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Communicating Solutions
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A Q&A with Junko Nakaida, marketing specialist, Empirix Japan
Effective communications lay the foundation for any organization striving to meet the unique needs of its customers. Empirix is no exception, and the company’s customer-focused approach makes clear, consistent—and sometimes customized—communications essential to its mission.
In this article, Marketing Specialist Junko Nakaida, who works for Empirix’s Web Solutions group in Japan, shares her perspective on the value of effective customer communications, as well as how she helps customers understand the importance of testing through a cartoon series she created—Bottleneck Busters.
Catalyst: What is your specific role at Empirix, and what experiences do you bring to this role?
Junko Nakaida: I am responsible for all marketing communications for Web testing products and services in Japan, and while I have a technical background in mainframe software, I also have experience in marketing, most recently for another enterprise testing software vendor.
Empirix’s customer-focused approach—and the opportunity to help build a company dedicated to customer satisfaction—made the company a very attractive employer for me.
C: Empirix “helps organizations adopt complex communications solutions with confidence.” How do the efforts of you and your team align with this goal?
J.N.: By offering not only the testing products customers need but also delivering value-added services such as training, on-site support, and test consulting, Empirix is a “solution vendor,” and this is the message we share with our customers. As a result, customers see our commitment to a comprehensive, lifecycle approach to testing, and learn how their organizations can benefit. They know they can trust our products and the results they obtain, giving them the confidence necessary to deploy their applications.
C: Empirix is clearly committed to delivering products that meet customer requirements. Do you have a personal philosophy that you apply to your work?
J.N.: Consistent communication is critical. As a customer-focused organization, we emphasize the importance of listening to our customers to understand their needs, and then doing what we can to incorporate their unique requirements into our product and service offerings.
Another fundamental priority is to provide customers with “solutions” that combine Empirix software with sound services and support, and then to communicate the value of this approach. By offering complete solutions we give customers appropriate value for their investment, resulting in a win-win relationship.
C: You’ve developed a comic strip called Bottleneck Busters, which is a unique approach to communicating the value of Web application testing to readers. Where do you get the ideas for the cartoons you create? How do you think the comic strip helps readers recognize the benefits of Web testing or respond to the challenges they face when they deploy new Web applications or services?
J.N.: The idea for a comic strip, as well as how the story should be designed, came from one of our technical team members, and the detailed content and technical concepts for each episode are supported by one of our key testing consultants.
Though there is an element of culture involved by offering this type of media in Japan, receiving our message through a cartoon is obviously entertaining for readers. Given the complexity of web application testing and the plethora of information on the subject, a comic strip provided a fun and unique way to overcome this barrier, lowering the threshold to help our readers understand basic testing methodology and the need for performance testing. At the same time, we could show readers that Empirix has knowledge and experience and that our team of professional testing consultants is available to help the customer launch their testing projects effectively.
We have released two “seasons” of Bottleneck Busters. Each season is a series that tells a continuing story. Both seasons have been remarkably successful in informing and engaging Japanese readers, who frequently access the links we provide in each episode to get more information.
Check out season one of Bottleneck Busters.
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