Notice Regarding Appointment of Chief Data Officer (CDO)

　Bengo4.com, Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and CEO: Taichiro Motoe; hereafter “the Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Takayuki Kawabata as Chief Data Officer (CDO) on January 6, 2025.

　In line with its vision to “Drive a paradigm shift for the better world, “ the Company has developed and provides a wide range of services, including one of Japan’s largest legal consultation portal sites, Bengoshi.com, and the contract management platform CloudSign®. Since 2023, the Company has also been advancing the development of products that incorporate generative AI, and utilization of the data held by the Company is a matter of urgency.

　Meanwhile, the Company will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its establishment this year. To make full use of the big data accumulated over the course of 20 years and to provide more meaningful value to society, the Company appointed a CDO for the first time. Going forward, the Company will aim to further accelerate data utilization and product development tied to data utilization, aiming to become one of Japan’s leading professional tech companies.

■ Profile of Takayuki Kawabata, Chief Data Officer (CDO)

　After receiving his master’s degree in computer science from Meiji University Graduate School of Science and Technology, Mr. Kawabata joined Canon Inc., where he was involved in research and development in areas such as recommendation pattern mining, anomaly detection, failure prediction, and flow analysis. 

　In 2014, he joined CyberAgent, Inc., where, in his role as Senior Data Scientist, he was engaged in the development of prediction models and new functions in the ad technology domain. After leading the data analysis team of CyberAgent’s ad tech division, Mr. Kawabata established and was put in charge of CyberAgent’s AI Lab in 2016. Here, he was involved in the development of AI technologies such as the chatbot service AI Messenger. 

　In February 2018, Mr. Kawabata joined Classi Corp. As General Manager of the Data and AI Department, he was involved in the provision of new learning using data technology. 

　In October 2019, Mr. Kawabata joined FLYWHEEL, Inc. As Head of Data Science, he supported the successful delivery of data solutions for various industries and companies. In his role as General Manager of the Data Department, he was instrumental in recruiting and developing highly data literate human resources. 

　Mr. Kawabata joined Bengo4.com, Inc. in July 2024, and was appointed to his current position of Chief Data Officer (CDO) in January 2025.

■Comment from Mr. Kawabata

　I am Bengo4.com’s new Chief Data Officer, Takayuki Kawabata. I think that, today, there is a dawning realization in many fields that, just as we are seeing with generative AI right now, data has the power to reshape our world. I believe that in many domains, including the legal domain in which we operate, data will be key to solving complex issues and opening up new possibilities.

　In modern society, data has become a key infrastructure underpinning the sustainable growth and value creation of organizations. Currently, however, at many companies it is often the case that data is stored in separate systems for each business process and department, giving rise to data silos that make sharing and utilization among organizations difficult. Provided we draw out its full potential, data will serve as the basis for fairer, more transparent decision-making. By solving such issues and centralizing data, I intend to create new business possibilities.

　I am determined to continue doing my best to deliver even greater value to customers and society through the provision of innovative solutions in the legal domain.