The "Other Employee" for the Era of Labor Shortages: marutto Inc. Launches AI Agent Service "Marutto AI Agent" for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Marutto AI Agent

marutto Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Osaka; CEO: Hideyo Konishi; hereinafter "the Company"), which provides IT consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has launched "Marutto AI Agent," an AI agent service designed to address labor shortages and knowledge silos within SMEs. For companies that have struggled to adopt general-purpose generative AI tools, the service aims to achieve "AI that continues to be used" by starting with a review of business operations, designing customer-specific agents, and providing monthly operational support.

■ Background: The Era of Labor Shortages and AI Implementation Stumbling on "Operational Design"

In the SME sector, the situation of "difficulty in hiring, developing, and retaining employees" has become the norm. For example, 50.0% of accounting staff cite "knowledge silos" as a problem (Note 1), 87.4% of managers are "playing managers" (Note 2), bankruptcies due to labor shortages are projected to reach 427 cases in 2025 (Note 3), and the rate of SME DX initiatives remains at 40.6%, widening the gap with large corporations by 25.4 percentage points (Note 4).

Meanwhile, new challenges are emerging in AI implementation. According to a major research firm's forecast, over 40% of agentic AI projects are expected to be canceled by the end of 2027 due to high costs, unclear benefits, and insufficient risk management (Note 5). The success or failure of implementation hinges not on technical prowess, but on "operational design" challenges such as quality control mechanisms, security, internal rules, and accuracy refinement.

Our company itself operates multiple AI agents daily for internal tasks. We automate tasks such as morning situation assessments, automatic generation of financial reports, and consolidation of meeting minutes scattered throughout the company, refining the operational design necessary to keep AI in daily use beyond just "implementation." This service is built upon the knowledge gained from these internal practices.

■ Service Overview: Designing and Operating "Customer-Specific" AI Agents

"Marutto AI Agent" is not a general-purpose tool but a dedicated AI agent service designed to match customer business operations. It aims to be an "employee" type agent that receives, executes, and reports, rather than a mere "dictionary" type that only answers questions.

We define the agent's scope of responsibility, integration partners, and operational rules based on industry practices. A key feature is weaving "business context" and "company-specific judgment criteria," which are difficult for general generative AI tools to handle, into the agent's design. It can be integrated into the customer's operational structure, from management to the front lines.

Difference Between AI Tools and AI Agents

■ Service Process: Towards "AI That Continues to Be Used" in 3 Steps

1. Business Process Review Workshop (Half-day / 2 hours x 2 sessions)

We visualize customer operations together and draw a line between tasks handled by AI and those handled by humans. This allows confirmation of suitability with your company's operations before full-scale implementation.

2. Design and Construction of Customer-Specific Agent

Based on the workshop, we design and build a customer-specific AI agent. From initial consultation to deployment, the agent will be ready for work in approximately 12 weeks (this may vary depending on the scope and scale of operations).

3. Monthly Subscription for Operational Support

We don't stop at construction and delivery. Through monthly reviews, we check performance and results, provide tuning for changes in operations, suggest improvements for new use cases, and add/expand roles as needed, all through a monthly subscription.

The success of implementation is determined not at the launch, but afterwards. We are committed to supporting our clients until the AI is continuously used in their operations, not just through the construction phase.

■ CEO's Comment

Hideyo Konishi, Representative Director and CEO

"At marutto, we ourselves initially found that simply implementing generative AI tools did not lead to their adoption within the company. What we learned from our failures is that the essence of AI implementation lies not in technology, but in 'operational design.' We want to deliver a system that designs agents tailored to customer operations and supports them until they are continuously used, rather than just selling general-purpose tools, to all SMEs struggling with labor shortages."

■ Service Launch and Application

Launch Date: June 2026

Service Page: https://www.marutto.co/service/aiagent

We are accepting 30-minute online free consultations.

Business Process Review Workshops (Half-day / 2 hours x 2 sessions) are also being accepted sequentially.

■ Company Profile

Company Name: marutto Inc.

Location: Uchihonmachi B&M Bldg. 201, 1-1-6 Uchihonmachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 540-0026, Japan

Representative: Hideyo Konishi, Representative Director

Business Activities: Support for AI agents, project management, core system implementation, and information system outsourcing.

URL: https://www.marutto.co/

marutto Inc.

■ Inquiries from Media Regarding This Release

marutto Inc.

E-mail: contact@marutto.co

【Sources】

(Note 1) "Survey on Working Styles & Practical Issues of Accounting Staff in SMEs" by Miroku Information Service Co., Ltd. (MJS), 2024 (n=362)
(Note 2) "Management Practice Survey" by Recruit Management Solutions, 2024
(Note 3) "Survey on Trends in Bankruptcies Due to Labor Shortages" by Teikoku Databank, 2025
(Note 4) "Survey on DX Promotion in SMEs" by Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, 2024
(Note 5) Gartner, "Gartner Predicts Over 40% of Agentic AI Projects Will Be Canceled by End of 2027" (June 2025)