Platio Introduced as Seminar Course Material at Chiba University of Commerce; Students without Programming Experience Create Apps in 1 Hour
Press Release
Tokyo — Dec. 13, 2022 — Asteria Corporation (Japan listed, Security Code: 3853) today announced that no-code*1 mobile app building tool Platio has been introduced for the first time as a learning material in a Japanese university. It has been used in the seminar on digital transformation (DX) and data usage led by Lecturer Masahiro Yokoyama which belongs to Faculty of Service Innovation at Chiba University of Commerce.
Background and Effect
The development of personnel with IT skills is one of the major challenges that Japan faces — According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, there will be a shortage of up to 790,000 IT engineers in 2030*2. Under a research theme of data usage, the Yokoyama’s seminar provides students with the opportunity to learn the effective ways to use IT services and its impact. The aim is to foster IT personnel. But the seminar lacks experiences in which students use data to find problems and address them, a process that goes beyond simply brainstorming.
Yokoyama then considered the introduction of a data utilization tool which can be used by students over the course of seminars. This led to a decision to adopt Platio, a no-code, fully-supported tool that can be handled even by students without IT expertise.
In the hands-on learning experience, students with no programming experience produced an “Event Reception App” with Platio in just one hour. The app created digital tickets and enabled smooth reception for about 100 participants by simply scanning QR code. The elimination of paper tickets also led to the reduction of printing and delivery costs. The practical experience of creating and operating an app at events gave students a chance to identify operational issues and propose improvements.
Asteria will strive to contribute to the development of IT human resources at educational institutions in response to the implementation of mandatory programming in Japan’s elementary, junior high and senior high schools.
[Overview of “Event Reception App” Built by Students]
Messages from Users in Yokoyama Seminar at Chiba University of Commerce
With Platio, students were able to experience both “data utilization,” as event applicant data is used in an app, and “digital promotion,” in which paper is replaced with an app. It was a very meaningful experience for them to identify on-site issues on their own, create the app, and learn about its effect. In addition, the experience of revamping the app through a PDCA cycle is truly practical education that’s instrumental in accelerating DX and adjusting to on-site changes. I believe that this will definitely be useful not only in the IT industry, but also in any profession.
Masahiro Yokoyama
Lecturer of Faculty of Service Innovation at Chiba University of Commerce
Since we had no experience in app development, we were worried about whether or not we would be able to use it, but Platio is really easy to use. Even when we had trouble designing things like sending e-mails or generating QR codes, we could refer to the templates, which makes work smooth. We would like to try our hand at creating different apps in the future.
Asuka Mori, Seiki Kamada and Shota Nagasaki
Students from Yokoyama’s seminar which belongs to Faculty of Service Innovation at Chiba University of Commerce
*1: A mechanism which allows creation of software and apps without writing a single line of code. Platio users can deploy necessary functions and modify app’s specifications to make it more serviceable at worksites, even if they do not have expertise in a programming language.
*2: “Survey on IT personnel demand and supply” released by the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/jinzai/houkokusyo.pdf (in Japanese only)
About Faculty of Service Innovation at Chiba University of Commerce
Educational policy: The curriculum is organized by defining “high ethical standards,” “broad education,” and “specialized knowledge and skills” as “CUC’s three competencies.” This curriculum is characterized by practicality, learning not only academically but also from activities led by students and from companies that are official supporters of CUC.
For more information, visit www.cuc.ac.jp/eng/
About Asteria Corporation
Asteria, formerly Infoteria Corporation, develops and sells software and services which connect a variety of in-house computers and devices. Its key product, ASTERIA Warp, is middleware which integrates data in different computer systems without coding. As of end-September 2022, 9,809 companies, mainly large and medium ones, had introduced the product. Another product, Handbook, allows users to carry around materials used for sales activities and meetings as well as product catalogues in electronic files on smartphones and tablets. A total of 1,670 companies and public institutions had adopted the product through end-September 2022.
For more information about Asteria, visit www.asteria.com/jp/en/
About Platio
Platio is a cloud service which allows users to easily create and use mobile apps that fit specific tasks without coding. By capitalizing on apps which are optimized for each task, Platio promotes digitalization at worksites and improves efficiency of manual processes. Apps created with Platio can be distributed immediately for use at worksites. Data that users entered into an app is stored in the cloud and will be shared real time the up-to-date status of worksites with managers. Apps also can automatically detect changes in entered data and send an alert to managers so that they can quickly respond to anomalies. Apps for businesses tend to be complex and expensive. As an easy app building solution, Platio won Good Design Award for fiscal 2018.
For more information about Platio, visit plat.io/en/home
For the press enquiries, please contact Masumi Koizumi of Asteria’s PR and IR department.
TEL: +81-3-5718-1297 / E-mail: press@asteria.com
For product enquiries, please contact the Marketing Division.
E-mail: platio-pm@asteria.com
Asteria, Handbook and Platio are registered trademarks of Asteria Corporation.
The names of products are registered trademarks or trademarks of individual companies.