[No. 219] Atsuko Oka

I am greatly honored to have this opportunity to contribute to "Jukuin Raiou." I would like to talk about what I learned at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University and how I have applied that knowledge in my professional life.

Until high school, I attended Shonan Shirayuri Gakuen, a private girls' high school near my home. I was good at mathematics but not at Japanese language, so I naturally came to want to enter a faculty of science and technology. After taking the entrance exams, I was admitted to the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University.

Commuting to Keio University from my home in Kamakura City was quite an ordeal, taking about an hour and a half each way with two transfers. However, I quickly made friends and enjoyed the environment where I could learn so many new things. I attended all my classes and took meticulous notes, so many of my friends would copy them before exams. It's a small point of pride that many people knew my handwriting even if they didn't know me (laughs).

My first encounter with computers was at the university. I joined a club called KCS (KEIO Computer Society) and started by creating programs on the mainframe computer at the Hiyoshi Computer Center. In those days, the method was to punch one line of a program onto a single punch card and then feed it into a card reader. I remember being thrilled when the programs I created for assignments given by senior students ran without errors and produced the intended results. Everything was fascinating, including working with classmates on a program to calculate pi and verifying how many digits we could match against the value in books.

In my third year, I chose the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The curriculum was diverse, covering IE (Industrial Engineering), statistics, OR (Operations Research), business administration, econometrics, and computers. On top of that, there were numerous labs and exercises, making for very busy days. We couldn't go home until the labs were finished, which naturally strengthened the bonds among us. I also served as an organizer for a factory tour, and with 50 volunteers from the department, we visited five renowned companies in the Tokai region. Professors Yoshio Hayashi and Masanori Ozawa chaperoned us, making it a very enjoyable extracurricular activity. It also allowed me to deeply understand the connection between industrial and systems engineering, including production engineering, and the actual manufacturing floor. Upon graduating in 1986, I received the Keio Engineering Society Award for being at the top of my department. The watch I received as a supplementary prize is still my treasure today.

After completing my master's degree in 1988, I joined NTT and was assigned to the Software Laboratories. I enjoyed creating programs, but I wanted to do it more efficiently and increase productivity. This desire led me to engage in research on software production technology.

After transferring to a business division (the International Department) in 1996, I studied abroad in the MOT (Management of Technology) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999, sponsored by the company. It was a one-year business master's course for mid-career professionals with technical backgrounds, and I struggled greatly with learning new things in English. However, the probability and statistics, accounting concepts like financial statements, and economics that I had learned in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Keio were almost directly applicable in the classes and proved to be extremely useful. This knowledge was directly utilized in business, and nothing I learned went to waste.

After returning to Japan, I leveraged what I had learned to engage in service and business development based on technology. The year 2000 was called the first year of broadband, a time when broadband services like ADSL and fiber optics expanded significantly. It was an era when watching video services over the internet—something we take for granted now—finally became enjoyable. I was involved in the video streaming business for about 10 years, starting with OCN Theater provided by NTT Communications (which was integrated into Hikari TV in 2008). I continued to work on business development utilizing the internet, and in recognition of my activities during that time,I received the Keio Yagami Prize for fiscal year 2020during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, I was appointed as the first female board director and Head of the Technology Planning Department at the NTT holding company (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation). In this role, one of my duties was to promote digital transformation (DX) across the entire group. The NTT Group consists of over 900 companies, with businesses spanning mobile communications, SI consulting, regional communications, infrastructure, and urban development. With each company having its own existing operations, standardizing tasks and tools was difficult, and many initiatives did not easily gain consensus. However, I feel that the process of fundamentally reviewing processes, promoting efficiency using new technologies, applications, and tools, and creating new value was a direct application of what I learned in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

After serving as a board member at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation for four years, I am now the President and Chief Executive Officer of NTT TechnoCross, one of its direct subsidiaries. Together with about 2,000 employees, I am promoting a business that solves social issues with software and technology.

Although I have passed my 60th birthday, in this era of 100-year lifespans, I believe there is still much I can do to contribute to society. New technologies like generative AI are constantly emerging, and there is still much to learn. I intend to continue contributing to society by leveraging the wonderful education and network I gained at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University.