A Platform to Address the DX Challenges of SMEs Through Regional Financial Institutions.

While interest in digital transformation among SMEs is rising, many companies struggle to keep up due to insufficient resources and expertise. NTT DX Partner identified regional financial institutions as ideal starting points for SME DX initiatives, as these institutions have cultivated trust and possess deep understanding of local businesses through long-term relationships.
However, the reality is that many regional financial institutions themselves lack adequate DX capabilities. Therefore, NTT DX Partner conceived DXSTAR for Bank as a mechanism to enable these institutions to provide hands-on DX support for local companies—and entrusted AsiaQuest Co., Ltd. with system development.

System Development and SE Training in Parallel

AsiaQuest Co., Ltd. participated from the product’s inception. A cross-border team was formed between the Tokyo headquarters and the Indonesia office, and the project adopted agile methodology, progressing in two-week sprints.

From the first sprint, close coordination and flexibility were crucial. Features were continuously implemented in response to evolving requirements. Alongside development, AsiaQuest Co., Ltd. also supported SE (System Engineer) training with a future in-house development model in mind. Through daily meetings, reviews, and test design/operations, the project advanced under a spirit of co-creation rather than simple outsourcing.

PROJECT INFRASTRUCTURE

Built on AWS

The system adopts a microservices architecture built on AWS (Amazon Web Services), and operates multiple services with auto-scaling centered around ECS※1 (Fargate※2).
User access is routed through Route 53※3 and CloudFront※4, and then distributed to each service via ALB※5. The CI/CD※6 pipeline deploys code from GitHub※7 through CodePipeline※8 to ECR※9. A robust monitoring and notification system using CloudWatch※10 and SNS is also in place, ensuring enterprise-grade security and availability.

Key Technologies:
ECS (Elastic Container Service)
Fargate: Serverless compute engine for containers
Route 53: DNS service
CloudFront: Content Delivery Network (CDN)
ALB (Application Load Balancer): Load distribution
CI/CD: Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery
GitHub: Source code management
CodePipeline: AWS’s CI/CD service
ECR (Elastic Container Registry): Container image storage
CloudWatch: Monitoring service

※1 Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service):
A fully managed container orchestration service that allows you to efficiently run containerized applications on AWS.

※2 Fargate:
A serverless compute engine for containers that works with both ECS and EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service), removing the need to manage servers.

※3 Route 53:
AWS’s scalable and highly available Domain Name System (DNS) web service.

※4 CloudFront:
A CDN service by AWS that speeds up the delivery of web content.

※5 ALB (Application Load Balancer):
Distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as EC2 instances.

※6 CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery):
Automates the testing (CI) and deployment (CD) of code to production environments.

※7 GitHub:
A platform for source code management and collaboration.

※8 CodePipeline:
AWS service that automates release pipelines for fast and reliable application and infrastructure updates.

※9 ECR (Elastic Container Registry):
A fully managed Docker container registry that makes it easy to store, manage, and deploy container images.

※10 CloudWatch:
AWS’s monitoring and observability service for resources and applications.

 

SYSTEM FEATURES

■Owned Media

Quick access to a variety of DX-related articles categorized and ranked for easy navigation. Supports understanding and real-world problem solving.

■Events

Encourages inter-company learning and networking through both online and offline events. Supports the formation and operation of co-creation communities leveraging NTT DX Partner's know-how.

■DX Assessment

Provides both quantitative and qualitative assessments of current DX maturity. Helps clarify strengths and weaknesses and propose optimal strategies and support services.

■Support Services

Introduces DX and business support services offered by financial institutions in a simple format for SMEs. Tied to assessment results for tailored recommendations.

■Online Community

Continues learning and networking post-event via online communication tools like chat and reactions, fostering a practical environment for DX leaders to learn from each other.

 

Co-creating Corporate Value through DX Support and the Evolution of Regional Financial Institutions

Improved Trust and Satisfaction:
Ongoing support strengthens relationships with partner companies.

Enhanced Competitiveness of Financial Institutions:
Assisting client growth raises institutional visibility within the region.

New Revenue Opportunities Beyond Finance:
Providing added value through non-financial services.

Advanced Sales Engagement via “Corporate Communities”:
Encourages collaboration among regional companies and enhances information dissemination and relationship-building by financial institutions.

Promoting Digitalization Across the Regional Economy

Looking ahead, NTT DX Partner plans to enhance the platform by incorporating user feedback and expanding its functionality to offer even greater value. This includes streamlining business processes and enhancing collaboration features for financial institutions.

Furthermore, the number of financial institutions adopting the system will be gradually expanded, building a broader foundation for SME DX support and promoting the digitalization of the entire regional economy.

AsiaQuest Co., Ltd. will continue to work alongside NTT DX Partner to strengthen DX support for regional companies and create new DX initiatives for SMEs.

 

We received invaluable support from AsiaQuest Co., Ltd. in the development of DXSTAR for Bank, our first self-developed platform for financial institutions to support corporate DX.

“What impressed us most was their speed and flexibility. They quickly accommodated specification changes and ensured smooth coordination throughout the project.

AsiaQuest consistently kept our business context in mind and proposed and implemented solutions from a user-first perspective, considering technical feasibility. Their agile development approach was a perfect match.

Initially, we were concerned due to the lack of an in-house engineering team. But rather than a contractor, we were looking for a partner who could grow the service with us. AsiaQuest played that role perfectly.

We look forward to further enhancing the service together to make it even more user-friendly.”

Akari Tokumine
Product Manager, Regional Business Support Division
NTT DX Partner Corporation