UNIVA AWARDS 2023 Winner Yurika Ono
Development and implementation of "Kikikomi ™️" in a short time

Appearing in the July issue of UNI SQUARE is the UNIVA AWARDS 2023 Winner! This is Ms. Yurika Ono of UNIVA Gyro-n. Ms. Ono received the award for developing and implementing the word-of-mouth support tool "Kikikomi ™️" using generative AI in just six months. Not only was it completed in time for release in 2023, but it was also highly evaluated for its high technology and ability to respond flexibly and quickly to the needs of the times and customers. In the July issue, we would like to look back on Ms. Ono's six-month challenge leading up to the launch of "Kikikomi ™️" together with our NAKAMA.

Congratulations to Ms. Ono on winning this award!

Winner crowned for her first attempt at web development

Ono, an engineer specializing in web applications, previously worked in Windows software development. She decided to change jobs because she wanted to work in web development, and two years ago, she joined Gyro-n. For the first year and a half after joining the company, she gained experience and knowledge mainly by fixing bugs in local SEO (MEO) support tools, and in the spring of 2023, Ono was hired as the person in charge of product development for "Kikicomi ™️".

"Gyro-n was developing a tool to support local SEO (MEO), a marketing measure that promotes store information through map search, but it was not able to provide support for word-of-mouth acquisition. In June 2023, Gyro-n also came up with a plan to realize a tool to support word-of-mouth acquisition using the latest technology."

"Kikikomi ™️" is a product that supports the creation of word-of-mouth using generative AI based on the contents of the questionnaire answered by customers. For businesses, "real customer voices" are effective not only for attracting customers and branding, but also for recruiting and motivating staff. However, it is said that there is a big barrier to obtaining such word-of-mouth.

"'Lack of word-of-mouth,' 'thin content,' and 'conspicuous bad reviews' are the top three worries for businesses, so we used generative AI to make it possible to obtain high-quality word-of-mouth while reducing customer hassle."

It is said that the main part of the technical aspect was conceived and built by Ono. It was a great opportunity for Ono, who changed jobs because she wanted to do web development.

"It was the first time in my career that I was able to develop a new product where I could also be in charge of selecting the technology myself, and it was a lot of fun, and I'm really happy to have received the UNIVA AWARDS!"

Ono smiles, but it took a lot of hard work for Mr./Ms. to release a new product in just six months of development.

Why were we able to achieve a release by the end of the year?

One of them is the regulation of stealth marketing, which was introduced in October 2023. In other words, word-of-mouth conducted in a dishonest way that misleads consumers is an act that violates the Act on Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, so it is necessary to implement a function to avoid the generation of reviews that fall under stealth marketing. Furthermore, as Ono's work continues to increase, such as the functions necessary for legal measures, how was the release by the end of the year realized?

"With less than a month to go until the release, I thought it would be a bad idea to continue like this (laughs). The team understood that I couldn't do it alone, and two engineers joined me. We were able to make it in time thanks to the high technical skills of our engineers. In addition, the narrowing down of the functions was also a major factor in the release as planned. From the beginning of development, we aimed for a minimum set of features, but once the release date was set, we narrowed down the features to be implemented."

In this way, the development team and sales team of Gyro-n worked together to successfully release the implementation of "Kikikomi ™️" by the end of the year. And that's not all. Measures that look to the future without losing sight of the essential purpose while valuing the deadline in front of her are the reasons why she was selected as a Winner of the UNIVA AWARDS.

A clear eye for the future

"Considering the hurdle of 'release by the end of the year,' we had the option of using a paid tool on the market to save time, but we decided to implement our own because we prioritized responding flexibly and quickly to customer needs in the future. I think this decision was very important. In the future, we have laid the groundwork for a smooth adaptation to future market trends and new demands of our sales team."

In addition to her own development, Ono has made various innovations, such as making the database design extensible so that it can respond to the increase in questions unique to "Kikikomi ™️" and updating the tools for creating the UI to new ones.

Making full use of the technology, knowledge, and experience gained in the past, and with the cooperation of the team, "Kikikomi ™️" was released as scheduled. Currently, it has a track record of 70 installations, including 50 stores. In the future, companies with up to 1,000 stores are scheduled to introduce the system, and further growth of "Kikikomi ™️" is expected.

How AI and engineers can co-create

What has Ono been doing since the release of "Kikikomi ™️"?

"Even now, my main job is to improve Kikikomi ™️, and I'm making corrections so that various reviews are formed without the same kind of reviews. Specifically, the top priority now is to have randomness in the questions. Other than that, I'm also dealing with bugs in an emergency."

I heard that Ono is fully remote, but what kind of daily life does she have?

"Actually, I live in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture, and I am completely fully remote. I only go to the office once a year, at the year-end party in December (laughs). Therefore, I have not yet been able to say hello directly to NAKAMA, who joined the company this year. Sorry (sweat). I'm early in the morning, so I start work around 8:30 to 9 a.m. and finish around 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. On my days off, I explore delicious eateries nearby. The other day, I found a restaurant that cooks delicious mizutaki (a hot pot dish with chicken and vegetables)."

What kind of company is Gryo-n to you, Ms. Ono?

"It's an environment where it's easy for me to take on challenges even if I make a mistake. They give me advice that will lead to the next one, and the culture is also attractive because it's easy to talk about anything. Also, all of our engineers come from New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea, and other global talents, and they are all people I wouldn't meet in Kumamoto, so it's very exciting."

Please tell us your views on AI.

"AI is indispensable, and ChatGTP played a big role in this job. I used to type in the code I wrote and ask ChatGTP 'What can I do to make it better?' (laughs) Until a while ago, I was sometimes taught to lie, but recently the accuracy has improved, and I am learning a lot."

Are you afraid that AI will take your job?

"No matter how much AI evolves, I think there will always be people to manage it, and we just need to work hard to be on the side that uses AI, not on the side that is taken away by it. When I was interested in machine learning not long ago, I was reading difficult technical books and paid expensive server fees. But now it's easy to access, isn't it? There's no reason not to take advantage of this, and if we don't, I think we'll be left behind more and more."

Lastly, please tell us about your future goals.

"As an engineer, I want to evolve Kikikomi ™️ into a better service, and in my private life, I want to study new programming techniques and create and launch my own app. I don't have any specific ideas yet, but I would like to combine generative AI to develop an app that will help make everyone smile!"

Thank you very much, Ono.
And congratulations! We look forward to your continued success!