Skill Up NeXt Supports Kirin Holdings in Building a Strategic Community to Embed Generative AI

Skill Up NeXt Inc. announced that it has supported Kirin Holdings Company, Limited in building a strategic community aimed at embedding generative AI across the organization. Through Skill Up NeXt’s support, Kirin Holdings introduced “dynamic KPIs” and an “evangelist system” centered on highly engaged core members. These initiatives helped the company overcome the challenge of sustaining community momentum, with frontline teams now voluntarily holding consultation sessions as the community evolves into a self-sustaining organization. In May 2025, Kirin Holdings released its proprietary generative AI tool, “Buddy AI,” to the entire company and launched “Budicle,” a volunteer-based generative AI ambassador initiative, as a key driver of adoption. Although approximately 500 employees joined, far exceeding expectations, posting activity declined after the first month, creating a challenge around maintaining community engagement. The main issues included a lack of manpower, with only one secretariat member supporting around 500 participants; insufficient operational know-how to make the community self-sustaining; the use of the tool itself becoming the goal; and the absence of a clear success image or outcome metrics for the community. The company also lacked experience and expertise in community management, and felt limitations in both strategy formulation and execution. Skill Up NeXt provided two layers of support, covering both strategic design and the planning and operation of initiatives. First, it redefined the purpose of the community and designed dynamic KPIs that evolve according to each phase. It also introduced an evangelist system in which highly engaged core members drive the broader community, creating a structure that enables evidence-based operation even with the constraint of a one-person secretariat. Second, based on the strategy, Skill Up NeXt supported monthly community initiatives built around two axes: generative AI utilization and evangelism. The program incorporated not only knowledge input, but also practical application and the sharing of insights with others, encouraging transformation into a frontline-led, self-sustaining organization. Three months after the start of the support, the community has produced several outcomes. Monthly posts, which had fallen to single digits, recovered, while reactions such as stamps and comments also increased. Based on dynamic KPIs, Kirin Holdings is currently measuring generative AI utilization rates and plans to move into a phase of tracking indicators such as reduced work hours and the number of AI agents implemented, clarifying a medium- to long-term path toward business contribution. In terms of autonomous operations, 25 evangelists now serve as starting points for activities initiated by frontline teams, and those activities are becoming regular. Going forward, Kirin Holdings will further accelerate company-wide generative AI adoption along this clarified path. Rather than making “using AI” an end in itself, the company aims to use the community to implement AI agents that directly solve frontline issues and contribute to concrete business growth, thereby transforming into an organization that continues to create new value. Mr. Motomura of Kirin Holdings’ Digital ICT Strategy Department commented that although around 500 volunteers initially joined, the community faced the challenge of sustaining momentum after just one month due to the limited resource of a one-person secretariat. Skill Up NeXt’s support stood apart from other providers in the high resolution of its concrete measures and the precision of its design, backed by proven results. He said the introduction of dynamic KPIs, which evolve by phase, was particularly impressive because it enabled the team to redefine the purpose logically and eliminate uncertainty in operations. The evangelist system, which develops 25 core members, has also made the ideal form of self-sustaining operation visible. With limited secretariat resources, Skill Up NeXt served as an “external brain” for strategy and a “hands-on partner” for shaping initiatives, providing confidence in steering a large-scale community. Skill Up NeXt’s community building support goes beyond providing a place for interaction. It helps companies design and operate communities as engines of organizational transformation, linked to corporate and DX strategies. The service provides end-to-end support from strategy formulation, talent development, and platform operation to communicating value to management, enabling the creation of sustainable, self-sustaining organizations that do not depend on specific individuals. Skill Up NeXt is an AI solutions company that helps enterprises transform through the implementation of advanced technologies such as AI agents, their adoption within organizations, and the development of people who can use them effectively. The company has supported more than 1,000 companies and local governments to date. With the mission of “promoting the transformation of people and organizations and supporting corporate evolution,” Skill Up NeXt operates not only in AI/DX, but also in next-generation fields such as GX, or green transformation, and quantum technologies.