On November 12th and 13th, 2026, Cybozu held "CYBOZU DAYS JAPAN 2026" at Makuhari Messe. Yoshihisa Aono, who took the stage for the keynote speech, promoted a strategy aiming for "teamwork where humans and AI work together." He announced new features and services, touted as having "the greatest volume and quality ever," including "Process AI Agent," a new function for kintone AI, and "Orito," a new service after a long hiatus.

kintone Users in Japan Exceed 40,000 Companies; Town Development Business Gains Momentum

Yoshihisa Aono, President and CEO of Cybozu, who spoke at the product keynote on the 12th, addressed the theme "A New Form of Team Created by Humans and AI," which was highlighted at the event. He commented, "Looking at things like AI attacks recently, I feel that humans and AI are not getting along. Today, I want to think about good teams formed by humans and AI." He then announced that the 90-minute keynote would be filled with "presentations of the highest volume and quality ever," and proceeded to unveil Cybozu's latest developments.

Yoshihisa Aono, President and CEO of Cybozu

Cybozu, with its mission to "create a society overflowing with teamwork," has long been involved in the groupware business. Its flagship service, kintone, has grown to surpass 40,000 domestic users, accounting for 46% of companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market. Mr. Aono also emphasized that its usage across prefectures exceeds 80%, stating, "It has become a pillar supporting teamwork in Japan."

kintone is also expanding globally, with events held in four locations worldwide this year. Furthermore, Cybozu established a new incorporated association called "kintone Commons" to facilitate the reuse of kintone solutions. Mr. Aono stated, "Let's stop reinventing the wheel," indicating that Cybozu will promote the distribution of kintone solutions among users from a neutral standpoint.

Additionally, "Cybozu Office," which has been available since the company's founding, is used by 84,000 companies, "Cybozu Garoon" for mid-sized and large enterprises by 8,700 companies, and the email sharing service "MailWise" by 17,000 companies, all showing expanded adoption.

Latest trends for each service

Since last year, Cybozu has also participated in the management of the "Ehime Orange Vikings," a basketball team from Mr. Aono's hometown of Ehime Prefecture, intensifying its town development initiatives. In Masaki Town, Ehime Prefecture, they are reportedly promoting DX mechanisms and culture creation that involve all residents.

Strengthening AI Security at the Foundation to Ensure Safety and Security

Now, the major theme of this event is teamwork between humans and AI. Mr. Aono reflected on several historical turning points in computing, from host computers to personal computers, and from web to cloud and mobile, while promoting Cybozu's strategy to make a significant shift towards AI.

Cybozu aims to provide a foundation for teamwork where humans and AI work together. However, to realize this environment and enable humans and AI to thrive, four elements must be in place: "Knowledge," "Process," "Culture," and "Security & Governance." Mr. Aono asserted, "Cybozu can provide all four of these elements." He then explained that the next-generation vision, called "Cybozu NEXT," has been updated to "a single platform where more diverse people and AI can safely handle more diverse information."

Next, Teppei Sato, General Manager of Cybozu's Development Division, took the stage to explain the technical foundation supporting the safety and security of users and AI. He presented initiatives from three perspectives: "Security" to counter external attacks, "Privacy" for appropriate management of customer information, and "Governance" to provide audit logs and access management.

Teppei Sato, General Manager of Cybozu's Development Division

Currently, in anticipation of intensifying AI-driven attacks, Cybozu is building an AI-powered vulnerability verification platform called "Project Logos." By feeding the AI vulnerability scanner with past vulnerability assessment cases, development documents, and specifications, it can achieve higher vulnerability verification. He emphasized, "We will continue to work on security to ensure safety and security. All Cybozu services will operate on this foundation."

'Process AI Agent': A New Feature for Humans and AI to Work Together

Next, Asuka Yamada, General Manager of Cybozu's Marketing Division, explained the latest features of kintone AI.

Asuka Yamada, General Manager of Cybozu's Marketing Division

kintone's AI features were offered as a beta version last year under the name "kintone AI Lab," and this year, they have finally reached official release as "kintone AI." Currently available features include App Creation AI, Process Management Settings AI, and App Settings Review AI, which support app creation and development, as well as Record List Analysis AI, Search AI, and Thread Summary AI, which support data utilization.

Newly announced as a kintone AI feature is the "Process AI Agent," which creates business mechanisms where humans and AI work together. This AI agent, which enables "finding information," "writing documents," "recording," "thinking," and "advancing tasks" on kintone, is not merely an assistant but an entity that performs the same tasks as humans, and can be added with the same feel as existing user accounts.

The Process AI Agent is an AI agent based on the concept of "Human in the Loop," where humans intervene. For example, in inquiry handling, it can search for past answers and FAQs to create a draft response or identify follow-up cases for managers. In a lost-and-found management process, it can create descriptions from employees who lost items or even narrow down candidates from a ledger.

'Process AI Agent' integrated into kintone

AI agent settings can be configured within kintone, and AI agents can also be assigned to workers. When Ms. Yamada, who saw the demo, pointed out, "Users can operate it with the same feeling as traditional kintone," Hiroya Nagao, kintone Product Manager in the Development Division, who conducted the demo, emphasized, "If you try it at the booth, you'll understand how it differs from previous AI agents."

Process AI Agent Priced at ¥50,000 Per Month, Deemed 'Well Worth It'

A single Process AI Agent can operate 100 apps in the Standard Course and 1,000 apps in the Wide Course. It is scheduled for release in February 2027, priced at ¥50,000 per agent per month. Additional AI credits will be incurred based on usage. Regarding the ¥50,000 price, which is higher than kintone's license fees, Ms. Yamada commented, "Considering the effects on reducing work time, improving accuracy, training personnel, and recruitment, it is well worth more than ¥50,000."

Process AI Agent is ¥50,000 per month

In the future, it is planned to support automatic processing based on status without waiting for human input, as well as handling processes spanning multiple tasks. Additionally, a "Document Field" will be added to promote the utilization of business data by AI, allowing manuals, FAQs, images, and attachments to be registered in an AI-optimized format. Furthermore, access control for AI agents, visualization of execution status and effects, and integration with other company systems are planned or under consideration.

Ms. Yamada then introduced "Record Voice Input AI" as an enhancement to kintone for fieldworkers. This feature automatically distributes inputted voice data to respective fields, proving convenient for outdoor work or factory input where PCs cannot be used. Similarly, the tablet app "kintone Touch," which provides an optimized user interface for on-site input, will be released starting with the iOS version. The Android version is scheduled for release next year.

kintone Touch app for tablets

Furthermore, a feature for creating publicly accessible forms has been added. This is a significant update for users, as functionality previously requiring plugins can now be achieved natively within kintone. Finally, Ms. Yamada explained that AI will leverage business data and knowledge, take on tasks, and build an environment where people can use AI with confidence. She concluded her presentation by promoting "kintone for teamwork where humans and AI work together."

Growing Enterprise Customer Base; Remote MCP Server and Messenger for Office Also Announced

Next, Yosuke Ikeda, Deputy General Manager of Cybozu's Enterprise Business Division, explained the usage trends of kintone in the enterprise sector. He first described the current situation where the enterprise ratio, categorized by employee size, has expanded to 27.2%, compared to SMBs (under 99 employees) and MID (100-999 employees).

Yosuke Ikeda, Deputy General Manager of Cybozu's Enterprise Business Division

For enterprises with 1,000 or more employees, the kintone course designed for using kintone as a company-wide business application development platform is the "Wide Course," announced last year. It significantly expands upon the Standard Plan with an app limit of 3,000, 100,000 API calls per app per day, and AI credits of 1,000 per user.

The Wide Course also offers various dedicated features to support company-wide usage, including "Process Management Function," "App Analytics," "Performance Dashboard," "Portal Extension," and "Performance Customization." In May of this year, "Multiple Domain Management" was added, allowing centralized management of users and security for group companies and subsidiaries. In October, features such as integration with SIEM for collecting audit logs and the ability to use external system applications without storing internal data within kintone were added. It was also noted that the recently announced Process AI Agent can refer to information from these external system applications.

Furthermore, the Remote MCP Server is finally scheduled for release in spring 2027. Until now, only local MCP servers were available, but with the introduction of the Remote MCP Server, kintone data with authorized access will be usable from services like Copilot and Claude. Additionally, know-how to support human resource development, management and organizational operations, and large-scale operations for establishing kintone as a company-wide teamwork platform will be provided as documentation.

Remote MCP Server also scheduled for release next year

Updates for Garoon and Cybozu Office were also unveiled. For Garoon, "Garoon Schedule Adjustment AI" was introduced, which analyzes the schedules of selected users and proposes suitable date candidates. While there have been features for adjusting free time, coordinating between users with many appointments was difficult. Garoon Schedule Adjustment AI, however, allows users to specify detailed conditions, such as prioritizing a manager's attendance, and the AI agent will propose a schedule that meets those requirements.

Furthermore, a new chat-specific app, "Cybozu Office Messenger," linked to the messaging function, will be provided for Cybozu Office. This allows users to check Cybozu Office messages from a smartphone app, making it another valuable addition for field users.

Cybozu Office Messenger available on smartphones

'Orito': Cybozu's Fifth Service Debuts as a Team Management Tool for the AI Era

The keynote speech, which focused on Cybozu's AI initiatives and new features centered around kintone, without the usual guest speakers, culminated in the announcement of "Orito." This marks Cybozu's first new service in a long time since kintone.

Masataka Isa, who has long led kintone's business as a product manager, introduced Orito. After four years of experience at another company, Mr. Isa returned to Cybozu and developed Orito with a global team. He stated, "From the outset, we exchanged opinions with large corporations and communicated with North American companies."

Masataka Isa, Deputy General Manager of Cybozu's New Business Division

The concept of Orito is "securely connecting various corporate systems, overcoming information silos, and advancing work together with AI." Mr. Isa identified two major hurdles when expanding AI company-wide: "no means to connect AI to critical internal systems" and "lack of transparency in AI's authority and actions, causing concerns for company-wide operation."

To solve these challenges, Orito provides a function to centrally manage multiple IDs used within a company. Additionally, it serves as an AI governance tool that appropriately controls AI's actions and access rights. By offering a wide range of access methods for AI utilization while providing appropriate control over AI, it breaks down the two barriers to AI adoption. Based on this secure and safe environment, Orito will also provide features to advance work between AI and humans.

Orito system overview

Orito will be released in a limited capacity on December 1st, initially targeting enterprises exploring AI utilization. Mr. Isa stated, "This new challenge has just begun. What kind of teamwork will humans and AI create in this new era? We want to take on this challenge together with all of you." Mr. Isa, who stood on the keynote stage for the first time in eight years, and Mr. Aono, who rejoined him on stage, wrapped up the keynote, emphasizing Cybozu's new direction of fully committing to AI.

Mr. Isa and Mr. Aono wrapping up with "Orito," which debuted as the fifth service