Bunkakobo, Inc. is a part of TVAsahi Group that handles TV Asahi’s program production, news and sports coverage, and editing. In addition to its television business, the company also produces and manages websites for local governments, public offices, universities, and other organizations.

We interviewed Koichi Okuda and spoke about their experience with us.

Snapshot

  • Industry: Media
  • Business Size: 219 team members (as of September 2023)

The problem

Maintaining security in a VPS-based system alone is a major hassle. On top of that, there was the risk of having to assume responsibility if something went wrong. They were seeking a solution.

“We have used a VPS to operate our website, but in the course of day-to-day operations, there were some bottlenecks in terms of OS and security updates. We had to deal with issues related to the software and programs running inside the VPS. In that respect, it is simply a burden to update and do other tasks. It’s very difficult to determine the nitty-gritty work in that area.”

The solution

Trying out Kinsta was hassle-free. The support staff answered every question we asked right away and we decided to give Kinsta a try. Migrating the site was easy and completed as early as the next day.

“Then one day, I heard about Kinsta. I checked it out to see what kind of  hosting they offer and contacted Kinsta with a few questions. Their response was quick and we were able to resolve our concerns and questions, so we decided to go ahead and migrate our website to Kinsta. At first, no one in the company even knew of Kinsta, but we gradually built up a track record of site management and the number of sites migrated increased.”

“Kinsta also offers a site migration service. This is another factor that greatly reduced the amount of time and effort required to switch to the service. They migrated out website immediately, as early as the next day, so we didn’t have to spend any spend resources. It was great as a starting point to be able to leave all the hassle for migration to Kinsta.”

The result

We gained a great deal of peace of mind regarding security. As a company to manage clients’ websites, we cannot compromise on security whatsoever. Kinsta fits the bill perfectly.

Changes in security

“Security is the most important aspect. The high level of security makes us greatly feel secure. We need a lot of expertise, so it is crucial that Kinsta takes care of that aspect. Since we started using Kinsta, whenever there is an announcement of vulnerability in WordPress, we receive an email from Kinsta immediately, so they are quick to respond. Then we can recover the website accordingly. It was the first deciding factor to have chosen Kinsta.”

Ease of site management with MyKinsta

“MyKinsta has Site Transfer tool that allows us to assign the management of each site to a specific person. Once the sites have been transferred, each person can be assigned to manage each site sharing the same understanding. In this way, the burden of being in a position to oversee it is reduced. Once we implemented this management system, the workflow went smoothly.”

Backstage talk – website for a festival that attracts 300,000 people

There are some types of sites that are heavily accessed during certain periods of time. For example, an official website of a shopping district that holds a large online event once a year. How well could Kinsta’s hosting handle such an instantaneous large-scale access?

“After the pandemic has subsided, there was a festival organized by a shopping district and 200,000 to 300,000 people accessed to the website. We had a natural concern – would the servers go down? We expected a considerable amount of traffic, so that alone raised our concerns. However, I can tell you from the results that it was fine at Kinsta. We learned the greatness of the CDN and the edge, which included in the plan at no extra cost. If you were to request CDN setup in Japan, it would typically cost around 100,000 yen per month, so I was impressed by how reasonable Kinsta’s hosting service was. This was a good example of how Kinsta’s performance can withstand a high volume of access.”

Problem-solving rate is 100%

When in doubt, go to an engineer. It’s possible with Kinsta. However, how many problems can they actually solve? How is the actual user experience?

“We reluy on their customer support on a daily basis. When you are using new technology, there are times when you stumble upon a problem in terms of operation. Kinsta’s live chat feature comes incredibly in handy. Just by clicking the chat icon and asking a question, the friendly support staff respond to you around the clock, going above and beyond to make you feel like, ‘Are you really going to do that for me?’ It is very reassuring. We know that we would be safe when there were a problem. Sometimes we get another support staff when we chat about something for more than a day , but the handover is smooth and I can check the records up to that point to make sure everything was taken care of.”

“Not many people are proficient in English communication and some may worry about a language barrier with Kinsta’s customer support. Based on my experience, it is not an issue. When I want to ask technical questions for instance, I send them translated into English using a tool called DeepL. They can understand what I want to ask, and we always get the answers we expect, such as ‘Please do this’ or ‘Please give us a moment while we fix this’ Every staff is highly skilled, and I have never failed to solve a problem.”

Kinsta helps you manage risks

After all, what difference does Kinsta make? Here’s their honest thought.

“It’s definitely the security aspect. For any company, thehandling of information is in a sense a risk. No matter what kind of work you do, even if you handle only a small part of it, as long as you handle personal information, if something goes wrong, the results can be very damaging to your company. If you asked another company to provide thorough security to avoid this, you would end up paying a huge amount. However, you must ensure thorough security. It is important to be able to explain what security measures you are taking to your clients. Kinsta makes all that possible. Being able to entrust this to Kinsta makes a big difference.”

Entrusting security to Kinsta gives peace of mind in everyday life

There are surprisingly many companies that do not have a dedicated information systems department or dedicated engineers. Kinsta is a great place for such companies to entrust their security operations to.

Koichi Okuda, Bunkakobo, Inc.

Loise Dizon

Loise Dizon is a writer before she is a marketer. Her passion for words, design, and storytelling led her to leave the newsroom for marketing. She now thrives as Kinsta's Digital Marketing Coordinator who produces its newsletters, case studies, and social media content.