Detailed Information about Previous Projects

Cyrus Shaoul has had the opportunity to work on cutting edge projects for major clients in a broad range of industries including:

CyberAuction Project:

This is an internal Digital Garage project to build an escrow system for C2C commerce in partnership with JCB and other major credit card companies. Involved in service design and user-experience prototyping. Service was developed by DG, and launched in Jan. 2001, and now is in use by Yahoo Japan Auctions, the largest auction site in Japan.

Worked on the original technology and business model design for the E-context project. E-context is a joint venture between DG, Lawson, and Mitsubishi Corp that uses the Lawson convenience store chain as a payment and delivery platform. Software was developed by DG in partnership with TIS, and deployed in June 2000. E-context is now growing into a major channel, adding gas stations and train stations as partners.

Worked with a large European web brokerage to launch their business in Japan. After six months of web-site development and brand building, the site opened and is successfully building a customer base.

Managed localization of US search engine made by Infoseek, and then sold and customized powerful search engine to over 200 corporate clients. Primary liaison to US partner, as well as marketing and sales manager for Japan. Software currently used by Japanese government ministries and universities as well as in large corporations. Managed tech support and pre-sales support teams.

Managed localization of US search service/portal. With DG team, built business into #2 portal in Japan after Yahoo, with 5 million pageviews/day. Was involved in user-experience design, ad sales planning, core search technology and much more over 3 years of involvement.

For one year, was the lead project manager for the client. Worked with the client to acquire hardware, software and co-location space in Tokyo. Also advised client on partnerships in advertising and marketing. Supervised design and development of interactive portions of web site, including news feed, graphing applications, financial calculators, asset allocation modelers and prospective customer registration and database features. Helped with final integration of all systems before launch.

Over a two-year time span, designed and built one of the most advanced e-commerce sites in Japan. Managed software development, user-experience, and back-office legacy integration with suppliers. Also was involved in financial portions, such as credit card processing, as well as affiliate partnerships and CRM applications. Developed multimedia content streaming capabilities for audio and video. Also built a content directory system for organizing artist and product information.

Managed the localization of SonicNet, a US music content site. Led contract negotiations with SonicNet, and then managed relationship as well as technology development. Over a three-year period, built SonicNet Japan into the largest foreign-music centered web community in Japan, with 80,000 mailing list members and 200,000 unique users.

Worked closely with a large Japanese telecommunications company to help refine their concepts for a new consumer service, including service content, business model, and marketing focus. Proposed many user-experience ideas for the system, including improved e-mail features and community features. All proposals were accepted by client, and will be implemented in a nationwide service launch this summer.

Worked on a proposal for on-line banking and settlement for a large Japanese retail bank, including design of hardware/software systems. Developed new business models for use on the web in Japan. Implementation of these ideas is currently in progress.