Tokyo-headquartered global ICT company Hitachi intends to combine its subsidiaries Hitachi Vantara Corporation and Hitachi Consulting Corporation under one combined organisation and operate under the Hitachi Vantara brand as of January 2020.

The company wants to intensify global expansion of Lumada-based solutions and plans to aggressively invest to drive growth in its 2021 mid-term management plan.

According to a statement about the integration issued by the company, Hitachi "will strengthen front line and delivery capabilities to increase alignment and unlock the synergies between Hitachi Vantara and its vertical business units."

Hitachi has underlined its continued intention to develop and deliver data infrastructure, governance and cloud-based products, digital solutions and professional and managed services.

Toshiaki Tokunaga, chairman of the board of Hitachi Global Digital Holdings, the holding company that oversees Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Consulting, will lead Hitachi Vantara in the dual role of chief executive officer and chairman of the board.

According to Hitachi, Tokunaga brings nearly 30 years of experience in successfully transforming Hitachi businesses.

Brian Householder, the current chief executive officer of Hitachi Vantara, and Hicham Abdessamad, the president and chief executive officer of Hitachi Consulting, will remain at Hitachi in executive leadership positions.

"I'm confident that Hitachi Vantara will deliver even greater value for our customers and partners by reinforcing its digital business and solution delivery capabilities," said Tokunaga. "The combined entity, in collaboration with Hitachi's Global Social Innovation Business, will map to Hitachi's 2021 Mid-term Management Plan, which outlines the expansion of its digital business, global market share growth, and the delivery of social, environmental and economic value for customers and partners."

Householder added: "Hitachi Vantara was created to develop exceptional technologies to help our customers maximise the value of their data, from the datacentre to the cloud and out to the edge. This is a great next step to bring two complementary organisations even closer together to help our customers and partners tap more broadly into the power of Hitachi to drive meaningful business outcomes."

Hicham Abdessamad, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi Consulting, said, "As a consulting-led digital solutions company aligned to Hitachi's social innovation strategy, we have been focused on delivering tangible business outcomes to our customers by leveraging Hitachi's vast information technology and operational technology capabilities. This integration uniquely positions us to accelerate time to value for our customers and provide digital solutions at scale."

Hitachi said that further details regarding leadership and organisational structure will be announces in early 2020.

In June 2019 the Hitachi Vantara subsidiary appointed JP Smith as regional director for East and West Africa.

Smith is tasked with creating a high-performance culture within Hitachi Vantara's local sales organisation and driving success through the delivery of business outcomes for the company's key customers and stakeholders.