Case Study of Agile Development

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Honda”) is not only an automobile manufacturer, it also develops motorcycles, aircraft, general purpose engines for construction machinery and agricultural machinery, etc., on a global scale. In renewing its car sharing service, Honda built a service platform that maximized the merits of cloud computing through an agile development approach. Developing diverse services and functions, Honda strengthened its relationships with its customers while realizing a system infrastructure that can respond flexibly to additions and changes to functions and services.

Honda has been piloting a car sharing service business since 2013. From November 2017 we moved to expand the business under the name EveryGo, and at the same time completely overhauling the service and business infrastructure. Currently, the service is operating mainly in the urban centers of Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka. In starting EveryGo anew, we took a fresh look at the operational system and asked JBS to develop and operate the system.

The main characteristics of EveryGo are as follows.

• While renting for a long period of time is the premise for car rentals, EveryGo is a new style combining the convenience of car sharing that allows users to reserve a car online whenever they want and take it from an unmanned station.
• The base fee is reasonable and by using the car for eight hours, it allows users to thoroughly experience Honda cars with ease.
• An IC-embedded driver’s license is used in lieu of a membership card. It makes a dedicated membership card unnecessary and touching the IC-embedded driver’s license to a device mounted on the reserved car unlocks it.
• The line-up includes Honda vehicles for various uses with a focus on high grade vehicles with extensive features. The service provides opportunities to experience Honda’s latest vehicle products and technologies.
• By setting up unmanned stations in Honda Car stores (official Honda dealers) in the area and coin-operated parking lots, we are developing an environment in which more and more people can use the service with ease.

The system can be divided into the EveryGo site that is used by customers and the business management website. The necessary functions and data are aggregated to a common service platform built on Microsoft Azure (hereinafter “Azure”), which allows the persons in charge of business operation at each company, such as Honda Cars which handles business operations, the call center which handles back office administration, vehicle maintenance companies, and others, to access the necessary data when they need it and in the necessary format.
The necessary functions and services for respective operations are developed as packages on the service platform and by maintaining loosely-coupled relationships between the packages, it has the scalability to respond flexibly to changes in the business environment and needs.

We had come to the conclusion in a pre-investigation that we would have to use cloud infrastructure that would allow us to launch system operations in line with the scale of business and flexibly expand the scale while curbing the initial infrastructure introduction costs.

Additionally, with regard to the selection of the cloud service, we decided on Azure after determining that expansion using AI would likely be relatively easy because it is highly reliable in running the operational system and a wide range of functions and resources are provided.

We had expectations for the new approach, but it was not as if we did not have any concerns as it was a development approach with which we had no previous experience. I can laugh about it now, but I remember being very surprised in the first development cycle that the only thing that moved in the product that had been created was the login screen.

Additionally, because the delivery concept differed from the conventional concept, there were more than a few times when detailed communication was needed regarding the service agreement, etc., between the persons in charge on both sides.

However, once actual development started, the JBS engineers and the staff on the Honda side who were involved in operations were able to exchange opinions directly, check the system’s ease of use, and evolve the functions and services. This fostered a natural sense of unity between team members and I became convinced that this system development would go well.

With the conventional development approach to date, steps included the business division deciding on the function specifications while taking into consideration the advice of consultants, then incorporating them into the system specifications, with the internal division in charge developing the system with support from external vendors, and checking the functions. This led to low technological understanding on site and low business understanding on the development side. Without being able to actively exchange opinions, there were times when we could not realize functions the way we envisaged them. Additionally, once function requirements were decided, it was not easy to change them, nor was it easy to add functions midway.

This time, we were able to test things immediately during the development process if ideas or opinions came up and we were able to repeat the PDCA cycle incrementally. Even if changes or additions came up, a development cycle emerged for all the members to come together to explore methods to resolve the changes or additions, leading to the elimination of negative compromises and ambiguity.

Nothing concrete has been decided, but we are thinking about enhancing services and functions such as developing services for corporate use or for housing complexes. On the system front, it has become easier to add services and functions, so we will undertake development while determining needs and impact.

Furthermore, as a part of proof of concept (PoC) we hope to analyze usage trends and future projections using Azure AI, etc., and try to create a system that gives feedback to the car sharing business functions and services as well as to those in charge of product development.

JBS provides consistent one-stop support from consulting when deciding the operational requirements, deciding the system specifications, developing and installing the program, to maintenance and operation. Because JBS accurately understands the business content, there is no contradiction or break in logic and their service is always based on sound and viable proposals. I was very impressed by their work.

Additionally, JBS has experienced specialists and engineers in every field regardless of age who exchange frank opinions and ideas with each other. This created an atmosphere for the staff on the Honda side to be able to voice their ideas and opinions without becoming overwhelmed as well. I am grateful for that.