Twilio Expands Japanese Market Presence, Names Yoshihiro Konno as Head of Japan

Establishes Twilio Japan G.K. and opens first Japanese office in Yotsuya

Announces new partnerships with Classmethod, NTT Communications, NTT Data Smart Sourcing Corporation, Pound4Technology, Inc. ,Serverworks Co., Ltd., TerraSky and UL Systems, Inc.

AUGUST 30, 2019 - Twilio (NYSE:TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform, today announced it is expanding its presence in the Japanese market and has hired former Amazon and Workday executive, Yoshihiro Konno to lead the company’s expansion efforts as head of Japan. At launch, Twilio also announced new partnerships with seven regional consulting partners. Twilio’s first Japanese office is now open in Yotsuya.

“Twilio has seen phenomenal traction in Japan over the past six years, jumpstarted through our successful partnership with KDDI Web Communications (KWC), ” said George Hu, chief operating officer at Twilio. “Digital transformation within Japanese businesses is driving increased demand for Twilio’s communication platform. By establishing a direct market presence in Japan and building a local Twilio team under Yoshihiro Konno’s leadership, we will accelerate growth and be able to better serve our local customers in the region.”

Yoshihiro brings more than 30 years of software, cloud and telecom industry experience to his role as head of Twilio Japan and will oversee business growth and go-to-market strategy across the region. Prior to joining Twilio, Yoshihiro spent more than ten years building, managing and operating sales and partner organizations for Workday, Amazon Web Services and CA Technologies in Japan. Yoshihiro started his career at HP where he spent 22 years across several functions including engineering and sales and is credited for contributing to HP’s transformation into a software organization. 

“I am excited to join Twilio and build a comprehensive Twilio business to help support digital transformation efforts for businesses in Japan,” said Yoshihiro Konno, head of Japan for Twilio. “More than 160,000 customers rely on Twilio globally to engage with customers and we look forward to unlocking this same opportunity for startups and enterprises throughout Japan.” 

Important to serving enterprise markets is a strong partner ecosystem in the region. In addition to Twilio’s existing partnership with KDDI Web Communications, Twilio Japan announces new consulting partners in the region including Classmethod, NTT Communications, NTT Data Smart Sourcing Corporation, Pound4Technology, Inc., Serverworks Co., Ltd., TerraSky and UL Systems, Inc.

“KWC has enjoyed strong partnership with Twilio,” said Masato Yamazaki, president at KDDI Web Communications.  “Together, we are enabling customers to improve their customer engagement through Twilio’s innovative platform. With Twilio’s global expertise and now in-market presence in Japan, we can look forward to providing better support to our joint customers.”         

This expansion reflects Twilio’s rapid growth internationally and its commitment to engage with the most innovative developer and business communities in the world. Twilio is actively hiring for roles in Japan including sales, sales engineering, developer evangelism, support, marketing, carrier communications and partner management. To learn about open roles in Japan, visit  https://www.twilio.com/company/jobs.

Source: Twilio Inc.