[Web System Development | AWS Construction and Operation Maintenance] Tokyo Shoseki

This time, we asked Tokyo Shoseki Co., Ltd., which uses Beyond's web system development, cloud construction and operation and maintenance services, about their actual usage situation and their impressions.

Mr. Shimada of Tokyo Shoseki Co., Ltd., who oversees the services, and Mr. Akiba, Mr. Hino and Mr. Miyashita, who are in charge of the services of [total ID], [Tabdori Live!], and [Everyone More NIMOT! (hereinafter referred to as NIMOT!)], appear in the event.

Tokyo Shoseki Co., Ltd. (*From right)
Educational DX Bureau DX Development Headquarters Educational System Development Department Manager Shimada Masato
Educational DX Bureau DX Development Headquarters Educational System Development Department Second Team Section Chief Hino Ayaka
Educational DX Bureau DX Development Headquarters Educational System Development Department Educational System Development Department Miyashita Koji
Educational DX Bureau DX Development Headquarters Educational System Development Department System Development Team Team Manager Akiba Takeaki

--Please tell us about your company's business.

Shimada : Tokyo Shoseki was founded in 1909 (Meiji 42), and with its corporate philosophy of "creating people through education and culture," it aims to cultivate unique and creative human resources who will challenge themselves in a new era. It is the largest publisher in the textbook industry, with the largest number of textbooks published in elementary, junior high and high schools. In recent years, we have also been focusing on developing and selling digital content for educational purposes such as digital textbooks. In addition, we carry out a wide range of business activities related to education and culture, including operating a comprehensive educational portal site, various evaluation projects such as academic and physical fitness tests, and publishing general books.

――Please tell us what led you to introduce our services.

Akiba: At the time, various teaching materials services were created for each department, each with its own login function. Therefore, users who use the service at school had to register individual accounts for each system, which was a hassle to use it. In this situation, each time new products increase, individual login functions must be developed, which is a huge burden for both us and our users. With this background, there has been a growing need for the possibility of integrating login functions.

This is why an internal project was launched, and a company I had been with for a long time led me to get to know Beyond.

Initially, the program started with the idea that "once development is finished, we will only request the infrastructure operation," but when we heard that he is actually involved in development, Beyond has emerged as a candidate for requesting. At the time, several development companies were listed as candidates, but some of them were unfamiliar with the cloud.

Although full-scale cloud adoption was still in the process of considering it, we decided that cloud support is essential given the trends of the times and the future increase in the number of users. In this regard, Beyond's extensive track record and high cloud technology capabilities are extremely reliable and I felt that I could be entrusted with peace of mind, so I decided to ask your company to develop it.

What made a big impact for us was the fact that major game companies have a track record. When I first had various meetings, the response speed of the service was specified in commas and I learned that it was being operated, and that I was convinced that I would be entrusted with processing large-scale users.

We first created a track record for "total ID," so we introduced Beyond when other projects within the company, Tabdori Live! and Nimot!, were launched.

--What are the specific aspects of Beyond that are useful?

Akiba: "Total ID" is a system that manages accounts, and only a small part of the information visible to the outside is present. Although it is not visible in the table, various processes are performed in the backend to link various services. We are being treated to ensure that we can handle them properly. Especially at the time that spans the fiscal year, we receive a large number of inquiries from users, and engineers respond promptly.

We also respond to operations, and it is very helpful that we can give you feedback by carefully determining the speed of responses and whether we can respond. In development sites, new projects occur one after another, and we sometimes find it difficult to consider the specifications, and sometimes we may make ambiguous requests, but even in such cases, we always organize the issues accurately and the person in charge compiles the materials in an easy-to-understand manner, which is very helpful. Sometimes we make unreasonable requests and sometimes we can handle the service until late at night, but we are truly grateful for your hard work.

While many companies separate maintenance during development, Beyond's flexible response is also helpful, as they provide thorough maintenance and maintenance during development. What's particularly helpful is that since we are responsible for both development and infrastructure, we can leave it all to you if something goes wrong.

If the company responsible for infrastructure and the development company responsible for applications are different, isolating the problem is not easy. For example, when users receive inquiries such as "the screen cannot be opened," they must determine whether it is a server-side problem or an application problem, but as of the current situation, they can simply inform Beyond about the problem that is occurring, and they immediately conduct various investigations. Even if it is left completely, it is extremely helpful because you can properly isolate and deal with issues related to infrastructure or application issues. This kind of response can only be achieved because we are responsible for both development and infrastructure, and I think it will be difficult for other companies to achieve this, including the speed of response.

Hino: The service that became the predecessor of "Tabdori Live!" faced a variety of challenges. Even a single response was not fast; for example, data displayed on the graph would start counting on the spot after being called, so loading time was long and usability was not very good. To improve these issues, Beyond has given us various ideas to help GIGA devices with low specs like school devices, such as running a study history that can be displayed in real time and aggregation processing at night, and dividing it into learning history that can be viewed the next day, and optimizing the processing to further speed up the data.

In drill teaching materials, the front-end, which is the overall visual, tends to attract attention, but as they actually operate it, I feel that the processing on the back-end side is actually the key. It is a key part of Tabdori Live!, starting with data management and processing, performance and security, and is a great help to ensure stable operation and operation.

--Was there any special reason behind the fact that you were able to redesign the system from the original tablet drill?

Hino: The GIGA School concept has been established, with one learning terminal for each student and a high-speed, large-capacity communication network. Initially, the plan was to proceed with environmental improvements by fiscal 2023, but due to the spread of COVID-19, the goal was to complete the deployment of terminals and network environments by fiscal 2020, and responses were made at a rapid pace. The predecessor, digital drill teaching materials, attracted attention, and as the number of applications increased, schools that had been introduced but were not used frequently suddenly began to use them, which slightly exceeded the number of users expected when the original design was designed.

In order to respond to these changes in the environment, we have decided to develop "Tabdori Live!". Since becoming "Tabdori Live!", I've been hearing more positive reviews and opinions from schools. I am truly grateful to everyone who developed this product!

Miyashita: I was originally a sales representative, and when I moved to a department, I started working with the NIMOT! service. The time between my transfer and the release was only six months, and I started out as I knew nothing about it, and there were many problems, but Beyond's engineers carefully explained various things related to the system over and over again, and I was able to gradually deepen my understanding.

Even if I have any questions I don't understand when I contact other companies involved in "NIMOT!", when I consult with Beyond, the engineers will be able to read the information accurately and respond smoothly. Furthermore, you can explain the content to me by delving into it, which has helped me to deepen my understanding myself.

Regarding "NIMOT!", there is a predecessor service and it was quite old, so I'm very pleased that this renewal made it such a good one.

――Please let us know what you think about using the service.

Akiba: Thanks to you, Total ID is currently operating very steady. With the launch of a large number of services approaching in 2024, we asked Beyond about it, "The number of users is over 1 million, is it okay if it is accessed at the same time?" At that time, we conducted a load test to ensure that we could handle the large amount of logging in at the same time, so the current specifications were sufficiently strong, but at the time I was nervous about whether it was okay. In fact, when the new year began, there were considerable traffic, but there were no major issues and I was relieved. Currently, we have over 2 million users, but we have no problems logging in.

I also think that they are extremely fast-paced and trustworthy people. Of course, it's not that there are no bugs, but what's particularly impressive is that they take the trouble seriously when something goes wrong. In fact, we sometimes receive reports of issues that we may not notice before, saying, "This has happened," and we are also promptly responding to these issues.

Regarding the specifications of "Total ID", it is linked with other systems, and it is necessary to adjust the development of the functions necessary for collaboration with "Tubdori Live!" and "NIMOT!", but in that respect, Beyond's company organizes the key points and formulates the specifications, which is extremely helpful and I feel that it is a reliable company.

Hino: As for the current "Tabdori Live!", the specifications were underway by the front-end, so I think everyone had a hard time. I wonder if it can be realized...? There were some plans that I thought were well implemented, but I feel that other companies couldn't do this.

Not only is its development, but it also has great support for maintenance and operation. Currently, we are constantly monitoring our infrastructure 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so even if an alert occurs, you can quickly check it and proceed non-stop to investigate the cause, which gives us a great sense of security. It is truly an indispensable item as it can respond to inquiries from users instantly.

Miyashita: In a good way, I don't feel like I'm from an outside company. It may be trivial, but even the smallest of words and the small details such as the "!" at the end of a text in an email or chat make it feel like you're joining the company as a team, making it very easy to work with.

Also, when we contact you, we may receive replies from someone else who contacted us, but even in that case, the content of the conversation is clearly connected and I feel that information sharing is solid within the company. From my previous experience, information is completely linked to an individual, and I often find that even if I ask someone else, I don't understand anything. However, even if you are interacting with multiple people, you can still continue to talk to one person, , it's great that your work progresses as if you are continuing to talk to one person.

--What is expected of us in the future?

Miyashita : Regarding "NIMOT!", our goal is to increase the number of users more than ever before. Even if the number of users increases and a large amount of access is concentrated in the future, we would like to ask that users operate the service so that they can always use it stably.

Hino: It has been about a year since the release of "Tabdori Live!" service. Thanks to the work that had accumulated a large amount of learning history in April, the year has been updated safely and the system is stable. On the other hand, we would like to continue developing new developments in response to the issues and requests that arise from schools, so we look forward to your continued cooperation!

Akiba: All of the basic functions of "Total ID" have been implemented and operates stably, so we hope you will continue to operate it in a stable manner.

--Please tell us about your future business development.

Akiba: Total ID is currently actively working to collaborate with account management services from other companies. This policy is because the need to "integrate account management distributed across various systems," which is the trigger for the birth of "total ID," has become a common challenge for many companies. We are already developing a linkage with other companies' account management systems, and we expect the number of accounts to increase dramatically in the future.

Hino : "Tabdori Live!" and "NIMOT!" are developed separately, but we also sell them as sets. Therefore, in the future, we would like to consider attempts to link between services, including linking together with Tabdori Live! and NIMOT!, or linking with other services.

--Thank you very much for your valuable talk today!