Independent enterprise software support provider Rimini Street has appointed Yorio Wakisaka as country manager of Japan, to lead the next phase of growth for Nihon Rimini Street.
This objectives of this phase include strengthening Rimini Street’s presence outside of Tokyo, building the service delivery engineering team, and expanding operations to support the company’s fast growth in Japan.
Wakisaka joins Rimini Street from SAP Japan, where he has spent the last 18 years, most recently as vice president and senior business development executive for the automotive business unit. Previously he held engineering and executive roles including VP and head of pre-sales, value engineering and industry.
“The adoption of independent support in the Japanese market continues to rise as enterprise leaders place more scrutiny on the high costs of maintaining enterprise software and the value they receive in return,” said Wakisaka.
Since launching its Japanese headquarters in Tokyo just 18 months ago, Nihon Rimini Street has grown its customer base to support almost 40 clients with operations in Japan.
With Gartner forecasts predicting ERP software spend in Japan will grow to 194 billion Yen in 2016, up almost 8 per cent on 2015, Rimini Street expects strong demand for its services in this market.
“Driven by companies in Japan seeking more value from their software maintenance budgets and a better support model, Rimini Street is embarking on ‘Phase III’ of its growth in Japan, and I am confident that Mr Wakisaka is the right person to lead Nihon Rimini Street forward,” said Seth Ravin, Rimini Street CEO.
Asia-Pacific Japan is not the only growth area for the company – last month Rimini Street appointed a new GM in Latin America, and also recently expanded its worldwide headquarters in Las Vegas to accommodate another 200-300 employees in the next two years.
Rimini Street was recently also rewarded for its commitment to client service, winning two Stevie Awards in the customer service and IT support categories, in The 12th Annual International Business Awards.
