D
Digital | Catalyst
Nomura’s
journey
Partner story
TO D I G I T I SAT I O N
Digital transformation underpins organisational
strategy at financial services organisation Nomura,
explains Jane Lin, HR lead, China.
N
omura is a financial services
group, headquartered in Asia,
with an integrated global
network spanning more than 30
countries and a global employee
population of 28,000. By connecting Eastern
and Western markets, the firm aims to service
the needs of individuals, institutions, corporates
and governments through four business
divisions: retail, asset management, wholesale
(global markets and investment banking) and
merchant banking.
We look for talent who can understand
different cultures and backgrounds. We are
Asia-based; our internal culture is that when
all employees respect each other’s backgrounds
and values and work together harmoniously,
Nomura will be better able to meet a wide variety
of customer needs and offer more value-added
services. So that is the kind of talent we seek.
Digitisation is key to our strategy – it’s a
common topic for firms worldwide. It’s hard to
“It’s hard to find
an existing model, as
digital transformation
is new for everyone”
alexandermannsolutions.com
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find a successful story for an existing model, as
digital transformation is new for everyone.
Digitisation needs to comprise three key
elements: first, our top-level executives must
articulate their digital strategy and vision;
second, at mid-management level, we must hire
talent with the digital experience to carry out the
strategy; and third, we need to upgrade the firm’s
data-analysis capability. Overall, our ability to
transform digitally will come down to whether
we can set the strategy and perform the internal
change management required to execute it.
Optimising processes
We are trying to leverage our internal resources
to do this, as well as looking within the market
for external expertise. It’s a challenge to find
the digital skill sets we need externally because
everything is so new.
In HR, we’ve been using technology to
optimise processes: onboarding is now carried
out virtually – new starters receive an email with
a link which has all the new hire information
they need for their first 100 days. We’ve also
launched a cloud-based virtual HR data storage
system; previously, we relied on emails.
In recruitment, we’ve introduced online
testing. People don’t need to do an onsite
first-round interview. If they pass the online
assessment, we invite them for a video-call
interview. Our desk phones have built-in
cameras so we can see colleagues on calls,
enabling human connections and increasing
meeting efficiency by minimising travel.
27,630
Employees in more
than 30 countries