UPWARD, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Ryosuke Kaneki), whose mission is to "Innovate the last one mile of the field," is pleased to announce that Akihiro Kadota has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer (hereinafter, CTO) as of April 24, 2023.
・Background
UPWARD provides "UPWARD" as a sales engagement service that transforms CRM into field sales power, and has supported the sales DX of approximately 400 companies, mainly large enterprises. Recently, we were selected for Google's startup overseas expansion support program "Google for Startups International Sales Academy" (https://www.upward.jp/info/20221208). While expanding our business not only in Japan but also overseas, Mr. Kadota, a researcher in the field of operations research and a professional in promoting businesses using IT and cloud technology, has joined us as the new CTO. This will allow UPWARD to enhance its technological capabilities related to its strength, latent awareness technology, further expand its business, improve customer satisfaction, and aim to improve its presence as a leading company in sales engagement services.
・Comments from Ryosuke Kaneki, Representative Director, President and CEO of UPWARD, Inc.
I am very pleased to welcome Akihiro Kadota as CTO to UPWARD. I expect that he will leverage his technological research experience at JAXA and NTT Research Laboratories, as well as his business consulting experience at Accenture and AWS (Amazon Web Services), to dramatically enhance UPWARD's foundational technology, service development capabilities, and solution level. Currently, the service domain of "sales engagement," which allows CRM to be used in the field, is rapidly growing worldwide. In this domain, technological areas such as automation of data entry into CRM, AI that recommends the most appropriate next action for each salesperson, and data intelligence are becoming central to services. By adding Mr. Kadota to the UPWARD team, we aim to bring these technological areas to a globally competitive level and rapidly realize the optimal use of edge computing on smartphones and cloud computing technology, which is also a service foundation.
・Comments from Akihiro Kadota, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of UPWARD, Inc.
I was inspired by CEO Kaneki's words, "Create SaaS products developed in Japan that are used worldwide," and I am very pleased to join the company. Leveraging my experience, I aim to enhance the technological areas related to UPWARD's strengths, latent awareness technology, and GIS (Geographic Information System), and promote the development of easier and more automated data input. Furthermore, we will develop products that support data-driven management so that sales representatives can take the next best action based on accumulated data. We will shift to an organizational structure that places product development at the center of customer-centric and business strategy, and we will devote ourselves to research and development as a unified team.
・Akihiro Kadota, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of UPWARD, Inc. - Biography
Graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Tokyo University of Science, and a Master of Science degree from the Graduate School of Science at the University of Tokyo. During his student years, he conducted research on planetary science at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. In 2007, he joined NTT Holding Company Research Laboratories, where he was involved in research and development of mathematical optimization for communication networks. Subsequently, at Accenture, he gained experience in IT and cloud strategy, cloud architecture, and SI-related consulting services before joining Amazon Web Services Japan G.K. (AWS). At AWS, he was engaged in business strategy planning and the development of user support programs to optimize cloud costs in the Business Development Division. Joined UPWARD in April 2023. Holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Nagoya University.
・Dialogue by UPWARD CEO x CTO x CPO
To commemorate Mr. Kadota's appointment as CTO, we conducted a dialogue between CEO Kaneki, CTO Kadota, and CPO Tsurugi, and held a discussion on the theme of "AI Successfully Guides 'Near Future' Sales Tools - Global Product Strategy to Win." In this dialogue, we discussed in detail the prospects for UPWARD's technology development and SaaS products that will be active globally.
You can view the dialogue here:
https://dx.upward.jp/CEO_CTO_CPO
UPWARD CO., LTD. PROVIDES DX SERVICES SPECIALIZED IN SOLVING ISSUES OF FIELD WORKERS WHO VISIT THE FIELD AND CREATE VALUE THROUGH OFFLINE CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS, BASED ON ITS PURVIEW OF "DRAWING OUT THE CREATIVITY OF FIELD WORKERS AND ACCELERATING THE GROWTH OF COMPANIES AND SOCIETY". BY LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH WORKERS CAN PERFORM THEIR TASKS WITH A SINGLE MOBILE DEVICE, WE AIM TO CREATE A WORLD IN WHICH THEY CAN BE ACTIVE REGARDLESS OF WHERE AND HOW THEY WORK.
UPWARD, Inc., Corporate Group Headquarters, PR Team
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