Interview with Adyen Part 1: Corporate Culture

November 17, 2020 Misato Matsuo

A Global Payments Platform

Payment services have emerged as a dominant force in Japan and the country is moving toward a cashless society. At Wahl+Case, we had the pleasure of interviewing Account Manager Ryuzo Higashi and Implementation Manager Nobuya Iwao at Adyen, a global payments platform that provides an integrated solution for all sales channels.

In part 1 we talked about the world view they are aiming for at Adyen and the appeal of their corporate culture, and in the second part, we focused on what they find rewarding about working at Adyen and their vision for the future of the company.

Ryuzo Higashi, Account Manager (left) and Nobuya Iwao, Implementation Manager (right) | Taken at WeWork the ARGYLE aoyama

First of all, can you tell us about Adyen's services for those who are hearing about the company for the first time?

Adyen provides an integrated platform for all sales channels worldwide. It is a single payment platform that fully supports POS (Point of Sale), e-commerce, fraud prevention and customer data. Our goal is to create a consistent experience across all sales channels and improve buyer satisfaction.

Among other things, Adyen’s strength lies in its payment fraud prevention function. Furthermore, the number of payment methods supported by our platform is unmatched by any of our competitors, and we have the ability to support all global and local payment methods.

Ryuzo and Nobuya, could you briefly introduce yourself and the work you do?

Nobuya: I am currently the Implementation Manager, and I assist our clients from a technical perspective. Whether it's in-store POS, e-commerce or subscription services, our client’s businesses vary, but what they have in common is they all require a smooth integration to our payment platform.

I support the technical challenges of the integration while determining the features and scope of the client's needs. This enables unified commerce for a seamless payment experience.

Ryuzo: As an Account Manager, I support clients after they sign up with Adyen to maximize their value proposition. I used to be based in Singapore and traveled to Japan once a month, but due to the corona crisis, I have been using online tools such as Zoom to build relationships with our clients for the past several months.

Now I am in Tokyo and we are focusing on growing the client base in Japan to expand our market share.

On Adyen's website, there are numerous examples of client companies from all around the world. It was interesting to look over all of them. What do you think is Adyen’s strength?

Nobuya: There are several competing payment businesses in Japan but, compared to them, Adyen’s strength is that we can support the companies to expand globally. So far leading companies like Facebook, Uber, Spotify or ebay chose Adyen and as of September 2020, we have expanded to 22 countries. In Japan, our reputation is still building, but many clients choose Adyen because of our ability to quickly release global standard features.

Our success is based on our “Merchant First” company philosophy. Our business structure and working methods are designed to deliver the same high quality experience to our customers in Japan that we provide globally. For example, our quick speed of service development was made possible by this philosophy.

Of course, there are specific business practices and regulations that are unique to Japan, but we aim for “Merchant First”, while respecting these regulations and practices.

I think it is a great thing that you are consistent with your “merchant first” philosophy all around the world. If there is a culture or structure that makes this possible, I'd love to know more about it.

Ryuzo: We have a concept called the "Adyen Formula”, which includes our "Merchant First” philosophy. Some examples of this “Adyen Formula” are:

"We work as one team across cultures and time zones"

"We don't try to hide behind emails, we take calls proactively”.

When hiring, we look for people who share Adyen's principles and values. Even today, as the company has expanded to more than 1,000 employees, some executive is always present at the final interview.

In the payment business the differences between companies are not so obvious to the end consumers who actually buy products and services. That's why we need to compete by creating a great experience and devising our services in every detail. I think it's very important that our employees agree with our behavioral guidelines as a basis for that.

Even when hiring, you put importance on whether or not your values match. Can you tell me more about this part of Adyen’s corporate culture?

Ryuzo: Our company culture is openness itself. One of the guiding principles of the "Adyen Formula" is that "we will speak openly and politely”. That's why we value direct communication, regardless of position, to achieve our "Merchant First" philosophy. We also often have coffee breaks with members from different departments, and new ideas are often born from conversations with them.

Nobuya: This is true not only internally, but also for all external stakeholders, including our clients. One example for this are security issues. Many companies do not immediately disclose vulnerability issues in order to avoid attacks on their company. However, in order to be a reliable partner for our clients, Adyen has a policy of telling clients things as quickly and openly as possible, such as "we are experiencing this issue right now and formulating countermeasures to address it”. That way, even businesses using other payment platforms might start to think more about security measures and see Adyen’s unique value.

(To be continued in part 2)