Asteria and LayerX to Form Business Alliance on No-Code Integration of “ASTERIA Warp” and “Bakuraku” Corporate Expense Management Services
Press Release
Tokyo — September 5, 2023 — Asteria Corporation (Japan listed, Security Code: 3853) and Tokyo-based SaaS fintech startup LayerX Inc. announced today that the companies have formed a business alliance built upon a collaboration between Asteria’s data integration tool “ASTERIA Warp” (hereinafter “Warp”) and the partner’s “Bakuraku” series of corporate expense management services.
As a first step, the companies will start a collaboration between the “Bakuraku electronic books preservation” service, which responds to the planned enforcement of the electronic books preservation act and an invoice system, and Warp.
Alliance Overview
The alliance will first see the integration of the “Bakuraku electronic books preservation” service in the Bakuraku range of cloud storage services and Warp. This will allow user companies to seamlessly transfer and save documented evidence that have been stored in the core system run by a company or cloud storage to the “Bakuraku electronic books preservation” service, bringing them in line with the electronic books preservation act to be enforced in January 2024.
Background
The electronic books preservation act was revised in 2022 to mandate storage of electronic transaction records in the form of electronic data. The change calls for companies to urgently digitize their accounting operations by, for instance, introducing new systems to comply with the new regulations.
However, many companies handle documents for order management (written quotations, purchase orders, delivery notes, etc.) and accounting documents (invoices, receipts, etc.) on separate systems, and the method of delivery and management of each document varies. This makes it difficult to centralize management of documents related to the electronic books preservation act. Adding to the problem is that the integration of related documents that are managed on separate systems into a single system would require a huge amount of cost due to the need to construct a new system, while the internal management of such a system would be complex.
“Bakuraku” series of corporate expense management services provided by LayerX have been adopted by over 5,000 companies. Among the products, the company launched in 2021 the “Bakuraku electronic books preservation” service, which allows for the storage of invoices, receipts, and other documents related to national tax in the form of electronic data. In addition to the electronic books preservation act, the service also responds to the 2021 revised version of the Japan Image and Information Management Association (JIIMA) certification that recognizes compliance with legal requirements for scanner storage software and another that recognizes compliance with legal requirements for electronic transaction software.
Asteria’s “Warp” has led the domestic enterprise data integration software (EAI/ESB) market for the 16th consecutive year*. Due mainly to its ability to connect to over 100 tools and services without writing a single line of code, the product has been introduced by more than 10,000 companies.
The latest alliance comes as the companies aim to advance digitization of accounting operations in line with the revised electronic books preservation act and the invoice system to be implemented in October 2023. The alliance enables the integration of the “Bakuraku electronic books preservation” service and “Warp”, automatically collecting documents and text-based data stored in the users’ existing systems via Warp and linking these data to the Bakuraku service without coding. This will let users comply with the electronic books preservation act without having to make a big change to their existing systems.
In the future, LayerX and Asteria will undertake joint marketing efforts to enterprises by co-hosting seminars and other activities. In addition, the companies will promote partnership with big system development firms and system vendors through Asteria’s platforms.
Message
We are very honored to be working with Asteria. In order to realize our mission, “Digitizing all economic activities”, we need to collaborate with more enterprise companies and system vendors. As a step toward that end, we believe that the integration of ASTERIA Warp and the Bakuraku electronic books preservation service holds great significance.
I have also known CEO Hirano of Asteria for some time, and I am personally very pleased by this collaboration.
FUKUSHIMA Yoshinori, CEO of LayerX Inc.
The business alliance with LayerX holds the key to promoting the digitization of small and med-sized enterprises that prop up the Japanese economy. ASTERIA Warp enables data integration of the Bakuraku series and various systems, contributing to the automation and increased efficiency of business processes and a swift compliance with the impending enforcement of the revised electronic books preservation act the invoice system. Through joint promotional activities by Asteria and LayerX, we hope to help as many businesses as possible advance their digitization efforts, which we think they will find increasingly valuable.
HIRANO Yoichiro (Pina), President & CEO of Asteria Corporation
*According to the “Overview of software marketing in 2022 — the EAI/ESB market edition”, published by Techno Systems Research Co. EAI/ESB stands for Enterprise Application Integration and Enterprise Service Bus, respectively, and is the enterprise data integration product category.
About ASTERIA Warp
ASTERIA Warp, the No. 1 EAI/ESB product in the Japanese market for 16 consecutive years, is middleware that allows data from different computer systems to be linked without coding. The product has been highly received for its ability to implement complex logic needed to connect and convert data between systems — from mainframes and cloud servers to spreadsheet software — without programming. The subscription version, Warp Core, is also available for a minimum monthly fee of 30,000 yen with no initial fees required. Warp Core, with its select functions of Warp, enables business automation and data utilization by quickly linking with systems and services.
For more information, visit https://www.asteria.com/jp/en/warp/feature/
About Asteria Corporation
Asteria is a software development company, which provides products and services that “connect” systems, people, things and wills to the future based on the concept of “Connecting the World with Software”. Its flagship product, ASTERIA Warp, is middleware which integrates data from different systems and cloud services without coding. As of August 1, 2023, over 10,000 companies had introduced the product. Another product, Handbook, is a business negotiation support app which enables consolidated management of data from diverse origins, such as documents, videos, and websites, through the cloud. Mobile app building tool Platio allows users to easily create and distribute mobile apps befitting specific in-house tasks. Node integration platform Gravio enables integrated management of data collected from multiple areas without coding. By offering these products, Asteria helps companies and organizations promote digital transformation (DX) and improve their business process efficiency.
Furthermore, Asteria is engaged in activities to raise awareness of new technologies and their values and foster innovation through participation in the launch of Blockchain Collaborative Consortium and No Code Promotion Association.
For more information, visit https://en.asteria.com/
About “Bakuraku” series
“Bakuraku” is a range of corporate expense management services that smoothly consolidate invoice processing, expense reimbursement, submission of requests for approval, and corporate cards. The services can be used to comply with the electronic books preservation act and the invoice system, while helping users improve operational efficiency.
For more information, visit https://bakuraku.jp/ (in Japanese only)
About LayerX Inc.
LayerX is a SaaS fintech startup which has the mission of “digitizing all economic activities.” Besides providing its main “Bakuraku” corporate expense management series, the company also develops and runs a joint venture company, Mitsui & Co. Digital Asset Management, Ltd., which aims to become a digitally native asset management company; the PrivacyTech business that strives to leverage data across the organization with its privacy protection technology named “Anonify”; and an R&D team LayerX LLM Labs, which is working to create businesses that take advantage of knowledge accumulated in organizations or improve operational efficiency using large language model (LLM)-related technology.
For more information, visit https://layerx.co.jp/ (in Japanese only)
For the press enquiries, please contact Asteria’s PR and IR department.
TEL: +81-3-5718-1297 / E-mail: press@asteria.com
or
YAMADA Kiyohiro of HR and PR department at LayerX Inc.
E-mail：pr@layerx.co.jp
For enquiries regarding products and services, please contact Asteria’s Marketing Division.
E-mail: pm@asteria.com
ASTERIA and Handbook are registered trademarks of Asteria Corporation.
The names of products are registered trademarks or trademarks of individual companies.