Case Studies > Pokémon's Digital Transformation with AWS and Sumo Logic

Pokémon's Digital Transformation with AWS and Sumo Logic

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America
Asia
Europe

Country

United States
Japan
European Union

Product

AWS
Sumo Logic
Pokémon Go

Tech Stack

AWS
Sumo Logic
SIEM

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance

Applicable Industries

Software
Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Quality Assurance
Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Cybersecurity Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Originally launched in Japan in 1996, Pokémon has mushroomed to become a global entertainment juggernaut. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people - from toddlers to seniors - eagerly follow the exploits of more than 800 characters such as Pikachu, Charmander, Jigglypuff, and Squirtle. Pokémon was established to oversee the property outside of Asia, and carries out responsibilities such as brand management, marketing, licensing, home entertainment, the official Pokémon website, the animated Pokémon TV series, and the Pokémon Trading Card game. In 2016, the company unveiled Pokémon Go, an immersive augmented reality mobile app that transformed interactive gaming. Initially, the company expected that it would be downloaded between 50 and 100 million times. However, Pokémon Go quickly became an international cultural phenomenon: by early 2019 the total number of downloads surpassed one billion.

The Challenge

In response to the unprecedented success of the Pokémon Go app, The Pokémon Company International (Pokémon) determined that it was time to bring the game’s development in-house. A major part of this venture was migrating much of the company’s technology stack to Amazon Web Services (AWS), and then establishing it as a core platform to support many other usages. For this project to succeed, it was also vital that the company fashion a top-tier security operations center (SOC).

The Solution

After examining a number of alternatives, the company standardized on Sumo Logic’s born-in-the-cloud technologies to ingest and organize machine data from across its entire AWS portfolio. This also encompassed adopting a comprehensive set of dashboards, alerts, and other automated tools to continually monitor the threat landscape, which was bolstered by new, cooperative processes between the InfoSec team and business users. Building out a top-notch InfoSec organization was a significant part of this endeavor. The company selected John Visneski, an experienced information security veteran, to head up its brand-new InfoSec group. From the beginning, he wanted to follow a different path: his vision was that InfoSec should first be problem solvers and only then function as security practitioners. To bring this aspiration to life, selecting the optimal technology portfolio and instituting accompanying practices to fully leverage it was critical.

Operational Impact

By centralizing its machine data into Sumo Logic and applying automated responses to the vast majority of potential security incidents, Pokémon substantially enhanced its reactive capabilities.
Sumo Logic has helped slash the amount of time necessary to conduct critical business operations.
The user community appreciated that the newly available tools, processes, and automation – backed by a culture of collaboration – provided far greater visibility into the large volumes of data that were generated every day.
These fresh insights went far beyond merely protecting information; they were instrumental contributors to the company’s overall success.
Other parts of the organization began clamoring for access to Sumo Logic not long after the first phase of the rollout was complete.

Quantitative Benefit

A business process that entailed 11 touchpoints spread out over five to seven business days was shaved to two touchpoints that were concluded in five minutes.
By early 2019, the total number of Pokémon Go downloads surpassed one billion.