PROFILE:
- NAME: Terada Daisuke
- POSITION: Rakus Vietnam CO., LTD – General Director.
After living in Myanmar for six years since 2012, where he served as the person in charge of establishing a company branch, he joined Rakus in 2019. Currently, he is in charge of the overall operations of Rakus Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
—– Firstly, could you introduce Rakus Vietnam?
Rakus Vietnam is a development center specializing in the development of services provided by Rakus. With two locations in Ho Chi Minh City, it employs approximately 60 people. The main services it handles include “Raku Raku Seisan”, “Raku Raku Meisai”, “Raku Raku Hanbai”, “Mail Dealer,” and “HaiHai Mail.” While the distribution of development work varies for each service, Rakus Vietnam is responsible for approximately 30% to 40% of the overall development output.
—– Please introduce the mission, vision, and values of Rakus Vietnam.
The mission of Rakus Vietnam is to “deliver the highest happiness to end-users and colleagues by providing the best SaaS services with high technology and quality.” To achieve this, the vision is set as “to be the number one in technology and quality in the cloud (SaaS) domain in Vietnam, providing the best services and becoming the happiest company.” The values include “Quality First,” “Fast Resulting,” “Deep Thinking,” “Challenge,” “Active Communication,” and “One for All & All for One,” which are embodied together.
—– Tell us about the development structure of Rakus Vietnam.
For each service, teams are ranging from 3 to 20 members, with an average of around 7 members, consisting of PM (Project Manager), PL (Project Leader), and development members. Some cases also have specialized QA (Quality Assurance) teams.
—– I heard that there has been an expansion of locations in Ho Chi Minh City since 2021.
Currently, there are two locations. Originally, development was carried out at only one location in Ho Chi Minh City, but a new location was established in the fall of 2021. The new location is currently developing “Mail Dealer,” and there are plans to expand the range of services it handles in the future.
Each location is designed to facilitate communication by keeping the scale manageable, allowing faces and names to match. We aim to expand the organization horizontally with a scale where everyone can see each other.
—– Tell us about the collaboration structure with Japan.
Each service has interpreters and translators who assist in interpreting meetings and translating documents. There are no bridge SEs (System Engineers) on the Vietnamese side; instead, Vietnamese SEs who originally worked as engineers in Japan serve as bridge SEs. Generally, communication between Japan and Vietnam is based on Japanese.
—– What prompted you to join Rakus Vietnam?
In my previous job at another IT company, I worked as the general director in a different Southeast Asian country. When changing my career, I received an offer to manage Rakus Vietnam and saw it as an opportunity to leverage my experience.
I was attracted to Rakus by its seriousness in focusing on strategically important points. The commitment to achieving concrete goals several years ahead and steadily taking action toward those goals left a strong impression. Even in terms of management, the consistent approach of generating profits while advancing the business is something I consistently observe.
The development structure, where both Japan and Vietnam are considered one team, was highly valued, and these factors became deciding factors for joining the company.
—– What has been your impression since joining?
Both the Japanese and Vietnamese sides have many earnest individuals. They concentrate on delivering results without excessive overtime, and they enjoy their private and non-work-related activities to the fullest. The balance between work and leisure is well maintained.
Regarding the organization, when I joined Rakus Vietnam, it had many young members, and the focus was more on individual initiatives rather than moving as a collective organization. Over the four years since I joined, we have enhanced the development capabilities of the team, shared thoughts and desired initiatives from the Vietnamese team, and worked on developing service policies, education support, and overall organizational strength together.
—– Please tell us about your current mission.
As the overall head of Rakus Vietnam, my mission is to outline the future of the organization and work with the PM to realize it. I share the prospects of Rakus Vietnam with the team, take responsibility, and work towards its realization. My role is to encourage commitment to this realization.
Given the geographical distance and cultural differences between Japan and Vietnam, communication gaps and work challenges inevitably arise. I play a central role in addressing and solving such issues at the organizational level.
As the head of organization, I want to create an organization where people entrust their lives and feel it’s worth it to work together.
—– Can you provide a specific image of this?
It is about creating a place where efforts and achievements are fairly recognized if you work hard. We have been working diligently to build such a place.
Although we are still in the middle of the journey, I believe the organization can grow by working together. As the organization grows, I hope each individual can feel their growth, and I, too, have felt personal growth over these four years.
—– What role does Rakus Vietnam play in Rakus’ development strategy?
Rakus Vietnam is a important pillar of Rakus’ service development base. In the future, we will strive to build a more integrated global development structure between Japan and Vietnam. The goal is to achieve development capabilities where Rakus Vietnam alone can release an entire version seamlessly.
Both the Japanese and Vietnamese members are highly motivated towards this goal.
—– What are the strengths of Rakus Vietnam that you want to leverage for future goals?
The excellent communication among team members and the understanding and support system for development from the Japanese side are significant strengths. The team is cooperative in initiatives for growth, and it is very reassuring to have members who believe in working together for the development of services.
—– Are there any challenges?
For the global development structure, we still need to accumulate knowledge and skills to support large-scale SaaS with many users. Challenges include having a broad perspective on various developments and a deep focus on quality.
—– How are you addressing these challenges?
We identify issues in design and quality, set milestones on an annual basis, implement PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycles, and work towards institutionalizing measures and improving skills. To achieve this, we actively organize mutual visits of members between Vietnam and Japan.
—– For those interested in Rakus’ global development, what is the most significant appeal of building a career overseas, in your opinion?
Above all, it expands your perspective and outlook. For those who want to utilize their skills and observe large teams or organizations, experiencing work overseas provides significant benefits by exposing individuals to different perspectives.
While building a career domestically is also possible, in my case, the challenges were more significant when I went abroad, and I gained various insights. These experiences are contributing to my current job, so I highly recommend it as one of the means for career development.
—– Is it possible to take on the challenge even without overseas assignment experience?
Yes, I would like you to come to Rakus Vietnam with confidence. With around 10 years of overseas business experience, I can provide advice on living overseas while working together. Additionally, another Japanese colleague (Mr. Ogawa) working at Rakus Vietnam has been in Vietnam for almost 15 years. He is more knowledgeable about dealing with issues in Vietnam, and he is very reliable.
—– As a destination for assignment, do you find Vietnam to be a comfortable place to work?
Especially in Ho Chi Minh City, where Rakus Vietnam is located, the climate is warm throughout the year, and the atmosphere is very comfortable, despite the rainy and dry seasons. With a stable living infrastructure, life, including work, is very comfortable in Ho Chi Minh City. Working hours are stable, and there are many special holidays outside of weekends, allowing for a well-balanced work life.
—– You mentioned maintaining a work-life balance; how do you enjoy your leisure time?
I have a wide but shallow range of hobbies. Since coming to Vietnam, I started playing golf in my 40s, albeit belatedly. It’s interesting to approach something with the mindset of a beginner. I’ve received various teachings from the Vietnamese team members and even tried archery and fishing.
—– Finally, what is the satisfaction of working at Rakus Vietnam?
The ability to focus on solving the challenges of a growing service and organization is a significant aspect. The team is very cooperative in efforts to create new and better services, making it an environment that fulfills the sense of achievement.
As the number of people is increasing to achieve higher development capabilities, working together allows you to experience not only technical perspectives but also perspectives on organization and management. Rakus Vietnam is eager to adopt new development methods, such as GitHub Copilot, which is still relatively rare in Vietnamese companies, making it an attractive development environment for those who want to challenge new development approaches.
The mindset of understanding cultural differences between Japan and Vietnam and working together to solve them is also a very positive aspect of Rakus and Rakus Vietnam.
Thank you very much!