What is source of motivaiton for GxP engineers? Interviewing with 4 Leaders on the Secrets of Long-Term Relationships with Customer Businesses and Continuous Growth

GxP is the largest business company in the GxP Group, which focuses on creating value for client companies by making full use of IT. Let’s reorganize our GxP areas of expertise.

GxP Incorporated. is in charge of application development in the GxP Group, which consists of six operating companies. While summarizing customer requirements and confirming value, we decide the technology to be adopted, develop it, and provide total support until it is released. One team is assigned to the customer, and the team will continue to work on system development, not the end after once released. You can get accustomed to making relationship with the customer and the process, and know-how will be accumulated in the team. We have extensive experience in cloud development.

In many cases, such as the project with Isetan Mitsukoshi, we deal directly with leading companies in each industry and develop new services and provide support at a close distance from the site.

While some stores were temporarily closed in response to the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration announced by the government, we were involved in the early launch of remote shopping, and our company joined from the planning verification stage. We formed a team with the customer’s engineers for development.
In order to release frequently, it is necessary to introduce various development tools and improve the process, but by communicating closely with the customer and creating a rhythm for the team, we can respond to changes in the business environment and troubles quickly as well. In addition, at each sprint retrospective, we receive direct feedback from the customer, which is also rewarding for the developers.

Getting feedback from customers with a sense of closeness leads directly to the growth of the team, doesn’t it? As for other areas, I would definitely like to introduce our connected service initiatives with Toyota Tsusho.

Yes, we have entered into a business and capital alliance with Toyota Tsusho from April 2021, and have established a corresponding organization within GxP to design, develop, and support connected service platforms.
There are three reasons why a large company with many cooperating companies chose GxP. The first is that GxP has extensive development experience in the enterprise field and is strong in public clouds such as AWS and Azure, as well as new technologies in DX such as IoT/AI. The second is that we practice agile development on a team-by-team basis in many projects. The third point is that we can provide speed that meets expectations in areas such as advanced development and PoC. Currently, the number of projects we support for the Toyota Group has steadily expanded.

One of the customers I am in charge of is Nipro, a major medical device company. We have had a long relationship with Nipro since the founding of the GxP Group, and as one of our current initiatives, we are working to provide new value by connecting various medical measurement devices to systems via networks. For example, we make it easier for nurses to perform daily tasks such as measurement and recording of patient conditions. In addition, by sharing the values measured at home by patients with nurses and family members, family members can remotely manage their health and receive advice at the hospital. In addition to the traditional business of selling medical devices, we support the process of shifting to providing medical services and user experiences.

By the way, Mr. Morisaka mentioned team development and agile development earlier, GxP has always been working to improve its own development. The key tool for this is Atlassian products, which we noticed by using it ourselves and now suggesting to our customeres. Mr. Sugi is in charge.

GxP sells licenses and supports development support tools of “Atlassian” as an agent, and also provides related education and consulting services. As a result of using it internally, I felt that there were many situations where it could be used in projects with customers, and in 2010 we became a solution partner.
Utilizing our experience and knowledge, we are now proposing the use of tools suitable for enterprises and agile, and helping to improve processes.

We will grow the development team while growing the business of the leading company together, and provide that know-how to our customers. That is the characteristic of GxP.
Looking inside the company, it is also important to create an environment where employees can learn and grow.

Along with personal growth, we are also working on team growth. Various technical study sessions are held frequently, but what I find particularly effective is the opportunity to share know-how with employees outside the team once a month.
As the number of remote work opportunities increases, the opportunities for interacting with people other than team members are decreasing, so I consciously create a space for sharing. We objectively evaluate our own work processes and methods by comparing them with those of other teams, and bring back the good parts to the team. It is also an opportunity for unlearning, and it is an activity that circulates good knowledge as an organization.

In fact, remote work tends to focus on closed communication within the team. Personally, I was concerned about onboarding members who joined the company as mid-career, but we can successfully expand our network within the company if we can take advantage of this kind of opportunity.

We are also working on “Growth Us!”, where we plan and develop the services and tools we use in our work.
For example, in order to improve the usability of the peer bonus system “G’s Award” introduced in the company, we have developed and are using an application that runs on the communication tool “slack”. Employees themselves think and implement measures to further promote use of it. Even in internal activities, if you get into the habit of not only making things but also thinking about how they will be used, you will be able to improve the quality of projects with customers.

We also hold AI study sessions using in-house data.

In response to customer requests, we launched two AI-related study sessions.
One is an AI/data analysis study session that utilizes data from internal systems. The other is an AI/machine learning study group that incorporates AI prediction functions into in-house systems. In recent years, many new graduates have studied machine learning at vocational schools and universities, and I feel that the number of AI human resources will continue to increase.
Many of the GxP study sessions are characterized by making things that move with your hands, rather than just reading a book. I feel that the culture of trying to create a good environment by hacking the workplace environment by ourselves is connected to our company’s strength.

What kind of personality do you look for in an engineer you work with?

Technology is of course important, but I want our employees to be interested in your business. When creating and implementing things, the quality of the output changes greatly depending on whether or not you understand the business value and changes.

I agree. On top of that, I want our employees to always work with the awareness that you are one step ahead of everyone else. I place importance on being an engineer who can think for himself and enjoy himself without fear of making mistakes.

GxP has many direct transactions with customers, so the relationship with end users is close, and there are many opportunities to interact with people from various departments, not just the IT department. That’s why I want our employees to be engineers who can always think of good systems from the customer’s point of view.

It’s a “customer” as if I put it together (laughs). In fact, one of GxP’s missions is to “increase the value that our customers provide to their customers.” Outside of the specific work of creating a system, there are many situations where engineers should demonstrate their strengths. I would like to work with engineers who are excited and challenge hungry.

It is also important to be able to communicate your intentions to the company and the team. Each team has a leader, but regardless of title, there is a good atmosphere in the company, and I think it is easy to get your opinion across. If there is something that you want to do, I would like you to say it without hesitation and actively take on challenges.

Changing the environment ourselves is a culture that we cherish. The GxP company is by no means a perfected form, and it is always in the process of change, so I want each and every employee to actively create change. The major premise is, of course, technology. Since we are an IT company, I would like employees to fully enjoy creating things with their own hands, both within the company and for customers.