Founded in 1978 as All Japan Inventory Service Co., Ltd., the first company in Japan to offer inventory outsourcing services, Ajis changed to its current name in 1996. Today, the company operates 42 directly managed offices and 31 franchise locations across Japan, centered around six domestic group companies including the headquarters. Ajis holds the No. 1 market share in Japan’s inventory services sector.

Mr. Takashi Nishimoto, General Manager of the Finance and Accounting Department, explains,
“In the chain store industry, Ajis has become an indispensable partner.”

Internationally, Ajis operates eight subsidiaries across East Asia and ASEAN countries, providing inventory services abroad as well.
For accounting at these overseas locations, finance staff from the head office previously traveled to each site on a quarterly basis to verify data stored in standalone accounting software or to interview local tax accountants affiliated with accounting firms in each country.

However, the company faced three major issues:

1. Financial data could not be reviewed unless staff were physically present on-site.

2. Travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to visit overseas offices.

3. There are language barriers when receiving explanations remotely.

Yusuke Ogura, Manager of the Finance and Accounting Department, recalls,
“We realized we needed a system that would allow us to monitor overseas accounting data at all times, without having to be physically present. So in July 2020, we began searching for an accounting solution that could integrate information from our overseas subsidiaries. That’s when an accounting firm supporting our Vietnam office introduced us to GLASIAOUS. After evaluating several different systems, we ultimately chose to implement GLASIAOUS.”

The key reason Ajis selected GLASIAOUS was its robust translation functionality. The company also highly valued its low implementation cost per site. Ajis aimed to build a system that would allow them to continue using the existing accounting software at each overseas office while linking and collecting the data in GLASIAOUS for centralized monitoring.

In addition to its monitoring capabilities, GLASIAOUS was seen as having the potential to serve as the company's future core accounting system—making it a strategic and cost-effective investment.

The implementation began in October 2020, starting with the company’s Korean subsidiary. Business Engineering (B-EN-G) provided support by supplying the necessary documentation, setting up master data, and developing a journal entry import tool.

“Translating the Korean accounting data used to be particularly time-consuming, so the automatic translation function in GLASIAOUS was a huge advantage,” says Mr. Ogura.“We also appreciated how easy it was to configure reports, the ability to immediately view issues and progress through the dashboard at login, and the centralized sharing and management of data and files within the system.”

Leveraging the configuration experience and know-how gained during the implementation at the Korean office, the system was rolled out to the Vietnam office in December, followed by the remaining overseas offices from January to March 2021. From the second office onward, Ajis staff handled the system configuration independently, with B-EN-G providing support only for the development of import tools.

“It took some effort to gather the necessary information—such as what accounting systems were in use at each site and how the account structures were set up,” recalls Mr. Ogura.
“But since our finance team shared a strong sense of purpose, and the Overseas Business Division at headquarters was also very supportive of the project, we were able to complete the rollout smoothly.”