October 23, 2026, 8:00 a.m. (JST)
[Japan] On October 21, 2026, Credit Saison held a media briefing to present the progress of its “CSAX Strategy (Credit Saison AI Transformation)”—which involves redesigning business operations from the ground up with AI at its core—and to showcase specific examples of transformation.The company revealed that the initiative is yielding significant results: against a target of reducing cumulative working hours by 3 million compared to 2019 by the end of fiscal year 2027, it has achieved a cumulative reduction of 2,362,853 hours over approximately one year starting in September 2025, representing 79% of the target.(Konkrie, Kiyotoshi Kojima)
Transforming
Company Operations Through Improved Employee Experience With Stakeholder AX in Sight
The breakdown of time saved from 2019 through the first half of fiscal year 2026 is as follows: in-house development accounted for 1,700,018 hours; no-code/low-code solutions accounted for 163,673 hours; and AI accounted for 499,162 hours.As the company advanced its AI-driven transformation, it faced a rapidly changing environment marked by the successive emergence of new generative AI services.Kazutoshi Ono, Director (and) Senior Managing Executive Officer, CDO (and) CTO at Credit Saison, explained the key to success: “A major factor was that we switched early to a ‘multi-AI’ strategy—flexibly utilizing multiple AI tools in the right places with a startup-like mindset.”
Specifically, while ChatGPT is used as a foundation for thinking and efficiency that all employees can freely utilize, the company employs different tools based on specific use cases: Google AI for document creation by headquarters and sales staff; Microsoft Copilot for administrative staff using Microsoft 365; and OpenAI Codex, Claude, and Amazon Q for engineers engaged in coding.
Regarding ChatGPT Enterprise, the latest figures show 3,645 accounts, 1,205 custom GPTs, and a monthly active user (MAU) rate of 96.0%. The number of Microsoft 365 Copilot accounts stands at 717, while Google AI accounts total 1,447.Mr. Ono stated, “We plan to continue expanding our AI tools—including actively adopting those expected to deliver significant benefits—to achieve even greater efficiency.”
Regarding future prospects, he indicated that the company aims to go beyond Employee AX—which uses AI to enhance the employee work experience—to Corporate AX, which uses AI to transform the very fabric of company operations, including management, administration, and operations,as well as “Stakeholder AX,” which aims to use AI to improve experiences with all external stakeholders, including end users, business partners, and suppliers.
Veteran Employees with Deep Job Knowledge Create New Value Through AI
Following this, Kohei Suzuki of the System Planning Department explained the “Experience × AI” project, which involves 10 veteran employees.The project aims to turn the experience and judgment of veteran employees into organizational assets through AI. It is based on the philosophy of Katsumi Mizuno, Representative Director, President, and Chief Operating Officer (COO), who stated, “It is not those who are knowledgeable about AI who should use it, but rather those who are knowledgeable about the work itself—this is what leads to new value.”
The 10 veteran employees were selectedwere selected from four divisions—Corporate, Processing, Credit & Leasing, and Finance—based on three criteria: “responsible for highly specialized and critical business operations,” “possessing extensive knowledge and expertise cultivated through many years of experience,” and “showing a strong interest in AI and a willingness to take on the challenge of creating new ways of working.”
The key focus of the project was to uncover and visualize the “judgment” that isn’t written in manuals. Rather than focusing on manualized tasks or routine processes, the team worked to visualize the tacit knowledge underlying them—specifically, “what they look for” and “how they make decisions.”Initially, CSAX promotion staff provided guidance as the team carried out the visualization of business processes. Subsequently, veteran employees took the lead and, based on the visualized insights, undertook the redesign of business processes with AI integration in mind.
As a result of this initiative, interviews were conducted and the processes for 31 tasks were visualized. Interviews with veteran employees totaled approximately 101 hours, during which decision-making points and response patterns were organized and compiled into a knowledge base.This resulted in 23 manuals. The decision-making processes made usable by AI amounted to 27 files. The initiative achieved an annual reduction of 2,040 hours in the work time of veteran employees. Mr. Suzuki stated, “We will systematize the insights gained from this initiative and roll them out company-wide.”
Combining the Experience of Veteran Employees with AI to Amplify Results
Following this, veteran employees from the Strategic Human Resources Department in the Corporate Division and the Credit Services Department in the Processing Business Division presented their respective case studies and engaged in a cross-talk session with Mr. Ono.
In the Strategic Human Resources Department’s case study on “system modifications resulting from legal and regulatory changes,” they explained how using GPT as a common language between the Planning Section and the systems vendor solved the problem of “necessary information not being available from the start,” thereby improving work efficiency and accuracy.
In the Credit Services Department, they presented a solution to the challenge where veteran employees were spending too much time answering questions from team members regarding the task of identifying customers for payments made via bank transfer. While knowledge had previously been shared through case studies, they systematically compiled this information into a knowledge base and incorporated it into an HTML app as a training tool, enabling team members to virtually experience the insights of veteran employees.
Veteran employees shared their thoughts, stating, “Rather than simply shifting the experience of veterans to AI, I felt that combining it with AI amplified the effect,” and “When creating the HTML app, we were able to involve many veteran employees. We were able to share new discoveries with everyone.”
Mr. Ono stated, “Japanese companies have historically been criticized for not taking action until the entire roadmap is fully mapped out. While it’s true that we should implement robust systems for core business operations—especially given concerns about security and other risks—it’s also important to adopt a flexible approach to using technology on our own to streamline minor tasks within our teams.”
