MrMax Holdings (HD), which operates 60 discount stores including MrMax across Kyushu, Chugoku and Kanto, rebuilt its data platform for data-driven management and began exploring AI agents. Kenji Imamura, an executive officer, explained the effort at Snowflake World Tour Tokyo 2026, held September 10–11, 2026, and hosted by Snowflake Japan.

The company began moving from its existing databases to Snowflake, a cloud data platform, in May 2023 and also introduced Tableau to make use of its data. Full Snowflake operations began in September 2024, but inadequate initial setup left the system functioning mainly as data storage, unused by frontline staff. Slow processing and displays drew complaints that the system was hard to use and lacked needed data, so employees continued relying on spreadsheets and intuition.

Efforts to encourage use led to a proliferation of dashboards that merely replaced spreadsheet reports. Heavy traffic on the data platform further slowed responses, requiring the company to pay for additional processing capacity. Imamura concluded that changing the platform alone would not be enough and consulted Snowflake Japan’s sales and technical teams.

The company identified four migration problems: it carried over the old system without a design suited to the new platform; it left work to its implementation partner without sufficient oversight; and it lacked understanding of both data platforms and business intelligence (BI) tools. It then changed partners, selecting INTAGE Technosphere, part of market research group INTAGE, to improve the platform.

Shun Shun Shin of INTAGE Technosphere said performance improvements proceed in stages, from simple configuration changes to revising queries (requests for data from a database), table structures, applications, system design and business workflows. Later stages cost more, he said.

MrMax Holdings (HD), which operates 60 discount stores including MrMax across Kyushu, Chugoku and Kanto, rebuilt its data platform for data-driven management and began exploring AI agents. Kenji Imamura, an executive officer, explained the effort at Snowflake World Tour Tokyo 2026, held September 10–11, 2026, and hosted by Snowflake Japan.

The company began moving from its existing databases to Snowflake, a cloud data platform, in May 2023 and also introduced Tableau to make use of its data. Full Snowflake operations began in September 2024, but inadequate initial setup left the system functioning mainly as data storage, unused by frontline staff. Slow processing and displays drew complaints that the system was hard to use and lacked needed data, so employees continued relying on spreadsheets and intuition.

Efforts to encourage use led to a proliferation of dashboards that merely replaced spreadsheet reports. Heavy traffic on the data platform further slowed responses, requiring the company to pay for additional processing capacity. Imamura concluded that changing the platform alone would not be enough and consulted Snowflake Japan’s sales and technical teams.

The company identified four migration problems: it carried over the old system without a design suited to the new platform; it left work to its implementation partner without sufficient oversight; and it lacked understanding of both data platforms and business intelligence (BI) tools. It then changed partners, selecting INTAGE Technosphere, part of market research group INTAGE, to improve the platform.

Shun Shun Shin of INTAGE Technosphere said performance improvements proceed in stages, from simple configuration changes to revising queries (requests for data from a database), table structures, applications, system design and business workflows. Later stages cost more, he said.