SYSCOMで活躍する社員たち: 赤司篤亮さん

SYSCOMで活躍する社員たち

Tokusuke Akashi’s Secrets to Success: People, Trust, and Growth

Role:	Senior Director, Trading Firm Dept.
Division:	SI Solution Division
Location:	New York
Expertise:	Sales, Systems Engineer, Network/Security Engineer, PM
Experience:	21 years at SYSCOM 3 years as a network engineer 3 years as a system engineer 5 years of Cloud Dept director 15 years of Sales
Hobbies:	Surfing, Golf

Role:	Senior Director, Trading Firm Dept.
Division:	SI Solution Division
Location:	New York
Expertise:	Sales, Systems Engineer, Network/Security Engineer, PM
Experience:	21 years at SYSCOM 3 years as a network engineer 3 years as a system engineer 5 years of Cloud Dept director 15 years of Sales
Hobbies:	Surfing, Golf

Tokusuke Akashi has been surfing for most of his life. Starting back in high school in Japan with a used board he shared with a friend, he’s caught gnarly waves and hung ten for over thirty years now. He began as any young person begins anything: because his friends were.

“There was a surfing boom at the time, and I started surfing at the beach every weekend.” While the fun and friends brought him to it, it was the solitude and meditation that kept him coming back. “I continue to this day, even during the winter. I can focus on myself. I come up with a lot of good ideas while surfing.”

Tokusuke has been with SYSCOM GLOBAL SOLUTIONS almost as long as he’s been surfing. He started fresh out of college as a network engineer and has worked his way up to Senior Director of SI Solutions and Cloud Sales Department at our New York office. And while it was the solitude that led him to stick with surfing, it’s the people that’s kept him here. “While everything appears to be covered by IT, behind the scenes, there are many technicians continuously working on improvements, maintenance, and operations.”

That human focus is what’s made Tokusuke such an asset to SYSCOM in his 21 years with us. He puts the person first—the customer, the client, and the employee. “IT is just a computer. Anyone can provide it,” he says, and he’s right. The products and prices for most of the solutions SYSCOM provides are the same across competitors. To be effective at his job, to win over new customers and keep long standing clients, he has to differentiate on the only front he can: his people.

“I always introduce the engineer working on the project to the customer. It’s important to show appreciation and to meet face to face.” Tokusuke believes it makes for happier clients and better engineers. “People appreciate that there are people making everything work all the time, and the engineer will be happier and more motivated. Nobody wants to work 24 hours in the data center, meeting no one.”

He brings his whole-person approach to every part of his job, even the sales themselves. His engineering background helps him assure his prospects that he really does know what he’s talking about. “Customers usually like to talk sales with someone who knows and can talk about the technical stuff.” He’s quick with an apt analogy: “When buying a car, the salespeople that actually know the car are better to talk to. You don’t want to buy from someone who has to keep checking with the mechanics and getting back to you.”

Give a person a chance to learn something.

Tokusuke Akashi

Senior Director, Trading Firm Dept.

“We usually like to have a sales representative and an engineer when talking to a customer, but I can handle a lot of it myself.” His time spent coming up through the ranks at SYSCOM, across various disciplines, has made him an extremely well-rounded source. “I can explain the code in detail, I can talk about the budget, I can discuss specs.”

That experience has been key to his professional success, and it’s something he recognizes in SYSCOM to this day. “There is a great culture of actively hiring inexperienced individuals and helping them learn the job through the mentorship of senior and junior colleagues,” he says. “I came to the US as a student, planning to return to Japan after graduating. But the president, Mr. Sato, offered me a job as a fresh graduate with no experience, giving me a chance to work in America.”

Being given a chance, and then being allowed to grow, has been instrumental to Tokusake. “Through my work, I have not only gained valuable professional experience but also had the chance to meet people from various industries, which has contributed to my personal growth.” And it’s something he wants to foster in the next generation. “SYSCOM gave me a chance to be better and taught me a lot. I grew up with SYSCOM, and I want to do the same for our younger people.”

Key to being able to grow has been trust, which SYSCOM has built with him. He extends the same trust to those he mentors. “As we are still a small company, it is easy to bring about changes, but at the same time, there may also be mistakes or wrong decisions.” But because he trusts his team, they trust him, too. “However, it is essential to accept mistakes, learn from them, and turn them into growth opportunities. Give a person a chance to learn something.”

He finds it important to take on challenges and try new things, even if they’re hard, and even if it might mean you fail. “It’s similar to surfing,” he says, ready again with a perfect analogy. “Sometimes you’re too scared. The wave is too big, and you’re freaked out.”

Sometimes, you have to take the wave and see what happens.

“If you just wait, you miss the wave.”