OK Corporation Adopts 'Kong Konnect' as API Integration Platform for Multi-Cloud Environments
Discount supermarket OK Corporation adopted 'Kong Konnect' for centralized API management, modernizing their core systems.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 23, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 10:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 24, 2026 at 02:50 (16h 18m after Collected)
Kong Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Daiki Ariizumi, hereinafter Kong), a leader in API and AI connectivity technologies, announced that OK Corporation (Headquarters: Yokohama City, Kanagawa, hereinafter OK) has adopted 'Kong Konnect' as its API integration platform in a multi-cloud environment. The implementation was supported by Kong's partner company, Classmethod, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Satoshi Yokota, hereinafter Classmethod).
Background of Implementation: Digital Transformation Challenged by the Long-Established 'OK' Founded in 1958
Since its founding in 1958, OK, a discount supermarket expanding mainly in the Kanto region under the slogan 'High Quality - Everyday Low Price', is currently strongly promoting the cloud shift and modernization of its core systems. To improve customer convenience and operational efficiency, the company has adopted a flexible system architecture combining multiple cloud services. Meanwhile, as inter-system linkage transitions to being real-time and API-centric, establishing a 'common platform' that balances maintaining company-wide governance and maximizing development efficiency became a major issue.
Given this background, they decided to adopt 'Kong Konnect' as a platform that can centrally manage and visualize APIs in a multi-cloud environment and unify security policies.
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Overview of Utilization
As the first project, operations began with the 'Christmas Cake Reservation System' in the winter of 2025. By controlling communications across different cloud environments with 'Kong', they achieved stable operation and secure connections during the busy season. Moving forward, they aim to gradually expand the application scope to major business systems such as store systems, fresh food systems, and grocery systems to build a company-wide cross-functional API management platform.
Reasons for Selecting Kong
The main reasons OK selected Kong are as follows:
Integrated Multi-Cloud Management
APIs distributed across multiple cloud environments can be managed centrally from a single console, enabling consistent control.
Improvement of Development Speed (Self-Service)
By utilizing the 'Developer Portal', developers can easily reference API information, promoting reuse. This shortens the lead time until service delivery.
Strengthening Governance through Standardized Authentication and Authorization
By consolidating the authentication logic individually implemented in each system into Kong, a high security standard can be maintained at the company-wide level.
High Affinity with IaC
Because the construction and configuration of the API platform can be managed on a code basis, it aligns with the modern infrastructure operation methods promoted by OK, allowing for rapid and accurate deployment.
Procurement via AWS Marketplace
By introducing it via AWS Marketplace, they effectively utilized the framework of existing cloud usage contracts, realizing smooth contracting and procurement.
Expected Effects
By introducing Kong Konnect, the following effects are expected:
Visualization of API Usage (Understanding Traffic and Users)
Grasping company-wide traffic and usage trends based on data to optimize resources and formulate future digital strategies.
Reduction of Operation and Management Costs and Efficiency Improvement
By consolidating distributed management tasks and standardizing them as a platform, the operational burden is reduced, establishing a sustainable structure that eliminates dependence on individual skills.
Improvement in Development Speed (Shorter Time to Market)
Using a common platform creates an environment where development teams can focus on their primary task of service development, realizing shorter lead times to service release.
Unification of Security Policies
Centrally controlling authentication and authorization that were performed in various places prevents human errors and ensures consistent security standards company-wide.
Securing Scalability as a Future AI Utilization Platform
Establishing a foundation where AI applications and agents can safely use APIs to flexibly respond to advanced data utilization in the future.
Promotion of API Reuse via Developer Portal
Promoting the reuse of existing APIs is expected to streamline new application development and increase development speed.
Future Prospects
Moving forward, OK will gradually expand the scope of application of the API management platform centered on Kong to drive further digital transformation.
Construction of a Company-Wide API Platform
Starting with store systems, it will sequentially roll out to major business systems like fresh food and groceries, establishing a platform that can quickly and safely integrate all internal data and services.
Optimization of Multi-Cloud Environments and Governance
Background of Implementation: Digital Transformation Challenged by the Long-Established 'OK' Founded in 1958
Since its founding in 1958, OK, a discount supermarket expanding mainly in the Kanto region under the slogan 'High Quality - Everyday Low Price', is currently strongly promoting the cloud shift and modernization of its core systems. To improve customer convenience and operational efficiency, the company has adopted a flexible system architecture combining multiple cloud services. Meanwhile, as inter-system linkage transitions to being real-time and API-centric, establishing a 'common platform' that balances maintaining company-wide governance and maximizing development efficiency became a major issue.
Given this background, they decided to adopt 'Kong Konnect' as a platform that can centrally manage and visualize APIs in a multi-cloud environment and unify security policies.
Configuration Image
Overview of Utilization
As the first project, operations began with the 'Christmas Cake Reservation System' in the winter of 2025. By controlling communications across different cloud environments with 'Kong', they achieved stable operation and secure connections during the busy season. Moving forward, they aim to gradually expand the application scope to major business systems such as store systems, fresh food systems, and grocery systems to build a company-wide cross-functional API management platform.
Reasons for Selecting Kong
The main reasons OK selected Kong are as follows:
Integrated Multi-Cloud Management
APIs distributed across multiple cloud environments can be managed centrally from a single console, enabling consistent control.
Improvement of Development Speed (Self-Service)
By utilizing the 'Developer Portal', developers can easily reference API information, promoting reuse. This shortens the lead time until service delivery.
Strengthening Governance through Standardized Authentication and Authorization
By consolidating the authentication logic individually implemented in each system into Kong, a high security standard can be maintained at the company-wide level.
High Affinity with IaC
Because the construction and configuration of the API platform can be managed on a code basis, it aligns with the modern infrastructure operation methods promoted by OK, allowing for rapid and accurate deployment.
Procurement via AWS Marketplace
By introducing it via AWS Marketplace, they effectively utilized the framework of existing cloud usage contracts, realizing smooth contracting and procurement.
Expected Effects
By introducing Kong Konnect, the following effects are expected:
Visualization of API Usage (Understanding Traffic and Users)
Grasping company-wide traffic and usage trends based on data to optimize resources and formulate future digital strategies.
Reduction of Operation and Management Costs and Efficiency Improvement
By consolidating distributed management tasks and standardizing them as a platform, the operational burden is reduced, establishing a sustainable structure that eliminates dependence on individual skills.
Improvement in Development Speed (Shorter Time to Market)
Using a common platform creates an environment where development teams can focus on their primary task of service development, realizing shorter lead times to service release.
Unification of Security Policies
Centrally controlling authentication and authorization that were performed in various places prevents human errors and ensures consistent security standards company-wide.
Securing Scalability as a Future AI Utilization Platform
Establishing a foundation where AI applications and agents can safely use APIs to flexibly respond to advanced data utilization in the future.
Promotion of API Reuse via Developer Portal
Promoting the reuse of existing APIs is expected to streamline new application development and increase development speed.
Future Prospects
Moving forward, OK will gradually expand the scope of application of the API management platform centered on Kong to drive further digital transformation.
Construction of a Company-Wide API Platform
Starting with store systems, it will sequentially roll out to major business systems like fresh food and groceries, establishing a platform that can quickly and safely integrate all internal data and services.
Optimization of Multi-Cloud Environments and Governance