Women at Rakuten: Sakky

Sakky
Vice Senior Manager
Customer Success Section
Marketing Cloud Platform Department
Ecosystem Platform Supervisory Department
Technology Platform Division
Rakuten Group, Inc.

Aiming for the best customer experience on the front lines of customer success

I currently work in a department specializing in customer success, where we strive daily to provide high-quality, “one-stop” service to our clients.

Under the Ecosystem Platform Division, there are three departments: Membership Platform, Incentive Platform, and my own, Marketing Cloud Platform. Our team’s role is to handle customer success across all the products managed by these three departments.

The reason we integrated these functions—which were previously spread out—was to achieve both operational efficiency and a higher level of service quality. Our goal is to ensure clients always receive optimal support in one place. It is a major goal, and a rewarding challenge to tackle.

The current state of integration and our future outlook

We are currently in the middle of building this new service structure. This integration improves efficiency and ensures we provide a consistent level of support to every client. Another significant benefit is the ability to measure and report results using the same metrics across the board.

While our work has primarily focused on supporting clients within the Rakuten Group, we hope to eventually expand our reach to support clients outside the Group as well.

Key moments of growth in my career

One experience where I felt significant personal growth was serving as a Project/Product Manager for an internal budget management system. It was my first transfer after joining the company, and I felt a lot of uncertainty.

However, my mentor at the time taught me the fundamentals – everything from project design and building specifications to managing members and budgets. That experience remains the foundation of my work today. My mentor had just returned from childcare leave and showed me how to maximize results within a limited timeframe and the importance of building consensus. Her sincerity in guiding me, even while busy with a young child, serves as my personal compass when I lead my own team members today.

My first assignment to a management position was another big challenge. It coincided with my return from childcare leave and involved a transfer to a branch office while coordinating with headquarters. Though I had to learn through trial and error in an unfamiliar environment, I was able to pull through with the support of those around me.

Rakuten’s “Level-Specific Training” also helped broaden my perspective as a leader. It was a valuable opportunity to learn about leadership from multiple angles through feedback from external instructors and supervisors.

Balancing work and personal life

Since my daughter is preparing for entrance exams this year, I have less time for big outings, but I make sure to refresh myself through daily habits like walking with friends or spending time with family. A trip abroad with my parents and my sister’s family remains a particularly fond memory.

Because of the nature of my work, I sometimes get urgent calls, but I make a conscious effort to switch gears: when it’s time to play, I play; when it’s time to work, I work. I’ve also made friends in my neighborhood who have nothing to do with my job, which is a great way to clear my head.

I also value the time I spend walking and talking with friends who are active in other companies. We exchange information on topics like “How is your hiring going?” to provide mutual inspiration.

I try to maintain a broad perspective by reading books about business failures and how they were overcome, especially when I face difficulties. In the organization I was assigned to this year, I’ve already encountered many challenges that have made me think hard as a manager. By using these personal methods to stay grounded, I want to keep taking on new challenges.

*The content and affiliation presented in this article are accurate as of the time of the interview.

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