Masatada Hasunuma, president of ISI Well Inc.
Ne:s:pa -- ISI Well's "Next Strategic Paradigm
"ISI (Intelligent Strategy's Institute) Well, established in 1986, describes itself as a "Thinking to Action" think tank. Among its many activities are the NHK Gakuen Macintosh College ( a joint undertaking with broadcaster NHK) and a variety of business solution offerings: multimedia (including the Apple Magic Project), computers (Macs and client/server solutions), publishing, sales promotion, and event production.
The Ne:s:pa APC Solution Plaza, which opened in April, really lives up to ISI Well's motto of "Whatever you want to do, we are there." Ne:s:pa features a wide variety of DTP, multimedia, and business and consumer equipment and software for use or sale and offers repair and training services. We visited Ne:s:pa to talk briefly with President Masatada Hasunuma about the company's history and activities.
Tell us a bit about the history of ISI Well.
Hasunuma: One of our first projects, in 1986, was developing MY DATABASE with publisher Diamond-sha on Fujitsu's FM7 8-bit computers. There was no Internet or popular online network in those days, and Diamond-sha wanted to put its publication information online. We handled the marketing, and got newspapers like Mainichi and Asahi and several magazine publishers to use the database and write about it. This was even before the days of online services like Nifty-Serve and PC-VAN.
Our projects haven't all been computer-related. A struggling golf magazine, called Alba, asked for our help in sales and marketing. One thing we did was go to insurance companies and suggest they distribute the magazine as a tool to sell "golf insurance." After three years of our efforts, it had become Japan's biggest golf magazine, and now has a readership of 400,000.
In essence, what we do is adopt a product and take a risk by forming a team to promote and sell it.
I understand you're very active in promoting Macintosh computers.
Hasunuma: Yes, about six years ago we suggested a marketing plan to Apple Japan, one that involved training at the pre-sales rather than post-sales stage. We felt that training was a very important aspect of computer sales. But Apple wasn't persuaded, so we thought about forming a school to do Apple training ourselves. After several months of meetings and presentations, we convinced NHK, whose schools are well known and trusted, to include our Macintosh college in their Shinjuku Gakuen. In fact, this is now a major selling point for their Shinjuku branch.
This made Apple realize the need for pre-sales training, so we were finally approved as an Apple Training Center. We do a lot of Macintosh-related training, such as in the publishing industry. Much prepress work, design and pasting, in Japan is still done manually, and we have convinced a nationwide publishing association to support an Apple Training Caravan that will travel across the country giving lectures until March 1999. We are doing the planning and will outsource the training functions. We're trying to convince the printing industry to go with Macintosh computers -- not Windows.
What kind of services do you provide for businesses?
Hasunuma: We offer many kinds of solutions: Internet, multimedia, publishing, business.... Computers are just now starting to be widely used in many companies, and we have found that introducing computers into the business environment and assisting companies in using them is very profitable. We provide support and maintenance based on feedback and evaluation. This is important because each kind of business uses computers in a different way, as do the different departments within a company. It can be difficult for companies to plan how to use their computers efficiently, so we provide them with workable solutions. Both vertical and horizontal solutions are needed.
Do you have services tailored to the foreign community?
Hasunuma: Not at the present, but I'm very interested in developing this market. I especially would like to help introduce Macs into the rest of Asia -- I mean in the sense of training users rather than selling hardware. One project now in the planning stages is setting up a training center for Asians in Okinwa. After Hong Kong is returned to China, I don't think the Chinese government will put much money into it. Instead, they will extract the know-how and development will move to Shanghai, in my opinion. Shanghai may become an even bigger business center than Tokyo in the 21st century, and Okinawa is near Shanghai.
What is the relationship of Ne:s:pa with ISI Well?
Hasunuma: Ne:s:pa is one of ISI Well's stores -- a new concept showroom whose main theme is multiplatform solutions. We think of it as a think tank with a marketing focus.