USERDIVE – Empowering Companies to Continuously Optimize their Websites
USERDIVE couples state-of-the-art technology and Azure’s compatibility with Python and Cloudera Hadoop to improve web traffic.
Uncover Truth is a Japanese-based company that has developed USERDIVE, an open source-based web UX analysis tool. USERDIVE visualizes users' activities such as mouse movements, scrolling and clicking to enable powerful analysis. Users are then able to filter the data, allowing them deeper insight into how people are interacting with the user interface. For example, you can brush up your EC website by comparing the website activity of users who made purchases and those who did not. According to CEO Keizo Ishikawa, “It has become easy to find websites thanks to search engines and that means, more than ever, that consumers probably won’t return to an unattractive website. With USERDIVE, we get involved in the market by creating a solid basis for website improvement. Previously, the only option was for companies to process even more data in order to detect traffic trends and grow website-based sales.”
A Microsoft BizSpark member since its establishment in 2013, USERDIVE has been successfully implemented by over 200 companies, including many large-scale companies, such as Japan Airlines, SEGA, FUJIFILM, and Forbes Japan –with new implementations continuing to grow rapidly. For instance, the company is now receiving requests for price quotes from overseas as well, which is a sharp contrast to its first year of operations.
While USERDIVE was not initially launched on Azure, the company needed to break away from a private cloud that was no longer able to keep pace with its fast-growing business. The increase in the number of large scale companies caused an exponential growth in traffic, slowing speed and disrupting stability says CTO Kunihiro Nakajima. “Right after we launched, our parent company allowed us to use their private cloud at a lower fee rate. The operational load was considerable and the system had delays when traffic spiked. Hosting on Azure, has provided the company a raft of compelling operational and business benefits, such as the ability to scale up within minutes rather than the 4 to 5 hours it previously took, and the ability to identify new business opportunities.
COO Yoichi Obata adds, “We reviewed three points when we were looking to change cloud providers: first, excellent speed and stability to solve the initial problems we had; second, to set up headquarters overseas (this was a prerequisite as we were aiming to create a global offering developed in Japan from the outset); and third, we considered openness. Microsoft Azure far outpaced the competition on all three criteria.”
Azure’s ability to integrate with a host of open source technologies was a major component of Uncover Truth’s decision to use the software for USERDIVE Mr. Nakajima explains, “We run a Linux virtual server on Microsoft Azure and do not use Windows products at all. USERDIVE is structured based on open source software such as Python, Django, MySQL and Cloudera Hadoop. However, it runs on Microsoft Azure without any problems. Most cloud services have a particular behavioral pattern, but not Microsoft Azure. That is one of the platform’s most distinctive features. It is so easy to use for us open source engineers and it facilitates simple system migration.”
While USERDIVE continues to gain momentum in the market, Mr. Obata credits the company’s BizSpark membership with some of USERDIVE’s recent success. “Microsoft not only provides infrastructure, but it also offers support as our team member. They provide opportunities to meet with other start-ups that are using Azure. We are now collaborating with other start-ups to generate a brand new business. I do not know of any other infrastructure vendor who provides this level of service.”
Mr. Ishikawa concludes, “Of the 12 companies whose products we looked at, Microsoft Azure was the only service with a support structure and a concept for start-up businesses like ours going through a period of business expansion.”
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About BizSpark: Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps startups succeed by giving free access to Microsoft Azure cloud services, software and support. BizSpark members receive up to $750 per month of free Microsoft Azure cloud services for 3 years: that’s $150 per month each for up to 5 developers. Azure works with Linux and open-source technologies such as Ruby, Python, Java and PHP. BizSpark is available to startups that are privately held, less than 5-years-old and earn less than $1M in annual revenue.