At Rakuten AI Optimism in Yokohama, executives from Google Cloud and Rakuten Cloud discussed how edge cloud technology will elevate Japan’s renowned customer service. Vijay Tewari, Director of Product Management at Google Cloud Platform, and Anirban Chakravartti (Oni), Senior Vice President of Enterprise Cloud Sales for Rakuten Cloud, joined James Dartnell from Rakuten Symphony to explore their strategic partnership.
Together, Google Distributed Cloud and Rakuten Cloud are enabling AI-driven applications at the edge, delivering localized processing power, storage, and real-time insights across industries.
The discussion highlighted how this collaboration is transforming operations for a global retailer with over 40,000 stores, and how sectors such as retail, manufacturing, logistics, and banking are benefiting from faster decision-making, improved efficiency, and enhanced customer experiences. Speakers emphasized Japan’s strong market readiness for edge and AI adoption, as well as the partnership’s focus on simplifying infrastructure deployment at scale.
The session underscored the transformative potential of combining AI with edge computing to unlock innovation, profitability, and customer satisfaction in Japan and beyond.
