mitsue-Links, we will continue to support the promotion of DX & SX in client companies through our sustainable web design solutions (in Japanese).