Norishige Nagase Operating Officer, Technology Division General Manager, Ameba

I Want to Create Services that People All Around the World Think Are Great.

Preparing a system and environment in which engineers and creators can grow

In an age of numerous internet services and overwhelming information, one of the few successful businesses in the industry is “Ameba,” a communication service based on blogging. I am in charge of planning and development for “Ameba”. Internet businesses are easily started as long as you have capable technical staff and a server that can handle your computers and services. This is the biggest difference with the manufacturing industry. In order for CyberAgent to keep growing in this kind of environment, it is important to continue generating services that people all around the world think are great. Therefore, I believe it is imperative to prepare a system and environment that enables engineers and creators to be creative, that can facilitate the cycle of speedily creating and offering services to users, and that can take on new challenges. This is where we invest knowledge and resources.

My mission is to let engineers and creators stand in the batter’s box

One example of these activities is our “Brainstorming Lunch.” Brainstorming Lunch is where technical staff can directly propose their own ideas and programs to Mr. Fujita, the company president. When engineers are provided with a challenge, the speed of their creative cycle accelerates and the quality of their ideas improves.
We also have a system called “Support 10″. In this system, the company provides each engineer with 100 thousand JPY to be used in activities which that engineer wishes to conduct for self-growth and improvement. For example the money can be used for purchasing technological books or attending external courses. In April 2011, we established “Ameba Technology Laboratory”, a new office especially for engineers, in Akihabara, Tokyo. The person who proposed this project was only in his third year at the company. There are a vast number of blog articles on the Internet, and this laboratory is full of technicians who intend to create new value out of this immense resource pool.
Accumulating experience is of the utmost importance for the development and activity of technical staff. Let me compare engineers to baseball players. In such a comparison, accumulating experience means to swing a bat. It is my job to let engineers stand in the batter’s box, or to prepare places where they can accumulate experiences. In addition to establishing systems, I believe it is my great mission to cultivate many specialized business areas where engineers can enjoy success. As one example, I am currently preparing to provide global services for smartphones.

Having their own “vision” is what allows engineers to grow

Having their own vision is vital for engineers to grow. CyberAgent’s corporate vision is as follows: “We create the company that symbolizes the 21st century.”However, each successful engineer has refined his/her own unique vision.
Today, internet media is beginning to function as social infrastructure, and one common theme in their visions is an awareness of the “world” (i.e., “I want to create services that make people around the world smile,” or “I want to enrich the world”).
One characteristic of our company is that engineers share these ways of thinking. This is why they are proud of the services they provide and quality is never compromised.
As expressed by the term “Team CyberAgent”, our company’s engineers are strongly focused on working for the team. Outstanding engineer take responsibility for training younger ones, thus creating a corporate culture ideal for transmitting the vision and skills of those outstanding engineers.. Together with staff members who agree with our mission, I hope to continue creating services that are supported by people around the world.