Reeracoen Singapore Pte. Ltd.

We are Reeracoen, headquartered in Singapore, operating recruitment businesses across six countries: Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan. We were originally established as the overseas division of Neo Career Co., Ltd. However, we became independent in January 2025 and transitioned to a group structure with Reeracoen Singapore Pte. Ltd. as the headquarters.

Our core business is recruitment services primarily for Japanese companies based in Singapore. Around 70% of our clients are Japanese companies, while the remaining 30% are multinational and local companies. On the candidate side, approximately 70% are local talent and 30% are foreign professionals, including Japanese candidates. We cover all industries and job functions, including IT, finance, consulting, and manufacturing.

In terms of organizational structure, we operate a 180-degree split model, separating roles between consultants who handle clients (RA) and those who support candidates (CA). Our Singapore office alone has approximately 30 employees, including 7 to 8 Japanese nationals alongside Singaporean colleagues. Even for Japanese corporate clients, many companies have become increasingly localized, with Singaporean representatives at the helm, and our local staff handles those relationships accordingly, allowing us to respond flexibly to client needs. We also operate "ABROADERS CAREER," a job media platform focused on supporting Japanese professionals seeking overseas careers primarily in Asia. Beyond recruitment, we are expanding into RPO and HR Tech as well.

We implemented PORTERS at a fairly early stage, soon after establishing our Singapore office in 2011. While official use began in 2015, we had been evaluating the system prior to that. One of the key reasons was that our headquarters in Japan was already using PORTERS. As we expanded our business across Asia, it was a natural decision to adopt a system we were familiar with.

The biggest factor was how well it aligned with our business model. As I mentioned, we operate under an RA/CA split model. In this model, real-time sharing of client and candidate information between teams is absolutely critical to our operations. PORTERS allows us to centrally manage client data, candidate information, and the recruitment process within a single system. This eliminates the need to switch between multiple tools and has significantly improved our operational efficiency. Another major factor was the flexibility to customize at the operational level whenever a new idea or requirement emerged. Since recruitment processes vary depending on the country, market, and local regulations, having a system that can adapt like PORTERS is essential.

There are three main pillars to how we use PORTERS. The first is standardizing our workflow. By using PORTERS as the foundation for all our business processes, we have built a standardized operation across the entire organization that does not rely on individual working styles. When new members join, they can follow the workflows within the system to maintain a consistent level of quality, which also helps reduce training costs.

Second is the use of the dashboard function. We use it to visualize daily, weekly, and monthly activity progress and revenue forecasts in real time. As someone overseeing multiple offices, I find it very valuable to be able to grasp the situation on the ground instantly, no matter where I am. Beyond just looking at the KPI figures, we can immediately drill down into the underlying data within PORTERS to understand what is driving those numbers. Year-over-year comparisons are also seamless precisely because the system is specialized for the recruitment industry.

Third is the creation of synergy across Asia. This may be the most valuable use case for us. Because all six countries operate PORTERS with the same KPIs and the same standards, cross-border communication is extremely smooth. For example, successful initiatives in Thailand can be easily replicated and implemented in Malaysia or Vietnam. Being able to continuously run this cycle of trial and improvement has been one of the key factors behind our significant business growth over the past 10 years. We also have frequent inter-office transfers within the company, and because the system is the same regardless of which country someone moves to, they can quickly adapt and get up to speed even after transferring to a new location. This is a major advantage in terms of enhancing workforce mobility.

In Asia, we need to consider each country's legal regulations and cultural characteristics, such as practices and differences in labor laws. With PORTERS, we can customize input fields and search criteria, which allows us to respond quickly to legal changes in each country. Additionally, when a client in one country expresses interest in expanding into another market, we can leverage the PORTERS database to reference candidate information from other offices, supporting cross-border placements.

The most significant result has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of our management decisions. Since all primary data is accumulated in PORTERS, we can now analyze not just surface-level numbers but the root causes behind them based on the data. Metrics that we previously were not tracking as KPIs were set up and visualized with guidance from the PORTERS support team, which has greatly increased our management visibility.

The smooth expansion into new markets stands out. With PORTERS as a shared foundation, the speed of launching operations when opening an office in a new country is overwhelmingly fast. The time required for system implementation and configuration is minimal, and members transferring from other offices can be productive immediately. While we still have a long way to go, even offices we entered as latecomers have grown to establish a solid presence in their respective markets.

"It all comes down to enforcing a culture where everyone inputs data using the same rules." Data quality determines output quality, so we invest heavily in standardizing input rules and the internal training to embed them. PORTERS is straightforward to operate, which helps new members get up to speed relatively quickly.

There are two major points. The first one is customization flexibility. We can quickly modify input fields, search criteria, and workflows at the operational level as our business phase and strategy evolve. Operating across six countries means we constantly need to adapt to regulatory changes and market shifts in each one, and PORTERS can flexibly accommodate them. This is a significant advantage that other systems do not offer. The second one is the quality of support. What left a particular impression on me was when we consulted them about KPI settings and data extraction methods, they did not simply explain the features, they took the time to understand our business in depth and made proposals. They even advised us on metrics we had not been tracking, which directly improved our management precision. It felt like consulting-level support.

In the recruitment industry, centralized data management and standardized workflow form the foundation for business growth. Especially for companies operating across multiple locations or planning future expansion, PORTERS is an excellent fit. It has been 10 years since we implemented the system, and the scope of how we use it continues to expand alongside our business growth. You do not need to aim for perfect operations from day one, one of PORTERS’ strengths is that you can adapt and customize it over time to fit your organization.

It is important to invest time in organizing your data and designing input rules during the initial implementation phase. Data quality directly impacts how effective the system will be, so it is well worth the effort. PORTERS support team is very approachable, so I would encourage new users to take full advantage of them.