Cybozu, Inc.
Shareholders’ Meeting 2021 – One Day Talking with Cybozu – Part 2 Talking About the Past
and Future of Cybozu
February 27, 2021

Event Summary[Company Name]

Cybozu, Inc.

[Company ID]

4776-QCODE[Event Language]

JPN[Event Type]Earnings Announcement[Event Name]

Shareholders’ Meeting 2021 – One Day Talking with Cybozu – Part 2 Talking
About the Past and Future of Cybozu[Fiscal Period]

FY2020 Annual[Date]

February 27, 2021

[Number of Pages]

32[Time]

14:25 – 15:25(Total: 60 minutes, Presentation: 60 minutes)[Venue]Webcast[Venue Size][Participants][Number of Speakers]

2
Yoshihisa Aono
Ibisa Otani

CEO
Chief Editor of TECH.ASCII.jp Editorial
Department, Media and Marketing
Department, KADOKAWA ASCII ResearchLaboratories, Inc.

1

Presentation
Otani: Hello, everyone. My name is Ibisa Otani and I’m from KADOKAWA ASCII Research Laboratories, Inc.
This session is a discussion about Cybozu’s past and future. President Aono and myself will talk about this, andI will be asking him about the past and the future of Cybozu.
Aono: Nice to meet you, everyone
Otani: So, Mr. Aono, you usually explain business planning in a presentation, right? You usually explain it toshareholders. Can I ask you why we are using this format this time?
Aono: At the end of each year, the presentation has information about financial results for the previous term,
as well as sales and profits for the current year. To be honest, I got tired of it.
Otani: Right, you have to do it every year.
Aono: Yes. What’s more, recently, there’s nothing interesting about Cybozu in those presentations. Sales areshow by extending lines on graphs. And it’s dull to think that it will probably do the same thing next year.
Ultimately, you just focus in on a short period, explain those numbers, and you’re done. People listening
probably don’t respond much to that.
Rather than that, I want there to be a story. This is different to what Mr. Ikeuchi mentioned earlier, but there
are more things we are seeing in our future, and we want to explain the future while talking about the past. I
think that shareholders also would prefer this kind of explanation.
Otani: That sounds easier to understand.
Aono: Yes, I think that they would be happy.
Today, Mr. Ibisa Otani, one of the few people who know about Cybozu when it was founded, is here.
Otani: Thank you inviting me. To be frank, I think that we can talk about lots of secret things that have notbeen spoken about elsewhere.
Aono: You know about the company right from its beginnings.

2

Otani: That’s right. First, let’s go to the next photograph.
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. In 1996, which is the year after Windows 95 came out, I joined ASCII
Corporation as a part-timer. Thereafter, I’ve been involved in making printed magazines as a reporter or as an
editor. At that time, the first magazine I was involved in was a self-made computer magazine called DOS/V
Issue.
Aono: That takes me back.
Otani: After that, I moved to an internet magazine called Internet ASCII, and that’s when I met Mr. Aono.
Aono: Right.
Otani: At the time of Cybozu’s founding, there was a sort of Silicon Valley feel.
Aono: Right. This is the first apartment, which was an apartment with a dining area, a kitchen, and two otherrooms. This was in Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture, so I thought that if we wanted to be written about
by a magazine, we would have to go to Tokyo. I flew from Matsuyama Airport to Haneda in Tokyo, and fromthere I went to ASCII, which I think was in Shinjuku at that time.
Otani: It was Hatsudai in Tokyo to begin with.
Aono: Right, Hatsudai.
Otani: Mr. Aono said he had come from Matsuyama on a business trip to visit various media outlets, and I got
an email from him, so I decided to meet him. I was also visiting various places, and we decided to have a chatover a meal. The first place we went to was a pork cutlet shop called Tonki in Meguro.
Aono: Yes, I remember.

3

Otani: I’m from Tokyo, so I introduced you to some tasty places. It was around 1996 or 1997 when there wastalk of getting involved in groupware establishing a Cybozu Office, right?
Aono: That’s right.
Otani: I remember those days, laptop in hand. Mr. Aono, you’re the tall one, right?
Aono: I’m short.
Otani: I had an enormous bag and I had to reproduce all the groupware on one laptop. I remember thinking
it was tough.
Aono: Right, laptops back then were heavy.

Otani: Yes. I remember thinking that laptops weighing 4 kilograms were difficult to carry around. Actually, I
have an email from 24 years ago.
Aono: That’s done well to survive.
Otani: I’ve kept my outgoing mail from way back, so I dug some out. This one is an email sent to Mr. Aono andit’s about using groupware. It talks about making groupware within the Company, and it mentions getting theeditorial department’s approval and having a go at building some. The part underlined in red says that if wefeel something is good, we should not fear failure and improve it.
Aono: “Company” meant three people back then.
Otani: There were only three people, but we were passionate about what we were doing and had confidence.

4This is the email I sent after that. This is my impression. I was worried because I was not very familiar with
networks, but when I installed it, the service started immediately and I didn’t need to set it up. Other users
were also very surprised.
The first thing that surprised me when I first used Cybozu Office was how easy it was to use. There was nocloud at that time, so we had to build a server in-house. We had to install a server.
I didn’t have any knowledge of UNIX, so I thought it would be possible to build it at the level of Windows.
When we tried to do it, we were glad we’d built a server. When accessed with a browser, a calendar and an
address book came up, and it looked like it was usable.
What’s more, when other people used it, the first thing they said was that it’s light. It moved smoothly.
Aono: It worked smoothly, because it had few functions. Mr. Hata, the developer, must also be credited for
this.
Otani: At that time, I had a very original experience. In short, I was in the position of an administrator as aserver builder and a groupware maker. From the standpoint of an IT administrator, I was able to build a server
and provide a system, and I felt that I had succeeded in overcoming something.
Aono: You suddenly became a system administrator, and you thought, “Even I can do this.”
Otani: There was a strong feeling of that. At that time, I really liked it and had a review written. Mr. Aono
went on to write a series of articles about what groupware is.
Aono: That was tough.
Otani: Yes, definitely. Every time he wrote something for us.
Aono: I thought I wasn’t suited to being a reporter.

5

Otani: Thanks to that, I think that there were people who understood what groupware is and what Cybozu
was.

Cybozu Office 1 looked like this.
As I said earlier, the functions were very simple. The schedule and the bulletin board were very simple, but I
thought it was very interesting because it was light and smooth. The current screen is shown here. It has
evolved into such a rich application.
Aono: There are more features.
Otani: Moreover, it is still selling and is still used by many people, so I think I will talk about this later.
I said that I’ve been keeping an eye on it for a long time, but to tell the truth, I didn’t do that until around 2000
to 2010.
I was involved in a magazine called Network Magazine, and there was a broadband boom in Japan from 2000
to around 2007, 2008. It was a time when ADSL and FTTH came in and the Internet became very fast in Japan.
At that time, I was mainly working on that infrastructure and network. I knew the name Cybozu, and I
sometimes went to presentations, but it wasn’t what I was mainly focused on.
Aono: So you don’t know about that period of wandering off course. You weren’t really watching.
Otani: That’s right. As to what the world was like between 2000 to 2010, in 2006, there was broadband, which
was just mentioned, and Web 2.0 and I think the Livedoor debacle was in 2006.
I looked this up a moment ago, but after you announced and disclosed it at the 2006 briefing, there was anarticle that reported that at the briefing Mr. Aono said he would beat Microsoft and IBM. How did it go?

6

Aono: Looking at this with a graph, sales were growing until around 2001. They were growing steadily, butselling downloadable packaged software became more difficult.
Thereafter, we launched a product called Garoon for large companies. We had to sell it to information system
departments, so our sales channels were developed from nothing.
It was difficult. Growth was slow, so we used money from our listing to carry out some M&As. This can beseen in the red portions of the graph.
Otani: From 2005, the number of M&As, which is shown in pink, suddenly increased.
Aono: That’s right. Our Groupware Business didn’t grow that much, so we decided to use other businesses
and involved ourselves in M&As. Everyone was doing it then, especially Livedoor. We tried it, but it was
awkward and not suitable for us.
Otani: The numbers quickly leap up from 2005 and then quickly drop from 2007.
Aono: There was a quick drop. We had this period in the wilderness. We bought nine companies and soldeight companies. I realized that I’m a person who can only do groupware, so I focused on groupware again forabout a decade.
Otani: After around 2010, the Cloud comes on the scene and we will talk about that. Operating income also
dropped sharply from around 2010. Those difficult times were difficult for you, right? How did it affect yourorganization and company at that time?
Aono: We ended up in turmoil, so we sold companies, and from around 2010, we decided to get involved in
the Cloud at the Company. Unexpectedly, sales did not increase and profits decreased, but the Company was
excited about the future.
Otani: Can you explain?

7

Aono: It was a strange time. Our turnover rate was highest when we were engaged in M&As. We saw ourhighest turnover rate 2005, and it was under 10% in 2010. It was a mysterious time for us.
Otani: As you mentioned, it seems that the turnover rate was high in 2005. It was over 25%. One in four
people would quit, but that rate seems to have quickly dropped.
The employee number itself has increased steadily.
Aono: That’s right. The number of employees has increased even though sales have not increased, so profits
decrease.
Looking back, we washed our hands of M&As, and through that we realized that only groupware is not bad.
Some employees rebelled against groupware and quit. Employees who like groupware stayed, and we wereable to get through the switch to the Cloud. Profit was decreasing, so some employees wanted to escape fromthat ship.
Otani: They thought it was a sinking ship.
Aono: In terms of the numbers, it was a sinking ship. I think that we overcame this because there were people
who believed that we transitioned to the Cloud by using groupware. We had innovation in our organization.
Otani: Kintone was launched in 2011, and it was a struggle for you to launch it. Various organizational changes
were made. Looking back over the last 25 years, what has been the toughest time for you?
Aono: The toughest time was failing at M&As. Just thinking back to it feels painful.
Otani: Not a happy period for you.
Aono: Since our founding, I felt that we were doing well. The software sold quickly and we became a publicly
traded company, but sales didn’t grow. We used funds from our listing to rapidly grow sales.

8Feeling that we couldn’t properly manage and that we’d made mistakes was painful.
It was in around 2007 that our focus came. From that point, we decided to focus on groupware. We had
decided. We’d keep going, even if we faced some difficulties. In a sense, we had died. For me, I felt that mylife had ended, so the rest of my life was liked a bonus track. I think I was able to make a choice because ofthis extra chance I had.
Otani: So the Cloud is from 2011.
Aono: That’s right.

Otani: I’m perhaps a little too soon talking about this, but I would like to move on to the second part of thissession.
We’re now going to talk about the future. First of all, let’s look at Cybozu’s current situation. This slide shows
the growth for the Cloud since 2012, and there is a neat upward trend.
Aono: This is a characteristic of the Cloud Business. Basically, it goes up and up.
Otani: Another interesting thing is that indirect sales are growing tremendously. It’s interesting that the redareas have increased very much.
Aono: That’s right. I think this is probably a characteristic of Cybozu from the perspective of cloud SaaS
vendors. It’s partly because of Kintone, and partner sales continue to grow faster than direct sales.
Otani: Did you intend to increase the volume of indirect sales?
Aono: Yes. To grow Kintone, the most important thing is to involve partners. Direct sales are growing, but weare allocating resources to our partners. That’s why we opened our office in the Nihombashi area of Tokyo.

9

We needed a hub office to bring our partners together, exchange knowledge, and work together. It’s an officefor our partners.
Otani: I see. Cybozu originally had an office in the Suidobashi area that I used to go to, as I was nearby inIchigaya.
Otani: When I go to the Nihombashi office, I’m struck by how much room the employees have to work. It’s
really huge. It’s like an open conference room.
Is the reason why you created such an office because, aside, of course, from customers, you want yourbusiness partners to gather in one place?
Aono: That’s right. We wanted to do that. We learned much from Microsoft about this. When we were
struggling, I created groupware on Microsoft’s share points. So, I was invited to participate in something liketheir partner conference, and I went to the US every year to create an ecosystem.
Looking at this from the other direction, if you really want to reach as many people as possible, you have tobuild this kind of ecosystem. I don’t know if we can create a model with a high profit margin under only ourown steam. But if we really want to reach many people, we had to create an ecosystem. We had to create abusiness model in which our partners profit. That’s what I learned there.
Otani: So you learned from your pain and another outcome was born.
Aono: Yes.
Otani: Looking back on the history of the collaboration with Microsoft from the perspective of our reporters,
I wonder what it was about. For Mr. Aono, it seems that it was an opportunity to learn about partner systems,
what an ecosystem is, and learn about advanced IT business models in the US.
Aono: That is what it was. We learned much.

10

Otani: Next, we’re going to talk about what’s happening with global expansion right now. You’re growing inboth China and the US. Basically, business for Kintone is booming, right?
Aono: That's right. We are globally expanding. It feels like buds have begun to sprout. I still don’t know how
far we can go from here. I’m not confident.
But, for the time being, I feel like we’ve now confirmed that Kintone can potentially go global.
Otani: But, as is often said, Cybozu has failed once to expand globally, right?
Aono: Yes.
Otani: You established a corporation in the US. What did you learn from that?
Aono: The first thing I learned is what is needed to expand globally. When we failed the first time, we had an
English version of Cybozu Office. So, the main functions are schedule sharing, bulletin board-like functions,and address books can be shared. There is no point in taking that to America, as they don’t need it.
Americans treat their schedules as something they personally manage, and they would ask why it needs to beshown to someone. From our point of view, that’s a surprise, because surely that it’s more convenient foreveryone to share their schedules with each other. It wouldn’t be easy to set up a meeting if we couldn’t see
each other.
Otani: It would be very difficult to do it each time by email.
Aono: It would be troublesome. There is a strong culture of the individual. Taking that to a country that does
not have Japan’s large-open-office culture is difficult to do.
If you attack with applications, culture is strongly depended on. So it will be clear which countries you can andcannot go. So, if you want to go global, you have to go a little lower, closer to the infrastructure.

11

Using a personal computer as an analogy, you have to use an Intel CPU. Each country has strong manufacturersof personal computers. In Japan, we have NEC, Fujitsu, and others. In Asia, there are many companies. ButIntel CPUs are used all over the world. That’s because they aren’t finished products.
Otani: It’s a platform.
Aono: It’s a platform. It’s a component, so it’s closer to infrastructure. A finished product depends on culture.
You can’t win against culture. We learned that we had to attack with a semi-finished product. That’s why wehave Kintone.
Otani: Kintone is undoubtedly a strategic service created entirely on the Cloud. This means that it is created
not only for a domestic market but, to some extent, for the global market.
Aono: I’m only looking at the global. That’s why we’re doing it.
Otani: Conversely, Cybozu still has a very high share of groupware in Japan. I wonder if this is because, inJapan, Cybozu’s groupware cannot be replaced with a groupware developed by foreign company.
Aono: Absolutely.
Otani: One strength we have is making things that are easy for Japanese people to use because they areculturally dependent.
There are various business cloud and SaaS applications these days. Even now, I wonder why some stamp isused in a particular place, why things are written as they are, and why last names come after first names.
There are lots of things like that.
Aono: There are.
Otani: The problem remains that a global product is taken to a local market with insufficient localization. In
that sense, Cybozu Office was made with Japanese people in mind, so it’s easy for Japanese people to use.
That’s why I think that you’ve been able to maintain a share of the market.
Aono: That is also true.
Otani: Another thing I’m personally looking forward to is that the US has announced that it will adopt AWS,
specialize in Kintone, which is cloud-based, and progress with switching to the Cloud. Personally, I’m very
excited about it, and I’m wondering what will happen next.
Aono: That’s right. Until now, we managed to make sales of this size because we were dependent on Japan,
or Japanese culture, but we had no intention of staying there. Of course, I would like to continue what we’vebeen doing here, but I want to make products that can be used globally. I would like to partner with leading
overseas vendors and go global without any friction. I really want to do that.
Otani: I think that now, the keywords are no-code and low-code. Rather than Kintone or an information
system, I think that people in the field will make their own applications that they want to make. I think thatwill become reality. Under such circumstances, the American market is getting bigger and bigger and, in thatsense, will attract much attention.
Aono: That’s right. In Japan, it’s difficult to think of a rival for Kintone. But when I go to the US, I feel like newthings are being launched every month, which is unfortunate. Brilliant things come out one after another andevery one of them is great. They raise billions of yen, hire super engineers, and make great things with thelatest technologies.

12

Otani: The other day, you talked about things you heard from US users of Kintone, what was interesting wasthat American companies who cherish improving their businesses, akin to Japanese companies, use Kintone.
In essence, you have taken your culture to them.
Aono: That’s right. There are various companies in the US, not just the typical companies we think of, butother ones.
I think we can capture 3% of the American market. Our US strategy is to target 3 companies out of 100. For
example, we will target manufacturers that have a culture of wanting to improve.
Otani: US companies that have a culture that is somewhat close to that of Japanese companies.
Aono: That’s right.

Otani: Let’s go to the next slide. This shows sales trends for packages and cloud. These are also interesting
figures.
Cloud sales have increased dramatically since Kintone in 2011 and thereafter. Interestingly, the figures for
packages have not decreased that much.
Aono: That’s right. This is a little unexpected. Surprisingly many people still buy packages. Customers are
steadily shifting from packages to the Cloud. But there are still a certain number of customers who are buying
new packages.
Otani: Interesting. Cloud is often referred to as Death Valley. If a company that originally had a model in which
they sold out on-premises software changed to the Cloud, change to a subscription-based model would meanthat their sales suddenly drop. Therefore, it’s often said that it’s difficult to endure this.

13

For Cybozu, packages haven’t gone down for a long time and cloud has been growing quickly. I’m not saying
this for the shareholders, but it feels like a good buy.
Aono: That’s right. I was prepared in 2012 for a sudden decrease in sales. But I learned it wouldn’t decrease,so I told staff to go full throttle. Thereafter, we went into a deficit in 2013, 2014, and 2015. We knew launching
our cloud wouldn’t result in a sales decrease. We were confident about making an investment.

Otani: I see. So, that commitment resulted in this result. Could you explain a little more about these results?
Kintone is used by 18,000 companies. Cybozu Office is used by 69,000 companies. Garoon is used by 5,800
companies. And Mailwise is used by 10,400 companies.
Aono: In terms of numbers, Cybozu Office has the most. The reason for this is that this is a package that we
add up all customers who have bought it from the oldest version to the latest. In terms of cloud subscriber
numbers, Kintone and this Cybozu Office are about the same. Kintone is the best in terms of money.

14

Otani: I see. The next slide shows the sales trends. Kintone is doing very well. Its sales have increased by 37.5%
YoY.
Aono: That's right. But Cybozu Office is also a package. It is growing due to adding cloud sales, and it isgradually increasing. In that sense, Kintone seems to have begun to grow rapidly.
Otani: I’d like to ask you something once again. How did you survive in this Groupware Business amidst all thecompetition? You mentioned a moment ago that you had to make up your mind for this.
Aono: Otani is [inaudible]. The first thing is that the package is easy to use and because of that, we got one
step ahead of our competitors as many customers struggle during installation. I think that we have overcome
the installation barrier.
Otani: That’s right. It’s a turning point. When it comes to ease of use, I think it has been well tended in detail.
First, the same menu is at the top and bottom of the screen. It’s true that the schedule is very long, thecalendar is very long, and if you scroll down, you have to go back up when you want to do what you originallywanted to do. When I noticed that the menu was underneath, I was impressed. That level of details, indeed.
Aono: Yes, that attention to details makes a difference. As to how it’s invested in marketing effectively, therevenue from sales is reinvested in advertisement, which brings customers to download our products. The
first thing I did when I went full throttle was to get a step ahead. That’s how our package managed to survive.
Next is the Cloud. I think that the reason why we managed to survive was because we said that we would
wholeheartedly shift to cloud and we did prioritize cloud for everything from manufacturing to sales.

15

Otani: That’s right. This is a recent Kintone TV commercial.
Aono: Which features Fumino Kimura.
Otani: “Mr. Spreadsheet is too heavy” is the catchphrase in it. I went to the press even for this TV CM. I was
also surprised to hear the phrase, ‘Do-Cloud’ (“super-cloud”).
Aono: Yes, Do-Cloud.
Otani: I was like “What’s that?” But when I got home, my kid saw the commercial and said it was Do-Cloud.
Aono: Thank you for remembering this.
Otani: Kids remember it. That’s why I thought it was a commercial that had such an impact. What are yourthoughts on this commercial?
Aono: Kintone is basically an app-development platform, so we didn’t take the plunge in advertising to thegeneral public. When we had sold to 18,000 companies, we started planning to go to the mass market. At thattime, we had to ensure that Cybozu did not lose its essence, so we struggled creatively, and made many
commercials that failed.
Ultimately, we were able to meet Shinya Nakajima, the legendary creator of lyemon Tea, who made an
advertisement for Cup Noodle with the tagline “Hungry”. He suggested that we stop using an office in our
advertisement. It’s software that’s used in an office, but the commercial is set in a desert.
Otani: It’s like a desert or a wilderness.
Aono: Yes, a desert wasteland. In the commercial, a cloud comes to help. I was told that it should end with
Do-Cloud as a tagline, and I was so impressed. This is thanks to the creator.

16

Otani: I see. It’s certainly used in the office, but it’s not set in the office. The worries and issues that everyone
feels in the office are expressed well.
Aono: That’s right. In 15 seconds, Mr. Spreadsheet represents an excessively heavy spreadsheet.
Otani: Who on earth is this person?
Aono: A spreadsheet software-like person is heavy. How quirky.
Otani: He’s heavy.
Aono: People who understand it will laugh.
Otani: Years back, only a few people used computers, right? There would be one computer in a company. In
the 1990s, the number gradually increased. Spreadsheets are heavy, and this is a pain point everyone canrelate to.

This announcement was made about shifting to the Cloud services more and more.
Aono: The focus is Garoon. Until now, I think that the idea behind using groupware applications was to use
ones that had already been prepared. For example, using Cybozu’s easy-to-use scheduler.
Recently, it has become increasingly possible to customize. Now you can insert a plug-in, which enables you
to create a plug-in and insert it if you want to expand the functions of Garoon. So, the world view is getting
closer to Kintone.
Otani: That’s right. Kintone can be used to make from scratch. It’s a business system. In that sense, Garoon
has some pre-packaged or packaged functions, of course, but the fact that the functions can be extended withplug-ins is very much like the current Cloud service.

17

Aono: That’s right. I thought this might be it. Mailwise and Office are still a long way off, but the packaged
versions are to come to end.
Otani: Finally.
Aono: Finally.
Otani: Well, Cybozu Office has quite a lot of users, and many people are using packages, aren’t they? Given
that, I think that shifting to the Cloud will have a considerable impact at some point in the future.
Aono: That’s right. We would like to strive hard to provide follow-up support so that everyone can make thetransition.

Otani: Next, let’s talk about the organization. So far, we’ve mainly talked about products, such as cloudstrategies, sales of each product, and the ideas being thought about. Next, let’s talk about the organization.
As a reporter, I’ve covered Cybozu with its products at the core for a long time. But for the past few years, it
has been recognized as a company with cutting-edge systems. Things like your work-style reforms and being
a company that is easy to work in.
In the old days, Cybozu was a synonym for groupware. Regardless of the business type, Cybozu is said to be acompany that runs unusual commercials and often appears at events featuring comfortable working
environment.
I feel that over the last few years this has changed.
Therefore, the keyword, which is relatively important, is “openness”. In the next 25 minutes or so, we’ll
probably talk about openness and teamwork. We’ll talk about why it needs to be open. We will also talk about
distributing and sharing information.

18

Aono: That’s right. I’m often asked whether groupware is like an email, and I explain this at the beginning of
my talks. In my experience, they are completely different things. Email is sent by selecting the recipients, sowhen writing, you are writing secretly to the other party while other members are not aware of the email
exchange.
Wanting to share such exchanges, I focused on the Web and wanted to make software that would enable
more sharing. I think it’s conceptually different from emailing. Perhaps that’s what we’ve wanted to do since
founding Cybozu.
Cybozu’s scheduler isn’t just your schedule when you press the schedule button. The schedules of otherpeople will quickly pop up. That was our original aim. However, back then I couldn’t fully explain why it wasgood thing.
Otani: That’s right. For example, when you go to the calendar in Cybozu, whole entire schedules of members
are displayed, which I’m sure some are not happy about. There will be bosses who don’t want to be seen. So,
in that sense, it must have been difficult to argue that it should be a good thing to do.
Aono: That’s right. When the talk of this manner of working came up, I wondered if everyone could work in
the way that they can work at their discretion.
For example, say if a person leaves the office in the morning, how will that person’s work be taken over byanother person? Will that person who left in the morning be in the office tomorrow? We need to openly share
information. Without doing this, we wouldn’t be able to motivate the team by combining these diverse work
styles. For us, the different contexts became linked.
Yes, the reason we were so particular about sharing information was that each and every one of us could work
more freely and enjoyably. If you want to work in such a variety of ways, then sharing information is necessary,and by sharing information, you can also work in that variety of ways. I’ve been recently explaining this as an
inseparable pair.
Otani: It feels like your products and organizational theories are becoming to go hand in hand
Aono: Yes. Tools can change an organization, and if an organization changes, then the tools will also change.
Otani: Information is certainly transmitted, as is written here, via email, messenger, or a video meeting, so
the information is closed off as it’s from one person to another.
Actually, I’m looking at various business cloud services, and the same thing is happening in business chat. The
content cannot be read unless you join a specific channel.
Even though a business chat was created as a denial of email, it is likely that there will be a similar situation
to email where you create a group and there are many groups shown on the left of the screend.
For a Japanese company, there might be an occasion that a person might think why I have to tell this to thatdepartment when the person is particular about how the organization is set up. This is so Hanzawa Naoki, thefamous Japanese TV drama.
But, it’s better to be open.
Aono: That’s right. I think that for the future, that’s better.

19

Otani: Let’s move on to this. Let’s see how groupware and teamwork operate.
Aono: I’m writing this as a warning to everyone. Japan is, at last, going digital. What was once analog ischanging to be digitized. When various systems are being made and introduced, there is a risk of silos.
For example, we added a sales support system. Sales people can see it, but people from other departments
cannot access with no idea how business is doing at Sales. HR implemented a HR system. People in HR canshare information there, but other people cannot.
When this happens, even though digitization has taken place, information is split up. And in terms ofteamwork, it will be a poor set-up. This is the next wall we want to break down.
Otani: I see. At our very first meeting, you said creating groupware on the Internet or an in-house network
was an intranet. Within the intranet, if you have a browser, anyone can see the information without installinga specific application or client. That was about 20 or 25 years ago, but now we have an information silo, or inother words information is divided up, and even with cloud services, this has not changed.
Aono: The intranet had more freedom. In a sense, outsiders did not enter, so nobody got angry with me even
if I built a web server without permission and distributed to my department without granting access rights.
With the Cloud, other companies can see, so protection is required. Once I protected it, I couldn’t see eventhough it exists inside the Company. This could be the next barrier to human beings in the Cloud era. I want
to change this.

20

Otani: It will change like this.
Aono: That’s right. It’s pleasant to use various apps and various systems. But, basically, everyone posts
information on Kintone. If you look inside Kintone, no matter what department or job, the information is there.
There is data, and if the workflows flow, communication information is also listed there. When you search,
everything is there, just like an intranet within a company.
Kintone’s vision is to provide a new, cloud-era intranet. That’s easier said than done, though.
Otani: The same is true when entering information in groupware. I think that it will be so for Kintone and the
Cloud. And I think that there are definitely people who are against this. As mentioned earlier, there are bosses
who don’t want other to see their schedule. I wonder how this mindset can be broken.
In essence, this is about how to shift to being open. This is about tools and organizations. How should weproceed? What do you think?
Aono: For example, my schedule is open for employees to view. Aside from merely being able to view it,people can book an appointment with me.
I think that normally in a company, the boss would say that they hadn’t heard about such an appointment andhave some bad things to say about someone booking an appointment with them.
I thought this would change when the company was founded in 1997, but it hasn’t changed. Even though thetech has evolved so much, in terms of my theory of inseparable pair, tech has evolved so much, but corporate
culture remains the same as in 1997.
That’s why I started to revamp our corporate culture. And now we advocate our vision in places like this.
Recently, we started a Consulting Method Business. We provide training, consultation, and workshops about
how Cybozu’s information sharing and organizational crafting can be of interest and useful to everyone inbusiness. This is what we’ve been engaged in recently. You need both, tech and corporate culture.

21

Otani: I agree. To summarize what I’ve noticed, it’s been 25 years and tech has greatly evolved. Products havebeen somewhat refined, but ultimately, it’s the organization, the culture, and tech related to work that areimportant, but the organization and culture haven’t changed.
Aono: People haven’t changed. Technology is evolving, but people are behind.
Otani: People are lagging behind. For you, Mr. Aono, who got tired of the situation, you started to offer
Consulting Method Business. It might be taken to some people as presumptuous, but you go and ask people
if they want to learn the methods which have been successful at Cybozu.
Aono: Yes.
Otani: What’s the reaction like?
Aono: It’s good, which surprised me. I wasn’t sure if people were eager to listen to such, but lectures andtraining requests come almost every day.
Otani: Is that right?
Aono: Yes. We receive inquiries from all organizations, big and small.
Otani: What do people want to learn from Cybozu?
Aono: Inquiries come from big and small companies. But starting last year, teleworking became commonplace.
We used to get together in the office to work, but it has become difficult to meet in person. I have to telework
too. Teleworking requires digital solutions. But it’s not enough to just digitize, and we need a culture in which
we master it.
Otani: Management is difficult too, right?
Aono: Yes, management is difficult, so there are things that people can come and learn. If a manager has aslightly broader view on things, they will know that they have to change their corporate culture. In order tobring about innovation, it is possible to hire diverse people, have them work in diverse ways, and have open
discussions. Managers who realize it’s no longer possible to do things in an old-fashioned hierarchical mannercome to us and want to learn.
Otani: There have been many negatives with the coronavirus pandemic, but it has also been a catalyst.
Aono: Yes.
Otani: We can rethink how we work, the Company, and the organization.
Aono: Indeed.
Otani: That’s happening right now. And this is about going hand in hand by using groupware and technology,
with the organization.

22

Let’s move on to this. This is an apology related to diversity I mentioned at the beginning. Cybozu has boldly
raised social problems through commercials and videos featuring moms, and the response has been great.
Aono: That’s right.
Otani: An explanation was provided at the beginning about why this happened, but can you explain once
again?
Aono: This time, there was talks about changing the process of appointing directors. The background to thisis that Cybozu’s internal information sharing has been very thorough. Whether it’s a director or a businessstrategy meeting, when it got to the stage when people felt like anyone can participate in. Then we started towonder what directors should do. Mr. Hata and Mr. Yamada also say they are not particular about the title ofdirector.
We thought about trying an open recruitment. A company with such high transparency of information can’t
do anything wrong in the first place, and even if it does, it can be found immediately. Since directors must be
appointed under the Companies Act, we though that the person who wants to serve as a director should run
for it.
There is a risk of being sued. But if there are people who want to serve as director with the knowledge of that
risk, we thought it was fine and solicit candidates, and 17 people came forth. This is interesting, so I wanted
to send a message to society.
Otani: You mean an apology?
Aono: An ad of an apology. What I wanted to do most was to attract people to today’s shareholder meeting.
Otani: I think there are probably a lot of people who are interested in this. What’s amazing to me is that 17
applied.
Aono: I agree.

23

Otani: Usually would think it’s just a joke.
Aono: I also thought no one raised their hand. I thought that many people would stop if they were told that
their name would be revealed. And there was a risk of legal action being brought by shareholder
representatives. Surprisingly, many want to throw their hat in the ring.
Otani: What kind of people?
Aono: Various.
Otani: Young people too?
Aono: Yes, there are young people. There are also newcomers, second year employees, men, women,
foreigners, and so on. The advertisement kind of makes fun of men in their middle age, but such old men also
applied.
Otani: Isn’t that one of your intentions?
Aono: I think most people see this as Cybozu doing weird things. I’m confident in myself, and maybe othercompanies will start doing this. After all, if you make information transparent, you don’t need a director.
Looking at this from another angle, people now argue that we need governance and outside directors, whichsounds one or two generations old things. I believe after 10 or 15 years, more organizations will have thesame feeling as we do now.
Otani: In that sense, Cybozu is said to have started teleworking in 2010, right?
Aono: That’s right.
Otani: I’ve been teleworking for over 10 years, and it seems like the world has finally caught up with Cybozu,
and that’s why the percentage of women is very high.
Aono: That’s right, around 45%.
Otani: So, in that sense, you’ve been repeatedly discussing work styles such that people can continue to work
fine even when raising children or after giving a birth. Maybe 10 years from now, there might be a new normal
where people would be surprised with a company not recruiting a director from outside.
Aono: That’s right. That’s what I wanted to speak with you about. Perhaps we were a little too soon. To behonest, 1997 was too early for our founding. Year 2010 might have been better.
Otani: When the Cloud came on the scene.
Aono: It might have been good to share information from that point.
Otani: Just to return to what we were speaking about a moment ago, groupware wasn’t popular in the US
due to the culture of individualism. We were speaking about partitions and not wanting to show your schedule
to other people, right?
Now, for example, people who sell major business cloud services are talking about communication andteamwork.
Aono: They are talking about being open.

24

Otani: Yes, they are talking about being open. I don’t know if the term, foreigner, is appropriate, but there
are also Westerners and people who are using cloud services with advanced IT, and if teamwork is being usedrather than solo work, communication is important. That’s what Cybozu has been saying for a long time atpress events and other occasions, right?
Aono: Yes. I think that the area where we can take up challenges will expand soon.

Otani: Now to the fourth topic: creating a society brimming with teamwork. You are fastidious about
teamwork. And, to summarize, this seems to remain the same for 25 years. What I would like to talk about
here is that the ideal or purpose of creating a society brimming with teamwork remains the same but thedefinition of the word teamwork has steadily changed. Can you talk of what your ideal is for creating a society
brimming with teamwork and define it?
Aono: It reminds me of the time when we started this company. Considering why I left Panasonic and released
software for sharing simple calendars, it was because I wanted people to share information such that eachand every one of us could work more happily.
What I mean by happily is that, if you can see other peoples’ schedules, you can go to help people who havea lot in their schedule and are likely having a hard time. And someone will come to help me when I have a fullschedule. If I share information, I can contribute to others, and others will be grateful as a result. That’s what
I mean by saying happily. I hope society could be like this.
When I worked at Panasonic, I couldn’t easily do that. Seniors sitting to the side of me seemed to be very busy,
but I didn’t know what they were doing. Because of this, when I looked at the web, I realized that this could
allow me to know how difficult those seniors’ situations were, and I wanted to put into practice what I realized.
But I couldn’t verbalize that, and now I finally can. I feel like this is what I wanted to do and I can put intowords. We have been implementing things we wanted to do. I’m certain this is it.
Otani: I see. In that sense, each word has tremendous meaning. Ultimately, it’s about teamwork. Let’s makethe considerable amount of time we spend working enjoyable by helping each other and complimenting each25

other. Let’s make it highly productive. That is what teamwork is about. And a society will be crafted that is fullof it.
In essence, this is about going beyond what a company is. When you think about creating a company fromscratch, it actually feels like something meaningful. The concept is somewhat meaningful and significant fromthe point of improving internal networks and internal communication. It is rather larger concept.
Aono: Yes. In that sense, the Cloud is amazing. Basically, we’re a company that sells to other companies. The
way a company works will change. With the Cloud, we’ve starting selling to other entities than companies.
Especially amidst the coronavirus situation last year, Kanagawa Prefecture had to communicate with hospitals.
They wanted to collect real-time information on how many tests were being conducted at hospitals, howmany infected people were there, and what medical materials were lacking, but they didn’t exist. So, they
implemented Kintone. All they had to do was to punch in data and it immediately totaled up figures and wasshared with everyone.
Otani: It’s the same with subsidy applications.
Aono: Yes, I thought teamwork doesn’t only occur in organizations. Teamwork occurs everywhere in society.
Otani: And in Japan, teamwork will be needed more and more in the future.
Aono: Yes.
Otani: Japan’s economy is shrinking due to the declining birthrate and aging population. There are probably
many companies that need to go global. Each person concerned is connected in various ways and because
there is teamwork, they work properly.
Aono: That’s right.
Otani: The way in which teamwork is done has changed. And now, apparently, more and more people areusing Kintone in local governments. Until now, it was closed inside companies, but, for example, now, abusiness partner or a customer might be a local government, and the scope of teamwork will be applicable to
the whole area. In that sense, teamwork is steadily changing.
Aono: Yes, that’s what a society filled with teamwork is all about. It’s ironic that we only realized this now,even though this is our mission.
Otani: I hope that people understand that there are tools for that, such as Kintone, and know-how such as
methods. You have four elements regarding your culture: sympathy for ideals, fairness, valuing diverse
personalities, independence and discussion. Can you comment on this?
Aono: We are discussing if this could be raised at the upcoming annual shareholder meeting to be included in
the articles of incorporation. Let me provide a short explanation.
First, let’s think about the word “team”. Even if a bunch of people gather together, they are not necessarily ateam. They become a team when certain conditions are satisfied, which is sharing a common ideal. It’s not ateam where people just happen to be there, playing baseball. Team is with people who share the same ideal,
such as being qualified to play at the prestigious Koshien baseball stadium.
It’s a team only if there is something in common there, so I want to create a state in which everyone has an
ideal and everyone can relate to it. That is the first condition as a team.

26

There are actually many teams achieving that level. What we want to value is diversity of people in the team
who came for the same ideal. It’s not exactly about the SDGs, but no one should be left behind. Various people
gather and some might have some kind of limitations, but all should be able to work while demonstrating
their individuality. The second condition that we absolutely want is to value importance of diverse
individuality.
If you want to realize that, information must be open. Who is in trouble and where? Since the team is sodiverse, nothings should be hidden but be open fair and square.
Moreover, the last thing I would like to add is that when placed in such an environment, each and every oneof us should be able to say this is my work style. They should be able to autonomously tell others how theywant to contribute and be appreciated. If we can’t do that, ultimately, we will end up with many choices but
unhappy people.
I realized that these four are the key points. This is a rule of thumb, so it may change. But now I’m thinking
about these four culture values. If the world becomes filled with these, we should have a society full of
teamwork. That’s my vision.
Otani: I see. We’ve been in the coronavirus pandemic since last year, and I think those things have been lost.
The keyword was “division”, but because we live in such an era, you would like to once again properly pursue
your culture.
Aono: Yes.

Otani: As to what kind of initiatives we will engage in the context of teamwork, there is this event, and it isrelated to shareholder return. We are about to bring shareholders into a part of your team as well.
Aono: What is often written on the Internet about Cybozu is that Cybozu focuses on its employees anddisregards its shareholders. We currently have 25,000 shareholders and we are still trying to find the best way
to interact with them.

27

Otani: I don’t know the best way either.
Aono: We haven’t quite yet taken measures. But, Cybozu wants to embark on an effort in this area as well.
We want to make a team with shareholders. The number of Cybozu employees is now 1,000, if those aroundthe world are included. However, if shareholders are included, we suddenly have an additional 25,000 people.
There is no way that these people cannot be leveraged. Depending on the case, the number of friends who
are fans and who can inform others by word of mouth grows to 25,000, so I would like to converse with themproperly and proceed while having a dialogue. The word “(shareholder) return” is a bit unpleasant, but it’sbehind the desire to become a team together with shareholders.
Otani: I see. You are holding various events.
Aono: That’s right. We are trying to increase the number of times we come into contact with people for thetime being, such as by holding online events and others.
Otani: Do you think shareholders actively respond? Is it pretty tough to talk about your annual shareholder
meetings as we’ve heard about in the news? Do you get questions from various places? Are motions
proposed? Some questions make me think that the questioner is watching too much drama on TV. Judging by
the photos here, it seems different to that and it looks more comfortable.
Aono: Yes, Cybozu has perhaps worked hard thus far, but we also have many shareholder fans. There aremany people who identify with the vision we are aiming to achieve and the culture we cherish, rather thanshort-term achievements. I think that if we properly involve these people, our annual shareholder meetings
will become even more interesting.
Typically, many people who don’t identify with the Company sit in an annual shareholder meeting, and theCompany thinks that they will be attacked, so they put their guard up, and agenda items are forcibly pushed
through. But if the people are on the same team, they will feel less intimidated, and the meeting can beenjoyable.
Otani: That’s the identifying with the ideal mentioned earlier, right?
Aono: Yes.
Otani: Not only employees but also shareholders are involved, and we are thinking about it as a team and will
share.
Aono: That’s right. Our dividend, which is shown on the right, is increasing. Our results are good, so we’regradually increasing it.
Otani: Mr. Aono, do you have any kind of messages you’d like to say to people who are shareholders or people
who are considering being a shareholder?
Aono: I’d like the people watching this today to become shareholders. Let me grumble about something. The
number of Cybozu’s shareholders has increased, and there are now 25,000.
Otani: That’s a lot.
Aono: We send DM to 25,000 people to inform them of our shareholders meetings. But only around 500 ofthem applied to join. That’s about 1 in 50. On the other hand, over 1,000 non-shareholders applied.

28

Even though it’s a shareholders meeting, more fans than shareholders are watching. I would like to dobusiness with people who understand Cybozu and feel empathy with us. I’d like such people to buy shares.
Otani: That’s what you mean by everyone here today, right?
Aono: Yes, everyone.

Otani: Part 3 is about everyone talking about Cybozu. This is a section in which people’s questions will beanswered. Please use the QR code here to ask a question.
We talked a lot in an hour. How was today for you, looking back over the past 25 years?
Aono: This ended in the blink of an eye. We haven’t spoken enough at all.
Otani: Yes, we haven’t spoken enough.
Aono: I wanted to speak about the future of groupware. Let’s definitely continue to set up similar
opportunities to talk.
Otani: We could ask about the future of groupware, using the QR code.
Aono: Right.
Otani: I think it’s about encouraging people to be interested in us and be a part of our team.
What will Cybozu do? Where will Cybozu trip up? I think we’re all interested in these questions. Appreciate
your continuous support for Cybozu and this concludes this session. Thank you for today.
Aono: Thank you.
[END]

29