[North Sand] Our Views on the Advancement of AI
Comprehensive consulting firm North Sand announced its views that consulting demand will not decrease despite the rapid advancement of AI, and they will continue hiring inexperienced and junior personnel.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 14, 2026 at 00:30
- 🔍 Collected: April 13, 2026 at 16:35
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 20:33 (147h 57m after Collected)
North Sand, Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Tomohiro Maeda; hereinafter referred to as the "Company"), a comprehensive consulting firm, has summarized its views on questions received from shareholders and investors, given the growing interest in structural changes in the IT and consulting industries accompanying the rapid advancement of AI.
Question 1: "Will the rapid development of AI make consulting jobs unnecessary?"
The Company believes that the demand for consulting will not decrease due to the development of AI.
The job of consulting is highly dependent on "people," involving non-routine tasks that accompany relationships of trust with clients, implicit knowledge within organizations, and important decision-making, where clients feel "I can leave it to this person." We consider this an area that is structurally difficult for AI alone to replace.
Furthermore, in Japan, we believe that the demand for consulting is prone to increase due to employment practices and unique organizational structures (*1). Japan has a custom of membership-type employment and a high-context communication culture, which structurally incurs large coordination costs between departments, making it difficult for rapid insourcing to progress as seen in Western countries.
We believe that the demand for consulting services like ours, which step in as a bridge and lubricant within organizations, will continue in the future.
Question 2: "Isn't it a risk to continue hiring inexperienced and junior personnel?"
The Company has no policy of reducing the hiring of inexperienced and junior personnel even in the AI era.
It is said that inexperienced individuals have the characteristics of seeking feedback from others (*2), readily accepting pointing out of mistakes (*3), and immediately putting things into action (*4). Also, because they have few cognitive biases and are not bound by existing frameworks, they tend to be less likely to make rash judgments (*4), and it is said that their innocent nature brings bold proposals and fresh ideas (*5).
We believe these are important elements in building trust with clients, and the Company will actively hire such talent.
Additionally, we believe that if junior hiring is reduced, risks will increase, such as "hollowing out" where there are no personnel to take on the role of next-generation leaders, "external dependence" where lacking personnel must be relied on from outside hiring, and "rigidity" where the organization becomes uniform and fears taking risks.
We believe that the junior demographic has the role of proactively preventing such risks, sustaining the organizational culture, and enhancing the company's competitive advantage, and the Company will continue to hire junior personnel.
From the above, we believe that the development of AI will not have a negative impact on the Company's business, but rather will bring a positive impact on business performance and operations from the perspective of acquiring AI-related projects and streamlining operations.
On the same day, we also disclosed our views from the Company's IR page. Please refer to that as well.
▼Notes
*1 Sources regarding the characteristics of Japanese organizational structure:
Yuji Kobayashi, "Managers becoming a penalty game: How to fix a workplace full of bugs" (2024) Shueisha International
"There is a characteristic where the communication of command and instruction connecting organizations forms a 'nested' structure." p.119
"The reality of Japanese organizations is that such 'nested' structures fold over from the executive level to the chief level, causing duplication in the decision-making process." p.121
Aoki, Masahiko. Horizontal vs. Vertical Information Structure of the Firm (1988), American Economic Association.
Question 1: "Will the rapid development of AI make consulting jobs unnecessary?"
The Company believes that the demand for consulting will not decrease due to the development of AI.
The job of consulting is highly dependent on "people," involving non-routine tasks that accompany relationships of trust with clients, implicit knowledge within organizations, and important decision-making, where clients feel "I can leave it to this person." We consider this an area that is structurally difficult for AI alone to replace.
Furthermore, in Japan, we believe that the demand for consulting is prone to increase due to employment practices and unique organizational structures (*1). Japan has a custom of membership-type employment and a high-context communication culture, which structurally incurs large coordination costs between departments, making it difficult for rapid insourcing to progress as seen in Western countries.
We believe that the demand for consulting services like ours, which step in as a bridge and lubricant within organizations, will continue in the future.
Question 2: "Isn't it a risk to continue hiring inexperienced and junior personnel?"
The Company has no policy of reducing the hiring of inexperienced and junior personnel even in the AI era.
It is said that inexperienced individuals have the characteristics of seeking feedback from others (*2), readily accepting pointing out of mistakes (*3), and immediately putting things into action (*4). Also, because they have few cognitive biases and are not bound by existing frameworks, they tend to be less likely to make rash judgments (*4), and it is said that their innocent nature brings bold proposals and fresh ideas (*5).
We believe these are important elements in building trust with clients, and the Company will actively hire such talent.
Additionally, we believe that if junior hiring is reduced, risks will increase, such as "hollowing out" where there are no personnel to take on the role of next-generation leaders, "external dependence" where lacking personnel must be relied on from outside hiring, and "rigidity" where the organization becomes uniform and fears taking risks.
We believe that the junior demographic has the role of proactively preventing such risks, sustaining the organizational culture, and enhancing the company's competitive advantage, and the Company will continue to hire junior personnel.
From the above, we believe that the development of AI will not have a negative impact on the Company's business, but rather will bring a positive impact on business performance and operations from the perspective of acquiring AI-related projects and streamlining operations.
On the same day, we also disclosed our views from the Company's IR page. Please refer to that as well.
▼Notes
*1 Sources regarding the characteristics of Japanese organizational structure:
Yuji Kobayashi, "Managers becoming a penalty game: How to fix a workplace full of bugs" (2024) Shueisha International
"There is a characteristic where the communication of command and instruction connecting organizations forms a 'nested' structure." p.119
"The reality of Japanese organizations is that such 'nested' structures fold over from the executive level to the chief level, causing duplication in the decision-making process." p.121
Aoki, Masahiko. Horizontal vs. Vertical Information Structure of the Firm (1988), American Economic Association.