Japanese third-party ecosystem developer Cybozu recently expressed optimism in the local market for its latest product Kintone, a no-code/low-code platform that users can customize to fit their business needs.
“I am cautiously bullish about the Philippine market. The country is well-positioned to benefit from the economic recovery in the region and has seen impressive growth over the last few years, Covid notwithstanding. The country also has a large and young population, a skilled workforce, and is a hub for business process outsourcing. There are a number of sectors that are particularly attractive for investors and entrepreneurs, such as banking, consumer goods, real estate, and infrastructure,” Yoshihisa Aono, CEO of Cybozu told BusinessMirror in recent e-mail interview
Aono said the advantages of a centralized digital business platform over spreadsheets and paper-based archives are becoming increasingly popular and understood. Nevertheless, he said that Cybozu needs to promote more the specific benefits of no-code/low-code technology. Furthermore, he said Cybozu wants to debunk the false notion that business technology is expensive, overly complicated and hard to implement.
The CEO said the company wants to reach out to the non-techies and make them aware that with no-code, you can easily implement fully personalized business applications at a fraction of the cost of an off-the-shelf system. “No-code systems are also easier to adapt, scale and maintain. With Kintone, we want to bring that awareness into the mainstream,” he said.
He cited the example of local client MS Corp. as one of the beneficiaries of the no-code systems especially during unstable periods such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to the the disruption, he recalled MS Corp.’s workflow processes were “old school”, which usually printed out documents such as spreadsheets and physically gave them to their team and management. These orders were processed according to a fixed schedule.
“When the pandemic hit, many challenges became exposed, and they realized we could not continue with their old school ways. They tried sending e-mails to managers who would then forward to accounting or finance, etc., which might work with a small team, but with a larger team all working from home it became too hard to manage. They understood that this way of working was too clunky and inefficient, so they reached out to us for help,” he said.
He said the Kintone team helped them quickly replace their old system with a digital workflow platform and customized apps. The team also established communication features which increased transparency and maximized the team’s performance. He said the dashboard allows them to see all tasks that need to be completed, and there is a management feature that makes approvals clear, quick and easy. “All documents can now be approved digitally, rather than manually signed like they used to do before the pandemic,” he said.
He pointed out there is a demand among organizations in the Philippines for digitization done in a smart way: not simply buying an off-the-shelf tool and imposing it on employees. He stressed businesses want tools that have the power to eliminate repetitive, rules-based manual tasks, make life easier and more efficient for employees, and also incorporate a degree of flexibility and customization.
