[AWS deployment and operation and maintenance] SaaS service SNS campaign tool | Pickles

This time, we spoke with Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Yamashita of Pickles Co., Ltd. about the background to their decision to adopt Beyond's cloud construction, operation and maintenance service, and their impressions after actually using the service

--Please tell us about your company's business

Mr. Yamashita : Our company offers two marketing SaaS services: the SNS campaign tool "CanTsuku" and the diagnostic content creation tool "Diagnosis Cloud Yomitoru."

Tanaka : CanTsuku is a social media campaign tool whose strength lies in the fact that it can be used by a single marketer. It allows you to easily run giveaway campaigns such as "instant wins" on social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LINE, and TikTok. Yomitoru is a tool that allows you to create a variety of diagnostic content. It has been adopted by a variety of companies for the purposes of product promotion and conversion on e-commerce sites. Its strength lies in the fact that anyone can easily create diagnostic content using AI.

Pickles Co., Ltd. Representative Director Minoru Tanaka and Product Development Department Manager Mio Yamashita

--Please tell us the background behind your decision to introduce our service

Mr. Tanaka : We had issues with the slow response speed of the company we had previously used, so we switched to your company.

Mr. Yamashita : Actually, I've been working with them for about seven years since the site was built, and because we've been working together for so long, I've gotten used to them, so to be honest, I thought it was ok if they were a little slow.

Tanaka : However, from my perspective, I felt that their response speed was quite slow. For example, even if there was a problem on the server side, it sometimes took more than half a day for them to respond. It was common for it to take about one to two months from the initial consultation to actually starting work, including understanding the situation, calculating costs, proposing a schedule, and taking concrete action.

Yamashita : I had always been used to doing things that way, so I thought it couldn't be helped. But when Tanaka said, "Isn't this a big risk from a management perspective?", I felt anew that "this slowness is not good for a service provider."

Tanaka-san : I think that server-related issues are especially a big problem from the customer's perspective. And yet, taking too long to respond is risky, so I asked Yamamoto, "Is it really okay to leave it like this?" and "It's possible that other companies can do maintenance and operations more quickly, isn't it?"

Yamashita : That's why I decided to look into the actual situation of other companies that build and maintain servers. When I started looking into it, I found that there are companies that have support systems with overwhelmingly fast responses. For seven years, I had always thought that "slow responses" were the norm, but I realized that maybe that's not actually the case.

Tanaka : In the end, we decided that this was the perfect time to consider switching. We were also facing OS and PHP upgrades, and the slow response time was becoming an even bigger obstacle. We concluded that if we wanted to prioritize stable service provision, we should switch to an operating company that could act quickly and with strong communication at its core.

-How did you find out about Beyond?

Mr. Yamashita : I found out about it through an online search. Tanaka and I were discussing which investment management company to use, and Beyond's name first came up in the course of our research. It was one of several companies we picked out.

Mr. Tanaka : I thought it was one of the companies that Yamashita listed.

What ultimately made you choose our company?

Tanaka : The first thing we focused on was whether they could respond quickly. That was a big problem with our previous company. The second point was whether they could accommodate a wide range of inquiries. In that respect, the other companies we considered only responded in a manual manner, saying things like, "We can handle inquiries up to this point." In comparison, Beyond gave us being flexible and able to respond to even small inquiries about knowledge , and that was a major deciding factor.

Yamashita : We don't have a specialized infrastructure engineer, so we often have to consult with them about server configuration and operation and maintenance. The deciding factors for us were whether we could consult with them easily and whether they could act quickly if there was a risk. In fact, we had many meetings beforehand and they had solid technical knowledge and were quick to respond. Their geeky nature gave us a sense of security and helped us make the final decision.

Tanaka : In fact, even when we asked for advice that other companies would have refused, they were flexible and said, "Let's think about it." That left a strong impression on me, and ultimately I felt that "this company seems like they'll be willing to work with us on new initiatives."

Yamashita : Also, cost was an important factor. It was also important that the construction and maintenance costs be kept within the budget we had set, and Beyond was able to come up with a proposal that kept the costs within our expectations, which was great.

SNS campaign tool "CanTsuku"

-What kind of services do you use Beyond's services for?

Mr. Yamashita : We asked you to build, operate, and maintain the server for "CanTsuku." CanTsuku is a system that collects posts with hashtags and reposted posts, and is characterized by its compatibility with multiple social media platforms.

Tanaka : Specifically, there are four: X, Instagram, LINE, and TikTok. All of these services obtain data via API, so when running instant-win campaigns, the server must instantly process and output the "wins and losses." This means that when access is concentrated, the server load becomes extremely high. Until now, we didn't have a load balancer, so response times were sometimes slow during heavy access. Therefore, for this server construction, we decided to set up a multi-machine configuration with a load balancer and update the system to one that can also handle auto-scaling.

Yamashita : Regarding some of the configurations, Beyond suggested "we'll come up with alternatives because we don't have a proven track record," but in the end they implemented it in the way we wanted. Normally, I think there are many cases where they would turn down the offer because they have no track record, but they were willing to try new methods and provided solid support, which has further increased our sense of trust in them.

Tanaka : This time, the configuration was optimized to meet our company's needs, and our servers are now able to withstand even the unexpectedly strong response we received from our social media campaign. We're extremely grateful that we were able to create a robust platform that can fully handle even a system that puts a lot of strain on our servers, such as an instant win.

Pickles' "CanTsuku" environment configuration diagram

--Specifically, what are some areas where Beyond has been useful?

Yamashita : When we migrated from the old server to the new one, it was actually my first time dealing with a PHP FPM environment, and we had to make more detailed changes than we expected. Specifically, things like where to output the error log and adjusting the PHP middleware. We had a lot of questions like, "What should we do in this situation?", and when we consulted Beyond, they were very kind and explained things to us in a very detailed manner, saying, "Let's do this."

Tanaka : When we request work, we sometimes receive a report a few hours later saying that it has been completed. In the past, we would often have to wait for a response like "We'll look into it and get back to you," but now we get the results right away, so our work doesn't get interrupted.

Yamashita : In fact, I was really grateful that the transition went smoothly with almost no interruptions to work.

Tanaka : Another thing that helps is the regular monitoring system. There are quite a few times when the database load on Cantuku increases, and we receive a quick message on Slack saying, "The load is increasing, so we're checking it out." We also receive specific information, such as, "This SQL query seems to be the cause," so we can respond immediately.

Yamashita : In our previous environment, we only realized something was wrong when a problem occurred. But with Beyond, they set proper thresholds and identify bottlenecks before they become problems. They also report frequently via Slack, which makes it easy for us to come up with countermeasures at that time.

Tanaka-san : It was also very helpful when we made a mistake in configuring our cron job and the load suddenly increased. At that time, we received multiple alerts saying, "The load is high!" (actually, they were saying it politely), so we were able to notice the problem right away. If it weren't for that, I think we would have left it unnoticed for a long time.

Yamashita : Thanks to that, it gave us the opportunity to reconsider the design of the application itself, so it was great that we were able to not only discover and stop the mistake, but also make fundamental improvements.

Tanaka-san : They keep in touch with us frequently and don't just monitor the situation, they also analyze the likely cause. This has reduced the load on our servers, which has ultimately led to the stability of our overall service . We feel that they have helped us in many ways.

Case studies of CanTsuku

--Please tell us your impressions of using the service

Yamashita : First of all, I'm happy that we can communicate via Slack instead of email. Most of our internal communication is done via Slack, so it's very helpful to be able to consult or contact each other immediately.

Tanaka : It's reassuring to have a real-time response without having to check email. It really makes me realize how important speed is. I also get the impression that Beyond has a culture of immediate response that is thoroughly implemented throughout the company

Yamashita : Previously, it was like, "We couldn't get any new proposals or information unless we asked questions ourselves." Because we don't have much specialized knowledge, we often didn't know what questions to ask. But now, even if we just roughly explain what we're struggling with, they offer various suggestions, like, "Here's another way to do it." Each person in charge has their own knowledge and they share it with us, so I 'm amazed at how flexible they are

Tanaka : I really appreciate the advice they give me based on suggestions, such as "You can make it more efficient if you do it this way" or "Perhaps this setting is the cause of the heavy load in the first place." This also helps me learn and improve.

Yamashita : They also help us with late-night support. CanTsuku often needs to be updated late at night, but at my previous company, we would have to pay an additional fee each time, saying "late-night support is optional." This was a bit expensive, so it was difficult to coordinate internally, such as "Can we stop the midnight service on another day?"

Tanaka : But now, with Beyond's monitoring and maintenance service, we can request late-night support on weekdays relatively smoothly, so we can boldly complete the process in the middle of the night. As a result, we can carry out updates and maintenance at times when there are fewer users, which has greatly reduced the risk of service outages.

Yamashita : We appreciate that. In fact, there are times when we don't know when a large amount of traffic will occur, but by communicating with them, we can quickly say, "Let's review it in the middle of the night." This is a response speed that was previously unthinkable, and it gives us great peace of mind as a service operator.

Diagnostic

--What do you expect from us in the future?

Yamashita : First of all, we want to grow both CanTsuku and Yomitoru together. We ourselves have been steadily progressing with development, but we believe there is still a lot to be learned about AWS services and infrastructure solutions. It is reassuring to be able to consult with them and "run alongside" them, so to speak.

Tanaka : I've heard that Beyond has a lot of experience supporting the gaming industry. I think that sudden spikes in traffic are commonplace for gaming companies. If they have the knowledge and experience to deal with such cases, I believe they'll know how to deal with the sudden growth of CanTsuku and Yomitoru. For example, even if they say, "The number of users of our service has increased tenfold," I expect them to provide suggestions like, "If we scale this up like this, we can get through it."

Yamashita : We are actually conscious of load management even at this stage, but as things actually grow, unexpected problems may arise. At that time, it would be reassuring to have someone to give us a push, saying, "This architecture is good," or "You can get through it with this AWS function."

Tanaka : We also feel the pressure to grow to that stage, but conversely, it also serves as motivation. If Beyond supports us by saying, "You can grow as much as you want," it motivates us to work harder and increase our user base by 10 times.

Yamashita : As we continue to expand our services, I think there will be more opportunities to consult with us about various things and think about implementation together. It would be helpful if you could take the stance of "feel free to talk to me about anything."

Tanaka : From our perspective, we get the sense that they have an attitude of "We can handle a wide range of things related to AWS," so we're looking forward to that kind of support.

-Please tell us about your future business development plans

Yamashita : Our main goal is to get more people to use CanTsuku and Yomitoru. Our company's policy is to "create quality communication between companies and between companies and consumers." In that regard, we want to continue to hone the functions so that the companies that adopt our service can achieve results that make them feel glad they chose us.

Tanaka : Recently, we updated Yomitoru to allow user management. For enterprise customers, user management is an important element in SaaS implementation from a security perspective, so this is a way to meet that need. We will continue to make various efforts to "lower the barrier to implementation" and make it a service that any company will be willing to try.

Yamashita : I think it's important to create an environment that allows all customers to use the service with peace of mind. I want to continue to raise the level of our service, including the load management measures mentioned earlier, security, and ease of understanding data management.

Tanaka: With that in mind, Beyond's support is very encouraging. We would be happy to continue consulting with them on various aspects to expand our services.

--Thank you for your valuable insights today!