An energy company must be both radical and conservative at the same time, says Olli Räsänen, CFO of Savon Voima. Savon Voima is a more than 70-year-old company that transfers electricity to its customers and produces district heating and electricity. The industry is undergoing a transformation with, for example, production becoming more environmentally friendly all the time and foreign operators like Google and Amazon possibly joining the competition in the future.
“You need to be interested in new things and drive them forward, but at the same time you have to be realistic about what is sensible to promote”, Räsänen elaborates.
Energy sales are strongly digital activities that require reliable IT services to support them. Savon Voima’s partner in this regard is Enfo, whose services are widely used by the company. In IT outsourcing, their shared journey reached its 10-year milestone in September 2019. Their joint history stretches even further back, and this long-standing cooperation contributed to Savon Voima’s decision to choose Enfo as an IT outsourcing partner in the autumn of 2009.
“Our options were expanding our own ICT unit or outsourcing, which was supported by the company’s Board of Directors. Since Enfo was already well-acquainted with us, we received a cost benefit that was mutually beneficial. We also knew that Enfo had the necessary competence”, Räsänen says.
The initial purpose of outsourcing was to secure IT resources and ensure the right expertise and its development: “The world is now very different from how it was ten years ago. If we were to do this ourselves, the challenge would be that the demands keep growing all the time.”
Transparent services and skilled project managers create trust
As successes of the cooperation, Räsänen lists the clear operating model with one service point and the standardization of the workstation environment, whereby equipment and services are acquired in a planned and specified manner. “The cost level of ICT infrastructure as a whole has also been reduced due to, among other things, a more controlled server structure and a cost-effective technical environment.”
“We feel that we are an important customer for Enfo.”
Räsänen’s colleagues Markku Rissanen and Juha Hyttilä also highlight trust and the competence of Enfo’s employees. “Trust comes up in many ways”, Rissanen says. “The services have been transparent and you can rely on the service descriptions. The project managers have also been trustworthy and they deliver implementations in a robust manner, meaning that we get exactly what we order. Enfo’s experts have acted responsibly and strived to do their work as if they were doing it for themselves.”
Hyttilä adds that Enfo has indicated that Savon Voima is a very important customer. He is very pleased with the competence of Enfo’s Key Account Manager Sirkka Kakko: “We are taken seriously and Sirkka has always found the best people for us. Project management has been at a good level, Enfo knows how to manage IT projects”, he praises.
Success is measured by feedback
When the traditional on-site support was eventually discontinued, the company also moved to new premises. Change situations always bring up emotions that must be responded to and prepared for. “Active communication and serving as a support are essential”, Hyttilä says. “We also did the preparatory work as best we could. The workstations were ready, so users just walked to their new stations and turned on their work computers. On the first few days, Enfo’s experts were there to help with any problems.”
According to Hyttilä, users today are satisfied with the services provided by Enfo. Feedback is reviewed with the service manager, and Hyttilä points out that users should be advised about the service level agreed with an external service provider so that they can adjust their feedback accordingly.
“I am pleased with the way Enfo has handled our capacity services. It is easy to discuss issues with an expert. IT costs have also remained stable over time, even though we have developed new things.”
The ICT world has changed radically in ten years, and the pace of change is by no means slowing down. Savon Voima has always leaned forward – the first SaaS service was introduced in 1964, which was not very typical in that decade. “We now expect service providers to be able to utilize the potential of cloud services. We are seeking the next phase of cost-efficiency and digitalization development in general to stay in the swing of things. We expect Enfo to take care of this”, Räsänen concludes.
Savon Voima is an energy company established in 1947. The cornerstone of its operations is providing reliable energy services to its customers. The company employs about 160 professionals, in addition to which it employs some 700 people through its partners each year. Savon Voima’s business areas include, among other things, electricity transmission, electricity production and district heating. www.savonvoima.fi