PoC of promoting problem solving through collaboration among communities

COMPANY INFORMATION

Company Name	station, Inc.
Homepage	https://www.station.space/
Headquaters	JAPAN

ABOUT

station Inc. is a startup with the vision of “updating community creation and designing a system that allows everyone to freely choose the community that fits their lifestyle.”
As a result of interviews with over 200 community owners and managers, we found that two of the biggest challenges in community creation are “not knowing how to design a community” and “not being able to explain the reality of the community in concrete terms”.
station is a SaaS-type service that solves the above issues. It visualizes the hidden assets and values of communities, and supports the achievement of community management objectives such as attracting visitors, revitalizing the community, or increasing member LTV.

PROJECT

After sharing the goal image through joint observation of the “station” case studies, the following three types of communities were examined by the sponsor partners to promote the resolution of issues by complementing each other’s communities.

• Residential community
• Regional complexes
• In-house community

■ Implemented items

• Joint inspection visits to communities using the station to share the goal image
• Exchanging opinions among community owners
• Research and information sharing on leading examples
• Defining requirements and design specifications for the ideal community
• Identifying issues
• Investigating solution methods

RESULT

Community development and operation staff from four partner companies gathered to exchange opinions on business issues and solutions for community development and operation, which are usually difficult to share among companies. Common issues in community development were identified, and the knowledge gained from the joint inspection and interviews of leading examples of community development was utilized in the discussion of solutions.

■ Issues identified

1. The initial design (where to start and how to operate)
2. Attracting and activating members (what to offer and to whom, and how to promote activation)

Knowledge from precedents was the key to addressing these issues, and the following solutions were also verified to further promote the resolution of the issues.

■ Verified solutions

A. A service to facilitate the initial design of the community (community version of WBS)
B. Functions to promote event sharing and member circulation among communities

The above services and functions in community formation and activation was confirmed to be useful mainly by community management personnel’s feedback. Verification to foster communities will be continued with each partner through a series of additional interviews with community officials and users. In addition, station implementation is underway at some facilities.

Future Development and Direction

Communities and properties will be expected to work more actively to improve user satisfaction, and the identified common issues could occur in many communities in the future as well. Further development will be done towards “Designing a system that allows everyone to freely choose the community that fits their lifestyle”, based on the knowledge gained from this program.