\n\u30fb\u201cJust because we do not do something does not mean that other companies also would not\u201d\u2014A remark pushing people forward<\/a>
\n\u30fb\u201cSegmenting existing operation users in detail\u201d\u2014One trick for success with new operations<\/a>
\n\u30fbKey points<\/a><\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/d1ro80vdse4hgc.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08115609\/MG_2868-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Yasushi Ando
\nINNOVELIOS Co., Ltd. Director, Managing Executive Officer
\nAfter graduating from university, Mr. Ando joined a major food service industry company, as he always had the desire to manage a restaurant himself. After abandoning his plans once the gap between ideas and actual circumstances became evident, in 2005, he joined Marubeni Community (now Mitsubishi Jisho Community). After working in the Real Estate Agency Operations Department, the Corporate Planning Department, and the Operations Strategy Department, he took on his current post in June 2020.
\n<\/small><\/p>\nDiscrepancies between assumptions and actual circumstances identified in Mitsubishi Jisho Community\u2019s user interviews<\/h2>\n
Mr. Ando was originally a member of Mitsubishi Jisho Community\u2019s Corporate Planning Department, engaged in building and apartment management. Since 2018, he has held a post in the Operations Strategy Office where he is responsible for drafting new operations and utilizing IT to optimize the company\u2019s internal affairs. Once put in charge of new operations, creating a task force team was Mr. Ando\u2019s first move.<\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cAs I had worked in the Corporate Planning Department, I had a general grasp of who worked in which department. From among those employees, I selected and brought together five who enjoyed new challenges, thus assembling an unofficial task force. We regularly came together and generated ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/d1ro80vdse4hgc.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08115605\/MG_2818-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u300cMr. Ando also spoke about the operation idea\u2019s twists and turns that occurred with KURASEL before the app\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cAs Mitsubishi Jisho Community is a company that takes on apartment management affairs, ideas of providing services for people performing apartment self-management have been present since the company\u2019s inception. \u2018Apartment self-management\u2019 refers to people inhabiting an apartment collecting management fees necessary for the management of the apartment, making payments for water and electricity charges for common-use facilities and areas, carrying out cleaning and repair arrangements, etc. I do not have exact figures for this on hand, but around 10% of the apartments in the world are said to be self-managed.
\nManagement fees also necessitate settlements, with financial statements to be produced, same as with a company. As those affairs are too complicated, many apartments (around 90% in total) entrust them to a management company instead. Given just how demanding apartment management is, we thought that those conducting self-management must surely have some issues that trouble or worry them. After the task force was assembled, we went to speak to people about what kinds of issues were troubling them.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, even after assembling the team and holding discussions, Mr. Ando says that decisive ideas were not generated. It was then that he went to listen to the thoughts of people in the Board of Directors for apartments under self-management.<\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cAs nothing could be done even if one worried about something, in the summer of 2018, we went to multiple self-managed apartments to listen to what people had to say. We did propose our ideas as well, but we found that they diverged from actual circumstances.
\nSelf-management was being conducted smoothly in the case of these apartments, so the people to whom we spoke had no particular worries or faced no troublesome issues. At each location we visited, we found a leader with company experience who was managing the apartments in a manner that skillfully involved the residents. They said that things were initially quite difficult but they were now able to carry out self-management without major issues, working in a trial-and-error manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The interview results differed from what Mr. Ando and his group had expected users to say regarding whether self-management was going smoothly. However, Mr. Ando continued with his efforts, and these interview results did lead to new business ideas.<\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cWe came to understand that those conducting self-management were already free of any particular need, but we thought that if we were to condense their management know-how, we could provide value in the future to people conducting self-management. Apartments at which self-management was going smoothly had reliable leaders. I thought that it would be good if we could create an app that could serve in the place of these leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because we do not do something does not mean that other companies would not\u201d\u2014A remark pushing people forward<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/d1ro80vdse4hgc.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08115600\/MG_2799-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Mr. Ando\u2019s app idea for making apartment self-management easy resulted in both supporting and opposing views within the company. Given that the idea could seize a portion of the existing apartment management operation market, this is hardly surprising. <\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cThe idea was solidified to a certain degree, and there was a small period of hesitancy prior to making internal proposals. I could conceive of a situation in which the upper management would not consent to proceeding with operations that would outright negate existing operations. However, during some lighter conversations at a meeting, discussing operation ideas and planning, including those feelings of hesitancy, a meeting participant from the Mitsubishi Estate Housing Task Planning Department (Mitsubishi Estate Group Housing Operations General Department) suggested taking the lead even if there was a certain nervousness about it, noting that even if we chose not to proceed with this idea, there was no guarantee that other companies would do the same, and in fact some would likely go through with it. I made up my mind on hearing this.
\nActually having made the release, I could feel the weight of those words. In addition to responses to matters outside our suppositions, there were many difficulties in starting up this business, such as the actual development work, app development partner selection, coordination with banks and other third parties, and patent application procedures. If other companies had instead beaten us to the punch, I think it would have then taken us around three years to catch up.
\nEven if, provisionally, a service superior to ours was to appear in the future, the tools that we have grown accustomed to using are not the ones that can readily be changed. In that sense, this is surely a major first-mover advantage, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
With his increased confidence, thanks to the advice of a Mitsubishi Estate employee, how did Mr. Ando then deal with opposing opinions and comments? He says that a message he received from the management had a huge impact on him.<\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cI think that a message we had previously received from the management, suggesting that we \u2018reconsider and review existing businesses,\u2019 was significant. When we actually began operations, we were helped majorly by the President of the company, who told an executive involved in existing operations that he would like us to be supported to work together with the plan of growing together.
\nWhen we then proceeded to explain our operations to branch managers around Japan, messages sent by our management were of great help. As the idea of \u2018the current management business model having its limit\u2019 was one that had been regularly discussed since even before that time, our business was readily accepted by many branch managers. In this business, sales do not suddenly fall for management companies; therefore, had management not sent out those messages, branch managers would probably not have sensed the risk they faced at the same level they now do, and they probably would not have accepted things as smoothly as they have.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/d1ro80vdse4hgc.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/08115556\/MG_2767-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
While there was some internal opposition in the company, Mr. Ando says that they were able to get past it without major issues thanks to the management\u2019s help. However, he adds that he was making the necessary behind-the-scenes arrangements as well.<\/p>\n
Ando: \u201cTo establish an understanding on this matter within the company, I spent a great amount of time on communicating matters to our stakeholders. Decisions for a variety of matters were made in a 10 to 20-minute discussion in the Board of Directors meeting, but new operation ideas could not be conveyed in such a short amount of time. By taking the time to convey matters to parties involved in existing operations, we were able to build relationships that would then prove cooperative. Further, as the people we were speaking to were well-acquainted with apartment management, there were also instances where we received beneficial advice, such as adding a certain menu to the content of a service, etc.
\nI think that preparing and discussing multiple patterns was effective for planning. With new operations in particular, there is a tendency toward establishing unreasonable operation plans. As that alone would not give us confidence, we prepared a number of patterns, such as a realistic operation plan, an extended operation plan, etc., which we discussed. I believe that also presenting the management with an operation plan that supposes the worst-case scenario lets them know how much damage would result should such a failure occur, which ultimately makes it easier to convince them.\u201d<\/p>\n