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Navigating Uncertainty: Ballista's Innovative Polaxis Service

In an era marked by geopolitical tension, economic security concerns, and cyber threats, businesses face an increasingly complex landscape of risks. Ballista, a consultancy firm based in Tokyo, has made a significant move to assist companies in enhancing their strategic decision-making and operational resilience. The company has unveiled "Polaxis," an integrated security support service aimed at helping organizations effectively manage these contemporary challenges.

Understanding the Challenge

Today, businesses are contending with a plethora of external risks which have become more intricate than ever before. Issues such as the fracture of supply chains due to the US-China rivalry, reliance on specific countries for resources, and the devastation wrought by cyber attacks all contribute to a precarious operating environment.

As a result, many organizations are increasingly exposed to unpredictable strategic risks requiring advanced risk-reward management strategies. However, enterprises often encounter significant hurdles when trying to navigate this maze of complexity, including:

• - Scarcity of Expertise: There is a shortage of highly specialized personnel with expertise in economic security, export control, and defense sectors within organizations.
• - Lack of Practical Application: Consultative recommendations frequently fail to take root in actual organizational environments.
• - Delayed Decision-Making: Disparities in risk perception between executive leadership and operational teams can lead to sluggish responses during crises.

Recognizing these challenges, Ballista concluded that a comprehensive approach combining solid information with actionable execution frameworks is essential. Thus, the conception of Polaxis emerged.

Introducing Polaxis

The name "Polaxis" is a portmanteau derived from "Polaris," representing unchanging standards, and "Pyxis," a compass guiding directional choices. This innovative initiative aims to offer businesses a reliable axis of decision-making and a strategic pathway amidst the fog of uncertainty.

Polaxis is structured around five key service components that are integrated to effectively address the challenges faced by enterprises:
1. Talent: On-demand provision of specialized knowledge and operational expertise.
2. Consulting: Comprehensive support from strategy formulation to operational structure development.
3. Advisory: Decision-making assistance for executive-level professionals such as CXOs.
4. Academy: Enhancing human capital through increased literacy related to these services.
5. Intelligence: Evaluating business impacts through the collection and analysis of relevant information.

This cyclical model propels organizations to continuously evolve their risk management capabilities, thereby creating a resilient ecosystem capable of addressing emerging threats effectively.

Debuting Polaxis Talent

As the core of this vision, Ballista is launching "Polaxis Talent," a platform designed to fill the pressing need for specialized knowledge implementation quickly and efficiently. The talent pool includes ex-defense personnel, government officials, and seasoned risk management professionals, all equipped with robust persistence and high-level expertise to tackle security challenges facing businesses.

Ballista has already engaged experts in the field, facilitating a swift consultation and requirements analysis to ensure timely assignments. This pioneering service component offers:

• - Expert Research: Regular publication of research reports and conducting commissioned studies.
• - Executive Advisory: Access to experts and former governmental high officials to provide strategic support over the long term (integrated with Advisory functions).
• - Expert Consulting: Assembling teams of specialists for project-based support, addressing not only strategy formation but also execution and project management (integrated with Consulting functions).
• - Recruitment Support: Assisting in the hiring of rare experts focused on security and risk management from Ballista's established network.

Anticipated Support Topics

This service is designed to handle various themes, including:

• - Addressing economic security (e.g., supply chain studies, establishing technology leakage prevention mechanisms).
• - Crafting entry strategies into the defense industry and fostering business development.
• - Developing and training business continuity plans (BCP) in preparation for emergencies.
• - Implementing intelligence functions related to economic security and defense industry internally.
• - Enhancing risk management sophistication through models like the Three Lines Model.

The Ballista Advantage

Ballista's strength lies in its ability to blend:
1. A diverse array of experienced professionals in the fields of security, economic security, and risk management.
2. Practical knowledge derived from extensive support for businesses ranging from large corporations to startups.
3. Business logic that facilitates custom implementation and adherence from strategic development to operational execution.

By combining these three elements, Ballista moves beyond mere information provision to deliver "integrated security support," a distinctive characteristic of their offering.

Success Stories

A snapshot of Ballista’s accomplishments includes:

• - Establishing BCP for leading infrastructure firms.
• - Developing risk management frameworks for major infrastructure and financial institutions.
• - Supporting growth in defense business sectors for mega venture companies.
• - Aiding startups in developing new services within the security domain.
• - Offering consultancy support in economic security initiatives for AI solution providers.
• - Assisting major banks and automotive manufacturers in building internal audit frameworks.
• - Constructing compliance frameworks for leading insurance companies.

Future Outlook

Through Polaxis Talent, Ballista plans to systematically capture and reorganize practical insights into data, subsequently integrating these learnings into the other components of Polaxis. This will greatly benefit the holistic advancement of safety and security business practices across various sectors in Japan.

Moving forward, Ballista aims to further bolster their consulting offerings, which will include degree assessments of impact related to economic security, normalization of vulnerability levels, responses to sanctions and export controls, crisis operation design, tabletop exercises, and support for entering the defense business community as "Polaxis Consulting."

A Vision for Change

According to Ballista CEO Takato Nakagawa, "The environmental changes we face today should not be feared; they present opportunities for growth if approached with the right foresight and adaptability. Unfortunately, many companies currently face a significant deficit in human capital necessary to realize this.

Through Polaxis Talent, we intend to provide professionals who can do more than speculate; they will engage on the ground and actively advance businesses. We promise that Polaxis will serve as a 'strategic compass' for Japanese firms to thrive in the global marketplace."

About Ballista

Ballista is a professional firm dedicated to changing the world by supporting the challenges faced by individuals and enterprises. The company operates in three main sectors: consulting, freelance services, and business development. They redefine the role of consultants to address contemporary corporate and societal issues effectively. Their freelance services aim to disrupt traditional commercial norms to create a more conducive environment for professionals. Finally, in business development, they aggregate experienced specialists to foster the next generation of business leaders.

Location: 6th floor, CIRCLES Kanda Ekimae Building, 2-7-14 Kaji-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
CEO: Takato Nakagawa
URL: Ballista's Website
Contact:

• - Public Relations: Tsuchida, Sakae
• - Email: [email protected]
• - Inquiry Form: Contact Us