Advania Finland is in a period of strategic restructuring following the purchase of Valtti, says Kekkonen. That process involves developing alignment across its six business units. The acquisition, Kekkonen says, has enabled Advania to provide customers in Finland a wider selection of services which is one reason the company is going through Trailmaker’s strategy execution process.
“Growth plans are centred on being more customer-focused in the future,” says Kekkonen, adding that “decision-makers closest to the customers are the best people to design and execute strategy.” According to the CEO, he has a long history working with Trailmaker with a “good success rate”. The outcomes are very tangible, he says.
Kekkonen explains that Advania Finland is rolling out the Trailmaker strategy execution process in two of its business units at present with the priority for Advania being to achieve organic growth. According to the CEO, retaining and supporting existing customers and acquiring new customers are seen as primary routes to that end.
“It’s important to meet customers’ expectations today and tomorrow,” Kekkonen says. “We believe our comprehensive service portfolio will bring substantial benefit and synergies to our customers. Customers are our life and death and it’s about continuing to modernise to keep pace with demands.”
Kekkonen says that the process with Trailmaker is not about tearing up the fundamentals of the strategy but capitalising on the competences and footprint of new-look Advania Finland. “There are certain things that are cornerstones of the company’s strategy which are the basis for the strategy work we undertake. We build the action plans and milestones with Trailmaker on top of that.”
CEO Kekkonen is eager to point out that employee commitment to the new strategy is built from the outset. “We have a high degree of independence in Finland and all services are designed locally by teams who are delivering them.” This is a big advantage, argues Kekkonen because it gives Advania Finland “a significant competitive edge over the global IT companies in the medium to long term.”
Advania Group was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Stockholm. It operates in the Nordics and the UK and employs around 5,000 people. Turnover in 2021 was SEK 9 billion.
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TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:
• Concrete common view and commitment
• Identified capability needs
• Visibility