Founded in 2013, GA Technologies, Inc., has been addressing the significant challenge in the real estate industry known as analog by developing and providing solutions that leverage technology to promote DX (Digital Transformation). In 2021, GA Technologies planned to introduce offshore development services in addition to in-house development to accommodate the expansion of various systems. After considering several IT companies, they decided to collaborate with VTI. Through this collaboration, GA Technologies has leveraged the results obtained from offshore development services to provide new value to customers more quickly. We interviewed Mr. Nonami, the Product Manager of GA Technologies’ My Page System, and Mr. Hirata, the Product Manager of Modern Standard, about their initiatives.
Striving for DX in the real estate industry through technology utilization
GA Technologies has been dedicated to promoting DX in the real estate industry through technology. With the mission of “Creating the world’s top company that touches people through technology and innovation,” GA Technologies develops and provides numerous systems that allow for end-to-end online real estate transactions for real estate companies (BtoB) and property owners (BtoC).Mr. Hirata, the Product Manager of Modern Standard at GA Technologies, highlighted the importance of DX transformation for the company: “Real estate transactions are quite analogous. We are using AI and RPA to improve the customer experience. We work every day with the awareness that DX and other technologies are extremely important.”
Exploring offshore development services for business expansion
In 2021, as part of its business growth strategy, GA Technologies planned to outsource certain operations to external partners to scale up its systems quickly. They sought IT companies both domestically and internationally that could meet various criteria such as value, scale, track record, technical capabilities, resource acquisition speed, flexibility, scalability, and security. Ultimately, VTI was chosen as the partner.Reflecting on this decision, Mr. Nonami, the Product Manager of My Page System at GA Technologies, stated, “Initially, we will consider some companies that have a certain size from among several domestically and internationally that have a track record of doing business with major companies. We considered this and decided to do business with your company from the perspective of receiving all the services in one package, such as resource acquisition speed and scalability.”
Supporting the business model with offshore development services
In 2021, GA Technologies fully implemented VTI’s offshore development services. Before starting the implementation, GA Technologies sought an offshore team that could communicate in Japanese and create value for customers and end users through development. With VTI’s communication abilities, advanced management skills, and quick responsiveness, the offshore projects have progressed smoothly. From 2021 to 2023, the project expanded significantly from a small maintenance team, including on-site, to a 14-member offshore development team, exceeding the initial requirements. As of 2024, GA Technologies has entrusted VTI with tasks such as existing feature enhancements and new feature additions for their products, My Page and Modern Standard.“We provide services for real estate owners using cutting-edge technologies like AI. We offer information and content that Japanese real estate owners need when they want to sell their properties. For the development of new features and improvements to existing ones, we rely on VTI for development.” (Mr. Nonami)
Mr. Hirata, Modern Standard Product Manager at GA technologies
Mr. Hirata commented on the outsourced project: “My team is responsible for creating real estate media. We rely on VTI to create various aspects, including landing pages with advertisements. As a result of VTI’s collaboration, the developed features and systems have been operating stably, allowing us to provide added value to users and customers with a sense of speed.”
The most impressive aspect is VTI’s outstanding communication skills
It’s been about two years since the introduction of VTI’s offshore development services. When asked what he values most about it, Mr. Nonami mentioned VTI’s communication skills. He commented on how VTI not only fulfills assigned tasks but consistently proposes optimal approaches from the customer’s perspective in every project.
“When we talk about offshore or outsourcing development, the basic idea is to create what we request, and it often feels like the job is done once it’s delivered. However, that’s not the case with VTI. Their BridgeSEs and business analytics professionals understand what value the customer wants to provide. They communicate, proposing suggestions on improving certain aspects, and collaborating with both the planning and development sides to create something better.”
Mr. Nonami, GA technologies property my page Product manager
Combining internal and offshore development for achieving DX in the real estate industry
Based on these achievements, Mr. Hirata shared the following thoughts regarding future collaboration plans:“As for future collaboration plans, while we also conduct in-house development, we aim to expand the options for providing customer value with a sense of speed to end users by combining internal development with offshore development.”
To completely address challenges in the real estate industry and promptly provide solutions to the general consumers, it is crucial to diversify resources. By combining internal talent with experts from IT companies in other countries, we can leverage their collective strengths and achieve the ultimate goal at an early stage. In the future, VTI aims to work alongside GA Technologies to leverage groundbreaking technologies and drive DX in the real estate industry.
