Looking Back on SRE NEXT 2025 — A Roundtable Discussion With KINTO Technologies Organizing Members

1. Event Overview

The fifth SRE NEXT event was held on July 11 and 12, 2025. As a platinum sponsor, our company exhibited at a corporate booth and spoke at a sponsored session. In addition to the many fantastic sessions, we were able to interact with many people at the sponsor booths and book corner, making these two days extremely valuable. This article features a roundtable discussion with KINTO Technologies members reflecting on their first time exhibiting at the event.

2. KINTO Technologies and SRE

2-1. What Kind of Organization Is It?

KINTO Technologies is the Toyota Group's first in-house development organization and is responsible for the development, maintenance, and operation of systems for consumer mobility services, including the car subscription service KINTO. As of July 2025, the company employs approximately 400 engineers, designers, product managers, and other professionals, developing services for both internal and external users. Within this organization, the SRE Team is part of the platform group and works with product teams to maintain and enhance system reliability while supporting developers.

2-2. Current State of SRE

As Osanai announced during the sponsor session on the day, KINTO Technologies has a well-developed cross-functional organization, with multiple teams sharing many of the responsibilities that would normally be handled by platform SREs at many companies, including cloud infrastructure engineers, DBRE, platform engineering, a security specialist team, and a team that works with CCoE and finance.

Here is the presentation material from the day 👉 What Does SRE Do in an Organization with Segmented Roles? - Speaker Deck

Two engineers promoting the practice of SREing are working closely with product development teams to implement best practices. Although they face challenges in linking service levels to business metrics and development processes, as well as difficulties applying platform patterns within team topologies, they continue to experiment and refine how to best deliver value.

2-3. Motivation for Exhibition

KINTO Technologies launched a Developer Relations Group in 2022, and in 2023 elevated it into a Tech Blog "group" to enhance its communication efforts. In 2024, the company began sponsoring conferences. Recently, its CEO, Kotera, spoke at the Development Productivity Conference. The company has also sponsored conferences across various fields, supporting the engineering community. I believe the appeal of this community lies in conferences where engineers can communicate directly with one another, and I am glad to be part of this opportunity.

KTC’s SRE Team is small and currently in a growth phase. We decided to hold a sponsored session, first to raise awareness of the SRE Team's presence, and then to share our unique challenges and efforts within KTC’s segmented-role environment, hoping they could serve as a reference for others facing similar issues.

3. Activities on the Day

3-1. Booth Operation

We asked visitors to write on sticky notes under the theme “What’s Your ‘NEXT’?” Those who participated got to spin a gacha-gacha capsule toy machine and receive a novelty gift. We offered KINTO's mascot character Kumobii plush toys (large and small) and Toyota Tomica cars as novelties, which were very well received by everyone.

Novelties Offered at the Sponsor Booth

In just one day of operating the booth, we received so many "NEXT" ideas that the board was completely filled. It allowed us to experience this year's theme, "Talk Next," together with the participants.

Many visitors wrote down their various "NEXT" ideas

3-2. Presentation

As a sponsored session by our company, Osanai from the SRE Team gave a presentation titled "What Does an SRE Do in a Role-Fragmented Organization?” As this was his first time presenting at an external event, he seemed very nervous, but despite worrying daily, thanks to his hard work and diligent efforts, he was able to deliver a presentation he was satisfied with.

Osanai keyed up at his first external presentation

He was very nervous about what kind of reaction he would get after taking the stage, but luckily many people came to the Ask the Speaker session, and he was able to have fun talking to them, including some behind-the-scenes stories that he couldn't fit into the 20-minute presentation!

A photo from Ask the Speaker

3-3. New Learning

Our company has many young engineers, and many of our members are not used to participating in external events. This event provided many inspiring experiences for our young engineers and served as a very valuable opportunity to interact with renowned engineers, including Brendan Gregg, author of "System Performance."

A young engineer thrilled to take a photo with Brendan Gregg

Furthermore, many young engineers who began their careers in cloud engineering lacked knowledge of the technologies behind physical networks. At the venue, however, they had the chance to receive clear explanations about the roles of devices like routers and switches—an experience that directly enhanced their technical proficiency.

Cloud engineers unfamiliar with physical networks being taught about routers and switches

3-4. Interactions with Participants

As a sponsor, we participated with the goal of raising awareness of KINTO and KINTO Technologies among a broad audience. More than anything, the greatest benefit was the inspiration and learning we gained through our interactions with other participants.

Organizing members chatting with visitors

4. Roundtable Discussion among Participating Members

The organizing members, who had such an enjoyable two days, held a roundtable discussion to reflect on the event.

SRE: Osanai and Kasai / Cloud Infrastructure: Kossy and Shirai / TDeveloper Relations Group
: Yukachi

Organizing members having a round-table discussion in the office

4-1. What Is the Most Memorable Thing?

Kasai: “I was at the booth the whole time, so I couldn’t attend the sessions, but I spoke with several people who visited the booth, and I was struck by how many of them were struggling with how to incorporate generative AI into their SRE work.”

Osanai: "I was really happy that there were people who were interested in my presentation and came to listen to it. Afterwards, some people came to talk to me directly at the Ask the Speaker event, and I was really grateful for that.”

Shirai: "The biggest thing was the passion of all the participants to make the event a success. Since the theme was Talk Next, I really liked how everyone was sharing their know-how and speaking with mutual respect. I'm grateful to the organizing members for creating SRE NEXT, and I would love to participate as a member of the organizing team if I get the chance."

Kossy: "What impressed me the most was the enthusiasm of the community. Some people listened to the sessions with deep focus, while others seemed to enjoy lively interactions in different places. I felt it was a really great space for people who struggle with the same themes in their daily work to share their experiences."

Yukachi: "I think what stood out was the high level of communication skills of everyone who helped with the event! Each person's personality shone through, and it was great to see them enjoying themselves while working at the booth. I want everyone to check out the highlights I posted on X (lol)."

4-2. How Was Your First External Presentation? Interviewee: Osanai-san

Osanai: "The last time I presented in front of people was probably at a piano recital in elementary school... (lol)."

Kossy: “What motivated you to take the stage this time? Did you have something particular you wanted to share with everyone?”

Osanai: My main motivation at first was to raise awareness about KTC's SRE Team. So I started thinking about what I should talk about to achieve that, but when we got the sponsorship, nothing really stood out to me as “this is it!” Still, once I knew I’d be speaking, I wanted to share something that would resonate with the audience. That’s when ideas like the improvement tools I mentioned in the presentation started to emerge, and from there, the outline gradually took shape. Once that was decided, I started gathering additional information to fill in the gaps in what I wanted to talk about, while also connecting it with the things I had done up to that point. The opportunity to speak gave me some idea of what lies ahead for us and helped me grow so much.”

Kossy: "At the booth, many people said that KTC's presentation was great. What kind of questions did you receive during the Ask the Speaker session?"

Osanai: "We discussed various topics, including how the New Relic Analyzer I mentioned in the presentation works, and efforts to improve the accuracy of Devin's suggestions. We also talked about challenges raised by the attendees." A person I used to work with also came by, and we had a great time reminiscing about those days and catching up on each other's current lives.”

Kossy: "There were questions from participants from companies struggling in similar areas, such as how we approach obstacles that prevent us from taking action."

Osanai: "That's right. I realized that everyone has similar challenges."

Yukachi: "By the way, the person who was sitting next to me during the presentation turned out to be someone who had visited the booth on the first day. After the presentation, I spoke with that person and found out that this person lives in Fukuoka, and that a Fukuoka office opened in July. From that conversation, I was able to invite the person to an event to be held in Fukuoka." I was really happy that the person became interested in our company because of Osanai-san's presentation!”

Osanai: “Two days after SRE NEXT, some candidates came for interviews, so I think the presentation helped them better understand KTC.”

Kossy: "It was your first time speaking at an external presentation, so you must have been nervous, but was there anything in particular that you hadn't anticipated or hadn't imagined?"

Osanai: "In fact I expected to be so nervous that I wouldn't be able to eat anything for a few days before the event, but surprisingly, I wasn't that nervous. I realized I could eat quite well after all."

Yukachi: "I think it’s because it was your first time, and you prepared thoroughly."

Osanai: "That may be true. Surprisingly, I could see you all clearly from the stage and I even made eye contact with Kumobii on Kossy-san’s headband, making me speak in a relaxed way." However, when I saw the photo, I had a really stern look on my face, and I thought, "Wow, that's what I looked like... (lol)"

Kossy: "Right before the presentation, your eyes were really bloodshot." I honestly thought Osanai-san would be able to speak just fine, but with everyone hyping it up, he seemed a bit nervous, and right before it started I found myself getting nervous too (laughs). But surprisingly, he was really steady, and the content of his talk had a lot of things that were valuable for us as the neighboring team—like, ‘wow, that approach is amazing.

Yukachi: "One thing I regretted that day was not giving Osanai-san a pat on the back before the presentation (lol). I wouldn’t worry if it were Kossy-san or Shirai-kun speaking, but since it was Osanai-san’s first external presentation, and his face looked so tense, I was really worried (lol). But once he started, he was solid, and honestly, I was kind of moved (lol)."

Kossy: "All in all, it was a success!"

Osanai: "The next task will be managing my facial expressions (lol)."

4-3. Talk Next — What's Next?

Kasai: "Right now, I'm working on an improvement tool, and I definitely want to see it through. I think the process will give me even more to talk about, so I'd love to share that externally as well."

Osanai: "I personally want to improve the quality of our improvement tools and the accuracy of their suggestions. But these tools won’t get anywhere unless people are actually interested in using them. So while continuing development, I also want to promote them to different product teams. We also concluded that trying to decide on service levels among engineers alone didn't work. Moving forward, we want to be able to have conversations with the business side as well—discussing things like what level of quality is actually needed."

Through this event, being involved in things like running the conference made me want to expand my network with all kinds of people, and it also gave me the motivation to build a platform that’s easier to use from a developer’s perspective."

Yukachi: "This was Shirai-kun's first time staffing the booth, and hearing you say that makes me really happy—it feels like it was a great opportunity for Shirai-kun!" Awata-san and Kossy-san have many acquaintances in the SRE community, and this time, I felt that many people already knew about KTC. By everyone expanding their networks like this, KTC’s recognition will grow, and above all, the more people you know, the more enjoyable it becomes to attend conferences. So, I hope more people will actively participate and get excited about these events!”

Kossy: "I want to help build a stronger community with people outside the company, and to do that, I want to foster a culture and put best practices into action within our organization.”

5. Summary

5-1. What We’ve Learned

At SRE NEXT this time, we learned the following through presentations by each company and interactions with the participants:

• Many companies share similar challenges, but there are as many approaches as there are companies, and even similar approaches can produce different results.
• It is important to consider the SRE approach not only from an engineering perspective, but also from a business and organizational perspective.
• There were many comments about how building trust with the product team has a big impact on SRE activities, and we were reminded of the importance of daily communication.

5-2. Next Challenges of KTC's SRE

With this in mind, KINTO Technologies’ SRE Team intends to take on the following challenges:

• Further development and promotion of improvement tools
• Establishment of valid service levels in collaboration with the business side as well
• Sharing gained insights both inside and outside the company to contribute to community activation

6. Conclusion

Many thanks to SRE NEXT organizers as well as those who stopped by our booth, attended our sessions, and connected with our team. It was our first time sponsoring SRE NEXT, and it turned out to be a truly valuable experience. We’ll continue practicing and experimenting with SREing and look forward to future opportunities to share what we’ve learned!

Organizing members who participated from KINTO Technologies

Recruitment

KINTO Technologies is looking for people to join us in building a mobility platform. Please feel free to visit our recruitment website below! 👉 KINTO Technologies Corporation Recruitment Information