Here
we examine the relationship between Japan’s software culture and the GeneXus software development platform, in an interview to Breogán Gonda, our President of the Board, and the 4 most recent success stories in Japan: JBCC, Mitsubishi, Resona Holdings, and Nihon Housing, to provide real-world examples of what we mean when we talk about the power of Low-Code technology.

The GeneXus software development platform entered the Japanese market in 2003.* 

With a presence in more than 50 countries around the world, GeneXus has achieved a strong position in the demanding Japanese market, creating a spillover effect in other markets. 

Eighteen years ago, the Uruguayan company started selling the GeneXus solution in Japan. “At first, we were greatly helped by an excellent representative, Mr. Fumio Owaki, who is currently the President and CEO of GeneXus Japan,” recalls Mr. Breogán Gonda, Co-founder and President of GeneXus. 

The advantage | Low-Code

Japan is at the forefront of robotics and hardware production and expertise. However, when it comes to software development, the waterfall model is more commonly used, even though it is not the most agile model. Mr. Gonda explains that “the GeneXus product is based on the automatic management of business systems knowledge. We don’t program, and the company and its needs are described instead. Then, the system automatically generates the required applications. On one side, it implies a very important increase in productivity for our customers while, on the other hand, it provides insurance against technological changes. If a new technology emerges that replaces a previous one, it is traditionally necessary to redo things. This is because systems are usually programmed and have a background of millions of lines of code. In the case of GeneXus, what we have is pure knowledge. With it, what has been generated for a certain technology is automatically generated for the new one, when the previous technology changes. Evolution is not destructive, it is always incremental.” 

GeneXus has numerous success stories in the Japanese market and works, for example, with the second largest bank in the Asian country and with Resona financial group. 

The software company JBCC also stands out as a reference in the use of GeneXus to provide solutions to its customers, and this makes a significant difference. 

After assessing the results of using GeneXus compared to the manual method, automation is the leading factor, which implies a 70% increase in productivity. According to the company, integration is another remarkable factor that allows for the rapid delivery of quality solutions adapted to the user’s needs, with a 40% reduction in development time and with an agile methodology. 

Mr. Gonda pointed out that GeneXus “has a lot to offer to the software application industry in more developed countries because, comparatively, salaries are very high there. Therefore, manually programming applications makes no sense. This is always the case, but even more so when salaries are high due to the loss of competitiveness. In terms of costs, it can be a 10 to 1 ratio, and by costs I mean money and time. While the monetary cost can be dealt with by putting in more money, the cost in time cannot usually be fixed.” 

In a highly demanding market such as that of Japan, GeneXus’ co-founder said that trust “is earned with deeds and presence” and for trust to exist “it is absolutely imperative to provide quality solutions.” In addition, Mr. Gonda reflected that “maybe they learned many things from us, but we also learned a lot from them. This stringent quality requirement has helped us a great deal; the more you are challenged, the more you improve.” 

Do you want to learn more about the most recent success stories of GeneXus in Japan?

#1 Nihon Housing, a condominium and building management company in Japan, transformed its mission-critical system and methodology with GeneXus.

#2 Resona Holdings, one of Japan’s largest Banks, overhauled its branch system with Low-Code in record time.

#3 JBCC, excellence in Agile software development with Japan Broadband Communications Corporation.

#4 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation: remarkable growth of productivity in Kamakura Works with Low-Code.

*From an article published in El Observador (SATURDAY 29 · SUNDAY 30 · MAY 2021)