Q. What kind of business are you using Questetra for?
Silver Egg Technology Co. Ltd. develops and provides artificial intelligence (AI) based Web marketing services.
We mainly offer the “Aigent Recommender” which is a real time recommendation service.
A recommendation service is a system that recommends goods and information that match the user’s preferences on EC sites and various other services. Our recommendation service is based on our uniquely developed AI algorithm, which understands and analyzes the site access, purchase status and the behavior flow of each user in real time, so that it can display recommended products and information suitable for each person’s preference instantaneously.
We are using Questetra for the management of our ad-serving service, from the application to the implementation (server setting, parameters, banner creation, etc.).
We are managing the progress of each task starting from service application acceptance to implementation work (server setting / parameter arrangement / banner production etc.). We have been using it since the launch of our advertisement distribution business in 2012, and about 20 people manage hundreds of cases per year.
Q. What kind of challenges did you have?
Prior to launching the advertisement distribution business we had been managing issues with Excel.
When an application was made, it was filled in the application sheet in Excel and the person in charge of the implementation work viewed it periodically and carried out the work. However, with Excel-based management there was often missing entries, errors and delays, so it was not possible to accurately grasp the status of the work being carried out and respond the delays in the progress.
In addition, since the implementation process requires multiple tasks being carried out concurrently, it was difficult to understand which tasks were affecting the overall progress. Therefore, we needed a tool that would allow us to understand the work currently underway in the flow diagram.
Q. How did you develop the Workflow at the time of its introduction?
Workflow design was the responsibility of just one person.
We designed the workflow to coincide with the launch of our ad serving business. After three months of trial work, we made some minor changes to the workflow and finalised it. The system has been in full operation since December 2012 and we have had no significant problems in the six years since then.
Q. Is there anything you have devised?
In order to grasp the progress status of a project at a glance we have devised a way of drawing flow diagrams.
We were careful not to reduce the visibility of the workflow diagram by not intersecting the arrow lines (sequence flow) that connect the Steps, and not dividing the Process more than necessary. By doing this, we can easily grasp the backlog status of detailed issue information.
We have also made it more convenient by promoting the use of Questetra using smartphones, so that those on business trips can get access from outside the office.
