Hmcomm Inc. (265A) Stock Price

Hmcomm conducts research and development of AI technology centered on "sound" through to commercialization and operation in-house. The company provides commercial services including voice recognition products for contact centers, voice-based automated response systems, meeting minutes generation, and abnormal sound detection for equipment.

The company prioritizes real-world implementation of research outcomes and is expanding its product portfolio while advancing the use of generative AI. Its primary customers are companies operating contact centers, spanning diverse industries including mail-order sales, education, infrastructure, railways, and livestock farming. Revenue is composed of a single "AI × Sound" segment, with product business accounting for approximately 60% and solution business approximately 40% in fiscal 2024. Primary revenue sources include development fees at implementation, license fees, subscriptions, and consulting and development contracts. Sales are primarily direct (approximately 81%), with distribution partners (approximately 19%) also utilized to capture large-scale projects.

The business is divided into two main segments: AI Product Business and AI Solution Business. The former offers "Voice Contact" (real-time call transcription, FAQ suggestions, automatic summarization), "Terry" (automated phone response for order processing and identity verification), "ZMEETING" (automatic meeting minutes generation, real-time translation, summarization), and "FAST-D" (abnormal sound detection for equipment). The latter leverages expertise in AI, BI, CI, and DI developed through products to provide consulting and development support for data utilization including generative AI and DX promotion, addressing customer challenges and building pathways to product adoption.

The company aims for growth centered on "AI × Sound," with near and medium-term priorities on expanding its product lineup and accelerating project acquisition. In fiscal 2024, AI product business accounts for approximately 60% of revenue and solutions business for approximately 40%. The company executed a plan to build 66 new projects through co-creation with existing clients in 2024. Over the medium term, it plans to expand from its current 4 products to 8 products, managing progress through KPIs including account numbers, generative AI revenue ratio, project count, and engineer headcount, while aiming to improve profitability and financial stability through metrics such as revenue growth rate, operating profit margin, ROE, and equity ratio.

The company's core competitive advantage is its end-to-end approach from research and development through product commercialization and operation. It prioritizes investment in products including Voice Contact for real-time call transcription and auto-summarization, Terry for automated phone responses, ZMEETING for meeting minutes creation, and FAST-D for anomalous sound detection in factories and equipment. Feature development focuses on reducing operational burden, including VOC (voice of customer) analysis, generative AI-powered summarization, and automatic detection of aggressive tone to trigger remote support. Sales channels comprise approximately 81% direct sales and approximately 19% through distributors, with strengthened partnerships with call center BPO providers to capture large-scale projects.

For new market development, the company plans cross-industry adoption across railways, manufacturing, power, real estate management, and livestock farming. Leveraging FAST-D's approach of giving equipment "hearing" through anomalous sound detection, it will expand insights from pilot projects to other industries and accelerate new client project acquisition through industry-specific proposals using existing solution cases. Additionally, it strengthens promotion through trade show participation and case studies, expanding cross-selling from individual problem-solving projects to product adoption to stabilize revenue.

For technological innovation, the company continuously invests in research and development of voice-to-text conversion, emotion analysis, anomalous sound detection, and generative AI applications, while advancing recruitment and training of talented personnel. R&D selects issues with commercialization potential in the initial phase, gathers customer challenges in the project phase, and packages technology through cross-functional teams of internal consultants, engineers, and marketing to develop new products. On information management, the company advances system development including ISO/IEC 27001 certification and privacy mark acquisition, aiming to provide end-to-end safe data collection, model creation, and operational deployment.