Meet Country Manager Takashi Sekido
As Kollective continues to grow across the globe, we’re thrilled to welcome Takashi Sekido to our team in Japan as Country Manager. With deep expertise in technology sales, observability, and enterprise collaboration, Takashi brings invaluable experience and a fresh perspective to our mission of delivering flawless video and collaboration experiences for organizations everywhere.
We asked Takashi a few questions about his background, the state of the enterprise collaboration market in Japan, and what excites him about joining Kollective. Here’s what he shared:
Q: To start, could you introduce yourself? Tell us a little about where you’re from, and your professional background.
Takashi:
I was born and raised in Yamanashi. I hold a master’s degree in electrical engineering. Over the past 20 years, I’ve built my career in technology sales, covering a wide range of areas including server and cloud infrastructure, IT service management, and observability.
Q: You bring significant experience from Cisco (AppDynamics) and Splunk, as well as the Observability space. What are some of the biggest lessons or insights you’ve gained from working in these areas?
Takashi:
I worked at Cisco, primarily in the AppDynamics division, and also spent some time at Splunk. Observability is still a very new field, but there is growing demand from organizations that recognize how system performance affects user experience and business operations. Supporting customers on their observability journey means walking alongside them—providing continuous support as they make daily improvements. It’s also essential that the technology is compatible with a wide range of systems—from mission-critical platforms like SAP to infrastructure layers such as networks, cloud, and containers. Implementing observability effectively requires a company-wide, cross-functional effort—almost like a form of mixed martial arts where everyone needs to be involved.
Q: How would you describe the current state of the enterprise video and collaboration market in Japan? Are there any unique challenges or opportunities?
Takashi:
Like many other countries, Japan has embraced hybrid work, and the use of web conferencing tools has grown significantly. While many companies are encouraging employees to return to the office, people still join internal webinars and external meetings from various locations, such as customer sites, local offices, and factories, using platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Everyone understands the importance of improving the infrastructure of these webinars and meetings to enhance employee and customer experience, but in reality, many companies haven’t yet taken concrete steps to do so.
Q: What drew you to Kollective, and why are you excited to join the team at this moment?
Takashi:
I saw the opportunity to support employee experience and collaboration by leveraging my expertise in observability. Kollective stands out by offering end-to-end support in the enterprise video and collaboration space, from observing and analyzing to optimizing. What makes this exciting is that observability in this area is still underutilized. Many companies have deployed tools but haven’t taken the next step to improve performance or experience. I believe there’s a huge opportunity to help customers realize that potential and even shape a new market.
Q: From your perspective, what makes Kollective’s position in the market unique, especially for APAC-based enterprises?
Takashi:
Kollective holds a unique position in the enterprise video and collaboration space by covering the full cycle: observe, analyze, and optimize. Most companies have already adopted collaboration tools, but very few have systems in place to monitor and improve them. In many cases, issues are only addressed after users complain. Kollective enables proactive management and improvement of the entire collaboration environment. Many customers may not even be aware that such a solution exists. That’s why I believe Kollective is uniquely positioned to confidently deliver real value in this space.
Q: How do you think Kollective can help organizations in Japan and across APAC overcome some of their biggest challenges with enterprise video, collaboration, and network performance?
Takashi:
Whether in Japan or across APAC, companies are striving to strengthen employee engagement, improve experience, and drive business results while supporting hybrid work. Kollective helps by enabling high-quality, company-wide webinars and streaming, live or on-demand. It ensures that employees can collaborate effectively through Teams and deliver high-quality presentations to customers. This boosts both engagement and experience. Many companies in Japan and the APAC region have branches and factories, not just headquarters, and Kollective helps improve collaboration across all those locations. Imagine factory employees sharing their achievements and product highlights with clear video and sound. The same goes for sales teams presenting to customers. In some cases, Teams and other collaboration tools are even embedded into mission-critical workflows. Just like a phone line, these tools are lifelines for business. Kollective helps monitor and strengthen these systems, improving overall business resilience.
Q: On a personal note, what are you most looking forward to in your first few months at Kollective?
Takashi:
I’m excited to meet with customers and partners and introduce them Kollective solutions. I would like to have open discussions about the challenges they face with video and collaboration, and how we can help. I expect to hear about a variety of issues, whether it’s VIP users, remote branches, or factories. I also want to support customers by working closely with their operations teams. Many of our partners are already involved in deploying and managing collaboration tools. Kollective can enhance their value, and together we can build integrated solutions that connect with existing monitoring and observability tools.
Q: Finally, do you have any advice for global companies looking to succeed in Japan’s technology landscape?
Takashi:
In Japan, about 70% of IT professionals work on the vendor side, and the language barrier can make it difficult to adopt new technologies, especially those seen as “nice to have” rather than “must have.” That said, Japan’s total spending on foreign vendors reached $58 billion in 2024. The key is to understand the local environment and clearly show how your solution benefits end users. It’s also important to build a base of fans and early adopters.
Many large Japanese companies are expanding globally and have close relationships with international vendors. If you can win over champions within these companies and create strong case studies, it can accelerate your success. Starting with influential internal advocates is also a smart strategy. If you can integrate your technology into the existing systems and operations of Japanese partners, end users will see more value and your chances of success will grow.
We’re excited to have Takashi Sekido on board as we expand our presence in Japan and across APAC. If you’d like to connect with Takashi or learn more about how Kollective can help your organization, get in touch here or contact him directly via his LinkedIn profile。