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To cel\u00ade\u00adbrate the 20th anniver\u00adsary of ISLET, we high\u00adlight some of the most promi\u00adnent top\u00adics from our his\u00adto\u00adry and how our newest gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of man\u00adage\u00adment has adopt\u00aded them. In this blog entry, more specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, we will relive the fast paced and mul\u00adti\u00adfac\u00adeted moments of our indus\u00adtry until the present day of arti\u00adfi\u00adcial intel\u00adli\u00adgence. Do you still recall the term that pre\u00adced\u00aded dig\u00adi\u00adtal\u00adiza\u00adtion, tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy and IT?<\/p>\n
ADP. Auto\u00admat\u00aded Data Processing<\/p>\n
A term, when first heard, sounds a bit old-school and rigid if not com\u00adplete\u00adly unsexy.<\/p>\n
Nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless, the acronym ADP still sum\u00adma\u00adrizes the aim of mod\u00adern-day soft\u00adware devel\u00adop\u00adment. Still in the age of AI, the term ADP is high\u00adly apt. Indeed, it still encom\u00adpass\u00ades the core mes\u00adsage of what we do and what we strive to achieve.<\/p>\n
Halfway through the 1980s, the enter\u00adprise resource plan\u00adning (ERP) was a shad\u00adow of itself com\u00adpared to what it is today. In the next decade, how\u00adev\u00ader, we wit\u00adnessed a major inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal ERP break\u00adthrough. This break\u00adthrough made its way to Fin\u00adland only at the end of the 90s when a wave of new imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtions rolled over the country.<\/p>\n
At the end of the last mil\u00adlen\u00adni\u00adum, the mar\u00adkets only had a few ERP providers with the biggest being SAP<\/a><\/strong> ja Ora\u00adcle<\/a>.<\/strong> Next to the two big fish\u00ades, there were sev\u00ader\u00adal small\u00ader play\u00aders which were oper\u00adat\u00ading in spe\u00adcif\u00adic nich areas or usu\u00adal\u00adly focused on spe\u00adcif\u00adic indus\u00adtries. The end of the 90s proved out to be a real gold min\u00ading time for ERP providers and experts. The mar\u00adkets had an excess in ERP demand with only a lim\u00adit\u00aded num\u00adber of experts with the nec\u00ades\u00adsary know-how and expe\u00adri\u00adence to swift\u00adly devel\u00adop systems.<\/p>\n The time was char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adized by wild and fast moves. The big inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal play\u00aders brought in their experts from abroad while Finns were sent abroad to be trained. The chal\u00adlenge was the para\u00addox between under\u00adstand\u00ading busi\u00adness and sys\u00adtems. There were only a hand\u00adful of experts who mas\u00adtered both.<\/p>\n Espe\u00adcial\u00adly ERP imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtions require equal amount of busi\u00adness and sys\u00adtems under\u00adstand\u00ading. In the begin\u00adning, how\u00adev\u00ader, most of the ERP experts were pro\u00adgram\u00admers lead\u00ading to a com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion gap between the ser\u00advice providers and clients.<\/p>\n Typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, experts need years of expe\u00adri\u00adence and involve\u00adment in sev\u00ader\u00adal projects in var\u00adi\u00adous com\u00adpa\u00adnies from dif\u00adfer\u00adent indus\u00adtries to mas\u00adter ERP con\u00adsult\u00ading. The strongest con\u00adsul\u00adtants, there\u00adfore, were the ones with a strong busi\u00adness back\u00adground as they knew the processes.<\/p>\n Pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly, soft\u00adwares were per\u00adceived as the nec\u00ades\u00adsary evil and they were only used to opti\u00admize pre-exist\u00ading process\u00ades. Nowa\u00addays, con\u00adverse\u00adly, sys\u00adtems and soft\u00adware are the beat\u00ading heart of businesses.<\/p>\n As a result, many com\u00adpa\u00adnies are tran\u00adsi\u00adtion\u00ading or have already tran\u00adsi\u00adtioned from tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal prod\u00aduct plan\u00adning and man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00ading process\u00ades to cre\u00adate soft\u00adware-based busi\u00adness mod\u00adels. Exam\u00adples of such pio\u00adneer\u00ading com\u00adpa\u00adnies in Fin\u00adland are<\/p>\n Pon\u00adsse<\/a><\/strong> and Kemp\u00adpi<\/a>.<\/strong> I dare to claim that in both com\u00adpa\u00adnies, soft\u00adware-based prod\u00aduct devel\u00adop\u00adment receives big\u00adger rel\u00ada\u00adtive invest\u00adments than tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal prod\u00aduct R&D.<\/p>\n Due to fast tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal advance\u00adments, the role of soft\u00adware in, for exam\u00adple, forestry machines is grow\u00ading rapid\u00adly. There\u00adfore, you can find a great amount of soft\u00adware-based intel\u00adli\u00adgence in Ponsse\u2019s forestry machines. By invest\u00ading in soft\u00adware devel\u00adop\u00adment, Pon\u00adsse wants to ensure that they con\u00adtin\u00adue being on top of the game in the future as well. Just like Pon\u00adsse, Kemppi\u2019s his\u00adto\u00adry has begun with equip\u00adment man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00ading that has over\u00adtime expand\u00aded to weld\u00ading man\u00adage\u00adment soft\u00adware, appli\u00adca\u00adtions and weld\u00ading soft\u00adware. In their own words, the fam\u00adi\u00adly enter\u00adprise claim that they devel\u00adop intel\u00adli\u00adgent equip\u00adment, weld\u00ading pro\u00adduc\u00adtion man\u00adage\u00adment soft\u00adware and sup\u00adport\u00ading expert services.<\/p>\n The tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy indus\u00adtry is rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly young com\u00adpared to many oth\u00ader indus\u00adtries. In oth\u00ader indus\u00adtries, the big play\u00aders can be over a hun\u00addred years old. As the IT industry\u2019s time\u00adline can only be mea\u00adsured in a scale of a few decades, the same his\u00adto\u00adry sim\u00adply does not exist.<\/p>\n In our field, tim\u00ading means every\u00adthing. We must devel\u00adop our\u00adselves con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous\u00adly and under\u00adstand which cus\u00adtomer chal\u00adlenges are promi\u00adnent in a tak\u00aden period.<\/p>\n A mis\u00adcon\u00adcep\u00adtion is that rein\u00advent\u00ading your\u00adself means that you do things first and ear\u00adly enough. Some tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy com\u00adpa\u00adnies, how\u00adev\u00ader, are ahead of their time and the mar\u00adket is not ready for what they have to offer. There sim\u00adply has not been enough pur\u00adchas\u00ading pow\u00ader and these com\u00adpa\u00adnies have per\u00adished. Even though we can\u00adnot pre\u00addict the future from a crys\u00adtal ball, tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy com\u00adpa\u00adnies must strive to under\u00adstand the mean\u00ading of right tim\u00ading in their business.<\/p>\n In this decade, the impor\u00adtance of tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy has grown expo\u00adnen\u00adtial\u00adly in cor\u00adpo\u00adrate lead\u00ader\u00adship. This par\u00ada\u00addigm shift can be seen in the roles of mod\u00adern IT direc\u00adtors. Pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly, CIOs were seen only as tech\u00adni\u00adcal direc\u00adtors that had no busi\u00adness in board rooms.<\/p>\n The tables have turned, how\u00adev\u00ader, and capa\u00adble CIOs are cru\u00adcial for orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions as they are in the epi\u00adcen\u00adter of busi\u00adness with fre\u00adquent\u00adly a vis\u00adi\u00adble role. Often\u00adtimes, CIOs are a part of the exec\u00adu\u00adtive board. More\u00adover, next to CIOs, anoth\u00ader C\u2011suite lev\u00adel posi\u00adtion has emerged, the CDO \u2013 Chief Dig\u00adi\u00adtal Officer.<\/p>\n As the CEO of a long-time fam\u00adi\u00adly busi\u00adness, I see that work\u00ading in the tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy sec\u00adtor offers an amaz\u00ading chance to glance into the future. It does not only offer us the dai\u00adly oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to devel\u00adop our\u00adselves, it requires us to do so.<\/p>\nOper\u00ada\u00adtions opti\u00admiza\u00adtion or new busi\u00adness models?<\/h3>\n
Rein\u00advent your\u00adself or perish<\/h3>\n
Infor\u00adma\u00adtion based leadership<\/h3>\n