JBS Supports au Kabucom Securities to Deploy a Virtual Desktop Compatible with Hybrid Work Styles

Japan Business Systems, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato Ward, Tokyo; President: Yukihiro Makita; securities code: 5036) today announced that is supporting au Kabucom Securities Co., Ltd . (Headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President: Akio Ninomiya; hereinafter “au Kabucom”) in the process of its headquarters relocation to develop a virtual desk top environment using Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and construct a flexible hybrid work environment compatible with any work location where employees are working. JBS is publishing this project as a case study that resulted in the deployment of 500 virtual desktops to respond flexibly to hybrid work styles so that employees can work from any location and swiftly created a secure working environment.

au Kabucom introduced working from home (WFH) even before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as it adopted an approach where each employee accessed their own office desktop PC remotely via VPN, this meant that there had to be someone at the office to ensure that the office PCs were physically switched on. It was also the case that some PCs were not SSD encrypted, making them vulnerable to attack and information being stolen. Recognizing that its existing setup was operationally inefficient, and the security measures were incomplete, au Kabucom decided to use the opportunity provided by its headquarters relocation to transition to a virtual desktop system, so that all employees could engage in remote work with greater ease and peace of mind.

It was decided to implement a virtual desktop using AVD in order to effectively utilize the Microsoft 365 environment that au Kabucom has installed company wide. au Kabucom also made the decision to partner with JBS for this project, given JBS’s track record in supporting the implementation of various Microsoft products at au Kabucom, and in recognition of its knowledge relating to security measures unique to the financial industry. During the project validation period, JBS provided overall support for the project, focusing on technical support, such as tuning the virtual desktops when the processing load became heavier than expected and the response time underperformed that of conventional desktop PCs, and automatically turning off the PCs when not in use to prevent recurring charges and optimize costs.

As a result of the implementation of AVD enabling employees to work flexibly in any location of their choosing, au Kabucom was also able to enhance its business continuity plan (BCP). OS security patches, etc., are applied without delay, and the usage status of each user can be monitored and managed from one location, greatly improving the level of security. Also, when scaling up the implementation of the virtual desktop, the flexibility to expand without procuring additional host servers or changing network configurations, as is necessary with on-premises VDI, enabled deployment with no additional costs. au Kabucom is also considering ways of realizing further cost reductions by devising session connections that match the frequency of user’s usage status and is building a disaster recovery (DR) system by making the AVD environment redundant, in efforts to further optimize systems. In addition to AVD, the company is also looking into ways to leverage its Microsoft 365 environment to boost user productivity and promote digital transformation (DX). JBS also supports the utilization of generative AI such as Copilot for Microsoft 365 and is assisting au Kabucom in its DX initiatives.

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Example of Improved Productivity and DX Promotion in a Hybrid Work Environment: au Kabucom Securities Co., Ltd. (Japanese Only)