[Inside FIXER #2] Working in a Dynamic and Fast-Growing Global Team

Interview with our Technical Business Strategist, Stephanie Falsone

When you think about how to get your brand well known in a local marketplace, there are certain necessary steps you should take. When you shift your target toward a global scale, the spectrum of possibilities become wider and the challenges greater, but also the opportunities for growth also increase. Here at FIXER, we love challenges and after establishing a strong presence in Japan, we are now aiming to target a strategic space in the global market. The backbone of our global strategy is having a talented and international environment. Because sharing our global culture and values is as important as our products and services, we decided to start an employee interview series to let everyone have a look and understand what it is like working at FIXER.

The second person interviewed (if you missed the first interview, please take a look here) is Stephanie Falsone, one of the key player of our Global Business division. She is our expert of the US Cloud Market, providing us with useful insights on business expansion models and strategy.

Fabrizio: Long time since we talked (we sit next to each other)! Let’s start off with a general introduction and the reason why you decided to come in Japan.

Stephanie: Haha, yes it has been a while! My name is Stephanie and I am a Technical Business Strategist here at FIXER. I’m originally from a small town in Pennsylvania in the US and have been in Japan for almost two years. I’ve been interested in technology from an early age and started off doing web design in middle school and took programming classes in high school. In university I realized I wanted to focus more on the business side of technology and studied Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. At university I also formally studied Japanese, something that had just been a hobby prior. After university I worked as a technology consultant in America for a few years before realizing I wanted to experience working in an international setting in Japan.

Fabrizio: I finally understand why your Japanese is so good. So, why did you decide to leave your previous position and join FIXER?

Stephanie: While I was working as a technology consultant, honestly a lot of the projects I was assigned to were using outdated solutions and Waterfall-style approach to projects. This was completely opposite to what I had studied in university and I had a desire to work at a company using the latest technology along with Agile methodologies. When I first was introduced to FIXER by a recruiting agent, they explained that this company stood out from all other Japanese companies due to their involvement in the cloud, IoT, and machine learning. Then at the interview at FIXER I realized that they were truly motivated on becoming a leader in technology not only in Japan, but globally as well. Getting the opportunity to be a part of that was very exciting for me personally.

Fabrizio: The opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies is also my reason for joining FIXER. Now, please tell us more about your current role and how are you utilizing your knowledge and expertise.

Stephanie: Right now, I am working with the product team that is creating a new portal for our cloud.config offering. I do market research and make sure the product that we are creating is attractive and competitive in the global market outside of Japan. I also research on trends in the cloud market in the US and make sure we are ahead of the curve. Additionally, I focus on building partnerships with global companies that are interested in entering the Japanese market. With FIXER as a go-to-market partner, we can create unique partnership agreements that allow other companies to utilize FIXER’s dominance in the Japanese Azure market, combined with their strength’s coming from a different industry.

Fabrizio: It is really challenging to localize a global product and make it marketable to the Japanese customers. Could you tell me more about these global projects?

Stephanie: Sure! We are currently working with a Korean company in the mobile payment space and a major American cloud company to help bring their services to the Japanese market. Entering the Japanese market requires having a detailed understanding of the country and culture, as well as knowing how to adapt. At FIXER, we have a wealth of experience and talented resources who understand the Japanese market from both a global and domestic perspective. We then craft a custom go-to-market business entry plan for them that will include support or a partnership from FIXER. Through these partnerships, these companies are rapidly expediting their ability and confidence to go-to-market in Japan.

Fabrizio: Previously you mentioned that you are also researching trends in the cloud market in the US. How do you see the cloud adoption in Japan compared to the US?

Stephanie: The US market currently comprises of 60% of the global market for cloud consumption, while Japan is still only at 3%. The US cloud market is also on track to be over $97 billion dollars in 2019 — that’s more than the next 4 biggest cloud markets combined. Now that FIXER has firmly established itself as a leader in the Japanese cloud market, we are looking toward the next big challenge of conquering the global market — starting with the US. We are currently creating a product that will increase the value of our current cloud.config managed service offering and be competitive globally — allowing us to break into the US market. In July, we will also have a booth at MS Inspire, the biggest Microsoft partner conference of the year. We will have our MVP demo available to show at that time, and more information about our plans to enter the global market together with our cloud.config offering.

If you have any questions or suggestions, I am happy to receive your thoughts! You can comment here or contact me directly.

Contact Detail:

Fabrizio Calogero
Global Branding Lead at FIXER Inc.

Mail: fabrizio.calogero@fixer.co.jp
Website: https://www.fixer.co.jp
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