Okta Deepens Japanese Operations, Welcomes First Country Manager

MTS Staff Writer

September 2, 2020

Okta, Inc., the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise, announced its continued global expansion with the launch of a new office in Japan and the hiring of its first Japan Country Manager, Takashi Watanabe. With a base of customers and a growing local team, Okta is making a long term, strategic investment in the dynamic Japanese enterprise technology market.

“Okta’s vision is to enable any organization to use any technology, and that global challenge is more important than ever in today’s remote work-dominant landscape,” said Todd McKinnon, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder, Okta. “Japan is an incredible match for Okta. As a thriving, technology-savvy market, Japanese businesses are adopting tools across the full technology spectrum–from cloud to on-premises–and Okta is the only identity provider that can truly help simplify and secure adoption across all technologies. We’re thrilled to bring aboard industry veteran, Takashi Watanabe, to take on this opportunity, and look forward to continuing to serve the Japanese market as a trusted partner.”

“The opportunity for Okta in Japan is massive, and it’s only getting bigger,” said Graham Sowden, General Manager, Asia Pacific. “As we’ve continued to generate interest and grow our customer base across Asia Pacific, we’ve recognized how vital the region–and Japan specifically–is to Okta’s long term success. Bringing Takashi on board is yet another step in continuing our progress across the Asia Pacific, and in Japan.”

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Takashi Watanabe brings over 25 years of enterprise software experience to Okta, having worked for global brands like Adobe and SAP to drive demand and interest in Japan. Prior to Okta, Watanabe led Appirio KK as the General Manager of Japan, greatly expanding operations and increasing sales within the country. At Okta, Watanabe will manage the strategy and execution of Okta’s Japanese business, working alongside Okta’s global leadership and a broad spectrum of technology and solution provider partners in its vision to ultimately enable every Japanese organization to use any technology.

“Cloud technology has created a massive shift that is unlike anything I have seen in my over 25 years in the technology industry,” said Takashi Watanabe, Japan Country Manager, Okta. “The role Okta plays in securing access to every kind of technology, whether it’s cloud apps and infrastructure or on-premises technology, is pivotal to organizations operating in a secure, efficient, and productive way today, and into the future. I’m excited for what the future holds.”

“We sincerely welcome Okta Japan’s launch,” said Tomohiro Owaki, General Manager, IT Strategy Dept., DeNA Co., Ltd. “Since we deployed Okta’s single sign-on service in 2012, we have expanded our usage to include multifactor authentication and identity and access management, maintaining our secure and efficient operation. For Japanese companies accelerating the shift to cloud under the current COVID-19 situation, Okta’s value is proven more than ever before. We look forward to enhanced support and wider service portfolio going forward.”

“We would like to congratulate Okta on the opening of Okta Japan office,” said Tateishi Ryuya, Specialist, IT Development Dept., Sumitomo Mitsui Finance, and Leasing Co., Ltd. “With Okta solutions, we have managed to achieve a critical mission of IDM/SSO system deployment within short lead time. In collaboration with Okta, we would like to promote the importance of identity management and contribute to leading the financial industry into Zero Trust security deployments in Japan.”

Okta’s launch in Japan comes on the heels of continued momentum for the organization. In its second quarter of the fiscal year 2021, Okta grew its total customers to 8,950 organizations, and recently announced a major milestone in cloud reliability and uptime, offering 99.99% uptime to all customers in every region of the world at no additional cost. Earlier this year at Oktane20 Live, Okta’s annual conference, Okta announced Okta Platform Services, Okta Workflows, and Okta Devices, as well as a $10 million philanthropic commitment from Okta for Good and the launch of the Nonprofit Technology Initiative.

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Box:

“We are delighted to welcome the opening of the Okta Japan office. We expect that the establishment of a full-fledged business base in Japan will accelerate business development in the country. As a global alliance partner of Okta, Box Japan will be able to offer and promote the best-of-breed solutions and services more than ever before. As an essential service in the cloud era, we want to contribute to the new normal and business in Japan by supporting diverse working processes and improving work efficiency with Okta.” — Katsunori Furuichi, Representative Director and President, K.K. Box Japan

Slack:

“Congratulations on the establishment of Okta Japan and its full-scale entry into the Japan market. Regardless of industry or size, the Japanese companies demand the New Normal working style with productivity and flexibility. We expect that an increasing number of companies will deploy Okta as their authentication platform for collaboration, and a seamless work environment is to expand. We are confident that our partnership will bring additional value to our customers and their business life in Japan.” — Seiji Sasaki, Country Manager, Slack Japan K.K

Zoom:

“We would like to sincerely congratulate Okta for the launch of the Japan office. Under the current environment where remote work is a mainstream trend, we believe that Okta’s technology will enable customers to securely and efficiently access any technologies whether they are cloud-based or on-premises. This is an incredibly critical solution for enterprises which will drive innovation in Japan enterprise technology landscape. Zoom has been partnering with Okta as a partner worldwide, and we will contribute to Japan’s new working style together with Okta.”

Cybozu:

“We sincerely welcome our alliance with Okta. Through the solution, a variety of cloud services are seamlessly connected to our service, and by the enhanced scalability, we believe we provide additional value to customers who are expanding their data usage. Accelerating our collaboration with Okta moving forward, we will provide the optimized solutions for our customers.”

— Keita Kuriyama, Executive Officer, General Sales Manager, Cybozu, Inc.

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd.:

“We sincerely welcome the opening of the Okta Japan office. Since we started our domestic distributor agreement with Okta in September 2018, Hitachi Solutions has been utilizing Okta to support many customers shift to the cloud. We are honored to have been able to work with Okta to launch in the Japanese market. Looking forward, we will be strengthening our collaboration with the Okta Japan office to expand the market share of Okta Identity Cloud and the cloud business market in Japan as a whole.”

— Atsushi Kihira, Corporate Officer, General Manager, Smart Life Solution Division, Hitachi Solutions, Ltd.

Macnica Networks:

“We sincerely welcome the launch of Okta Japan. The promotion of cloud usage, IT environment change driven by teleworking, and achieving Zero Trust have become critical challenges to Japanese customers. We are assured that Okta can address these challenges by providing optimized solutions, and the launch of Okta Japan and its continuous investment into Japan market will be the foundation for offering valuable services to customers. As Okta’s distributor and Zero Trust solution provider in Japan, we will try to actively promote business in collaboration with Okta and its partners, to contribute to Japanese customers.”

— Jun Ikeda, President, Macnica Networks Corp.

NTT DATA:

“We would like to congratulate Okta on its Japan office launch. We have been providing customers with Okta services through ‘BXO Managed Workspace Security (BMWS)’, the workspace solution based on Zero Trust that prevents various security risks. Okta’s Japan office launch enables us to strengthen our collaboration, through which we will respond to expanding needs for Zero Trust environment.”

— Keiji Mizobuchi, Head, Digital Business Solutions Division, Business Solutions Sector, NTT DATA Corporation

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MTS Staff Writer

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