Mirai Works, which operates a freelance personnel referral business, has newly launched an organization called “Mirai Digital.” This organization can participate in all types of projects, including DX, by forming teams of optimal personnel from as many as 18,000 freelancers. They receive high evaluations from companies, and the number of replacements from major consulting firms is increasing.
“Our freelancers have diverse experience and skills, including those from major firms. In baseball terms, they are like the WBC all-star team. Working with such people offers an overwhelming amount to learn,” says Nagao Masutani, Director of Mirai Digital. This time, we asked Mr. Masutani about Mirai Digital’s initiatives and future outlook.
Nagao Masutani
After joining Nomura Securities as a new graduate and pursuing an MBA abroad, he joined the foreign consulting firm PwC. He then founded a consulting company supporting Japanese companies’ expansion into India. He joined Mirai Works in 2020 and currently serves as Director of Mirai Digital. He has over 20 years of experience handling projects such as corporate strategy formulation, DX support, and overseas expansion support.
In baseball terms, major firms are a single team, while we are the WBC all-star team
──Could you tell us about Mirai Digital’s business?
“Mirai Digital” is an internal organization within Mirai Works. Until now, Mirai Works has mainly focused on freelance personnel referrals, but we provide consulting by forming teams. In that sense, our operations are nearly the same as those of general consulting firms. In fact, major firms like Accenture and the Big 4 are our competitors.
──How do you differ from consulting firms?
I often compare us to a professional baseball team. For example, major firms are like a single team, such as the Giants or Chunichi. On the other hand, Mirai Digital has 13 employees, but about 18,000 freelance consultants are registered, and they are also members of our organization.
Among them are people from Accenture, PwC, and McKinsey. Of course, there are also those who are not from firms, and many people have rare skills.
In other words, in baseball terms, while a firm is one team, we are an all-star team that performed in the WBC. We have consultants of Shohei Ohtani class. Furthermore, while being an all-star team, our cost is about half that of major firms.
Recently, the number of cases where projects delivered by major firms are replaced and entrusted to us is increasing. In one project, both our team and a foreign firm’s team were involved. The foreign firm had two teams, IT and business, but despite being in the same company, there was a lack of coordination and communication, causing problems in project operation.
Naturally, if IT and business don’t connect, the project has no meaning. Our customers had expectations that we could solve that challenge, so they entrusted us with the entire project. At that time, while the major firm had a 5-person team, we divided areas like finance, HR, general affairs, and sales into a 10-person team to enhance specialization in each area. Even so, the cost was lower. This was highly evaluated by the customer. This project has continued for over a year since then.
— So you value communication not only with customers but also within the organization.
Exactly. Another major difference between us and major firms is that we run alongside our customers. Having been at a major firm before, I understand: at major firms, when customers entrust work to them, it’s completed within the firm and only the results are handed over. This makes the thought process a black box.
We don’t do that—we run alongside customers and create together. This gives customers a tangible feel, and even after we leave, knowledge is transferred so customers can run independently. It’s two birds with one stone: solving the challenge while also developing customer’s personnel.
To summarize, being an all-star team, having reasonable cost, and being able to do knowledge transfer through running alongside—these three are our differences from major firms.
— What kind of projects do you handle?
As the name Mirai Digital suggests, we handle many projects that support DX, transforming businesses through digital utilization. We also handle a wide variety of others, including new businesses. We currently have dozens of customers, mostly large corporations.
Leveraging experience as a playing manager, we launched Mirai Digital
──Could you tell us about Mr. Masutani’s career history?
After graduating from university, I joined Nomura Securities, then went to the U.S. for an MBA. After that, I joined the foreign consulting firm PwC and did strategy consulting for about 10 years.
The last project I worked on at PwC required residing in India for half a year, which became the catalyst for starting my own company in 2012. At the time, Japanese companies had not yet expanded into India that much, but being on the ground, I was strongly convinced that India would definitely grow from now on.
Wanting to help companies expand into India, I founded a company and moved to India myself.
──What led you to join Mirai Works?
I was thriving with engagements from multiple major Japanese companies, but the COVID-19 pandemic was a major turning point. The country was effectively in lockdown, and I wondered what to do. After discussing with the about 10 employees at the time, we decided to close the company. Incidentally, some of those former employees now work on Mercari India, all are active in India-related fields.
After that, I met Mirai Works in 2020 and joined. At first, I was in sales, introducing freelancers to companies one by one. Then, leveraging my experience from my firm days, I began proposing in team units.
When actually joining projects with a team, I also entered as a consultant myself. A playing-manager position. This connects to the current Mirai Digital.
While at PwC, I learned PwC’s frameworks and methodology (development methodology). Different companies offer very different learning opportunities and cultures. In other words, because people from various backgrounds gather, methodologies combine to produce even better methods. By entering projects as a team, our strength of having 18,000 professionals can be better leveraged—that’s what I thought.
What we value is diversity. Value increases when members with different strengths gather
──Is managing freelancers the main job of your employees?
We do manage, but we also enter the field together with freelancers. We’re on equal footing with them.
Freelancers are mostly in their 40s and above, with some in their 60s, so naturally many cases involve entering projects with older people. Being on equal footing with experienced professionals on projects offers a lot to learn.
──Are most of your employees from firms?
We consider diversity important, so our organization isn’t only people from consulting firms. We have members with different strengths, including those from business companies and former SEs. I sometimes rely on other members in certain areas as well.
Regardless of age or position, I think it’s an organization where each can create synergy. As for women, we have 2 female employees, but many of the freelancers we work with are women. 40% are women.
──How many projects does one person handle?
Sometimes we focus on one project, but often one person handles 2-3 cases. While some projects last 3 months, customers often continue to entrust us with work, so generally it’s long-term.
──Do you often work on-site at customers’ offices?
Employees basically work remotely. Sometimes we have meetings at customers’ offices to accommodate them. To have organizational touchpoints, we come to the office once a week on a designated day.
In addition to regular meetings with customers, we also have internal regular meetings. We understand what other members are doing and where they’re struggling, helping each other while working.
──Could you tell us your future outlook?
It’s been about a year and a half since Mirai Digital was established, and revenue has reached the scale of a mid-sized consulting firm.
Next fiscal year, we aim for 2 billion yen in annual revenue. To that end, we want to strengthen recruitment and increase new colleagues.
Even those without consulting experience can grow several times faster than at firms
──What skills and experience do you value when hiring?
Mirai Digital has reached a point where major firms can be called competitors, but that recognition hasn’t yet spread. The image of “a company that introduces freelancers,” Mirai Works’s core business, is still strong.
In this context, some people interested in us might be those who feel “firms are out of reach.” We see that as potential. In fact, Mirai Digital has employees who joined without consulting experience. By entering projects together, they gain experience, and now they’re standing on their own.
There are many opportunities to interact with freelance professionals, so there’s a lot to learn. At major firms, there’s little contact with senior people in higher positions like senior managers or directors. But for us, former firm executives now active as freelancers can directly interact with us. Having many opportunities to gain various knowledge is a benefit.
──Doesn’t the speed of growth after joining tend to be faster too?
That’s right. At firms, you typically gain a few years of experience before becoming a senior consultant, then go through stages before being entrusted with PM duties. But at Mirai Digital, you handle project management immediately after joining. What takes a few years at a firm can be experienced in one year. In that sense, I think you can grow about 3 times faster than at a firm.
──Do you have any thoughts on “the kind of people you want to work with”?
What we seek is really just one thing: “honest and hard-working.” That’s all. But as Mirai Works, we have action guidelines called “Mira-ism” that we value. “Mira-ism” is a code of conduct for being professional, and we who interact with professionals must be professional. Therefore, the prerequisite is to first understand and internalize “Mira-ism.”
As mentioned earlier, consulting experience isn’t required. But precisely because of lack of experience, “honest and hard-working” is important. Current members each have their own specialties, so if you have at least one strength, combining with our members can create new things.
Action Guidelines / Mira-ism
Challenge
We challenge ourselves for the future
and grow through challenge.
Initiative
We take responsibility for what happens around us
and act on our own.
Teamwork
We leverage each other’s strengths and individuality
to contribute to team results.
Change
We create change ourselves
and welcome cultural change.
Sustainable Relationships
We sincerely face everyone
and build sustainable WIN-WIN relationships.
[Interview Postscript]
Mr. Masutani’s metaphor of “the WBC all-star team” vividly expresses the company’s strength. An environment where you can form teams with 18,000 professionals and directly absorb knowledge from “Shohei Ohtani-class” consultants from major firms offers overwhelming growth opportunities not available elsewhere. Even those without experience can be entrusted with project management immediately after joining and stand independently at 3 times the speed of firms—a remarkable pace.
Through the interview, I felt that while possessing high expertise, the company values most the integrity of being “honest and hard-working.” The style of valuing knowledge transfer to customers and supporting their self-reliance beyond mere strategy formulation brings a true sense of contributing to strengthening Japanese companies. For those who hunger to evolve at the shortest distance in a sea of professionals, there’s no better field.
ConsulNext / Senior Consultant
Masahito Tsukada
Mirai Works Inc. Company Information
| Company Name | Mirai Works Inc. |
| Founded | March 2012 |
| Business | Talent recruitment and procurement support – Paid Employment Placement Business License No. 13-yu-305507 – Worker Dispatching Business License No. ha 13-305405 |
| Representative Director | Yoshiharu Okamoto |
| Capital | 68,315 thousand yen (as of June 30, 2023) |
| Location | [TOKYO OFFICE] 105-0001 Prime Terrace KAMIYACHO 2F 4-1-13 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo [OSAKA OFFICE] 541-0053 Nomura Real Estate Midosuji Honmachi Bldg. 8F 4-2-12 Honmachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka |
| Affiliations | Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) Japan Association of New Economy Professional & Parallel Career Freelance Association |
