Cybozu, Japan's #1 Collaboration Platform provider, outlines Asia Business Strategy

In January 2020, a new Business Strategy Office was established to strengthen the global deployment of Cybozu's sales expansion. In particular, kintone, a cloud-based app for work improvement, is seeing steady sales in the Asia Pacific region, where it is used as a platform by companies implementing the latest work styles. Going forward, Cybozu will to continue to focus resources on this flagship product.

To date, sales have started in major cities located in eight countries in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, and Laos). Cambodia will be the ninth country where partners are located. In addition, there is also a study underway to examine the establishment of local subsidiaries in these nine countries. Cybozu will strengthen activities aimed at establishing a globally common sales system and business model within three years.

In order to strengthen activities in the Asia Pacific region, Cybozu will also actively recruit students from the Asia Pacific region and focus on developing human resources that may play active roles in their home countries in the future.

"With 'creating a society brimming with teamwork' as our vision, Cybozu offers tools globally for creating information-sharing platforms for all kinds of teams. As the improvement of productivity and work efficiency is pursued everywhere, we strongly feel the need for tools that can achieve these goals in the rapidly growing Asia Pacific region. Cybozu, in particular, is well-versed in the software as a service (SaaS) business that utilizes cloud-based technology and has become the standard in recent years. We believe that we can lead the market in this business.

Looking at the future, cloud tools capable of communication regardless of location will become essential during emergencies such as a pandemic. In Japan, there are already cases of cloud tools being used as a platform for virtual offices. Going forward, we intend to take advantage of our knowledge to reach the global market and to further strengthen activities to improve work efficiency and teamwork with companies seeking new working styles or preparing for emergencies."

- Total number of companies in Asia Pacific region using kintone: 590 in fiscal 2019 (39% increase from the previous year)

- Examples of companies using kintone: Gojek in Indonesia, Seiko (Thailand) Co., etc.

Cybozu's consolidated sales in fiscal 2019 was approximately 13.4 billion yen (28% increase from the previous year), with more than 70% coming from cloud-related sales.

kintone is a platform provided by Cybozu, Inc. for developing work apps. It allows the development of work apps according to the customer's purpose, including sales management; customer management; project management; visualizing business progress; to-do lists and tasking of teams; and communication across departments.

In Japan, kintone is used by 14,000 corporate customers and is increasingly used globally, mainly in the United States, China, and Southeast Asia. Currently, seeking to move from No. 1 in Japan to No. 1 in the world, efforts are being undertaken in product internationalization and global sales.

Since its establishment, Cybozu has been developing collaboration tools that can utilize Internet technologies. To date, Cybozu's products have been used by more than nine million people globally. Financial results have grown since the cloud service kintone was released in 2011, and currently, Cybozu's operating profit is growing 57% year-to-year.

For global business, sales in China are undertaken by subsidiary Cybozu IT Shanghai Inc., while kintone Corporation (Cybozu U.S.) undertakes sales in the US. kintone is also recognized by leading companies in Silicon Valley, having implemented at Lyft, Inc. The Cybozu Asia Partnership Program in Southeast Asia brings activities closer to the regions.

Etsuko Nagayama, Business Marketing Div, Cybozu, Inc.

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