ICT outsourcing in two weeks?
This is how Helkama Emotor and Elmo made it

When Helkama Emotor Oy, an industrial group known for its electric bicycles and power electronics cooling solutions, decided to outsource its ICT to Elmo, the schedule was exceptionally tight: just two weeks. Helkama Emotor’s CEO Tero Maaranen explains how the ICT outsourcing fast-track was successfully implemented – and what it required on both sides of the handlebars.

Outsourcing for strategy and substance

Until autumn 2024, Helkama Emotor had been navigating the ICT landscape quite smoothly with its own team. However, ICT outsourcing became relevant when the group’s largest business, subsidiary Helkama Bica, was sold to a Swedish venture capitalist and the company’s operating management. 

At the same time, there was a desire for strategy and broad substance in ICT. It was time to move from a reactive model to a proactive one, and look for an outsourced partner. Helkama Emotor had heard stories about Elmo, and based on the speeches, customers seemed satisfied. It was decided to include Elmo in the race.

Not a generic offer but customer-first approach

Maaranen says that in addition to customer references, a couple of other things piqued their interest in Elmo: first, the name evoked positive images of the story of the superior athlete Elmo; second, the strong emphasis on customer and employee experience in the company’s communications was interesting. However, two factors decided the choice of partner. 

The offer was not generic, but well structured, sufficiently detailed and clearly thought out for our environment. Another thing that made an impression was the extensive resource allocation of experts to the sales process. We got the impression that they really wanted us as a customer.

Maaranen believes that it is about a corporate culture that fuels people’s enthusiasm and desire to solve customers’ challenges. When Elmo was finally chosen, there was one more challenge on the table: there was two weeks to implement the outsourcing.

A quick outsourcer must prioritize oneself

ICT outsourcing typically takes 2-3 months. So Maaranen admits that he thought about how to succeed in the work. However, Elmo took up the job from the first day.

The day after signing the contract, Elmo had a team assembled. Our appreciation for Elmo grew greatly from that moment on. The work was professional and committed, Maaranen praises.

Sudden outsourcing is not a goal, but if you get into a situation like this, Maaranen has a message for other “quick outsourcers”: if you demand a tight schedule, you demand more from yourself. Internal and joint prioritization helped Helkama Emator and Elmo succeed.

We made outsourcing a priority internally. We harnessed our own IT team to do just that and resourced the right key people from all of our group’s businesses for the takeover project. We also realized that the outsourcing would not be done in its entirety on this schedule, but together with Elmo we would prioritize the most critical points.

Strategic IT partnership is all about cooperation

The two-week takeover was successful and daily IT services started without disruption to business. The equipment was brought under control, the server and network environment was taken over, and over 100 workstations with end users were taken under management and support. Equipment purchases are now delivered through Elmo’s online store. 

What tips does an experienced ICT outsourcer give to other companies? The first piece of advice is to identify what you are looking for.

What is your size class, do you need a suitable partner for it, and what level of cooperation are you looking for? We are looking for both basic IT and a strategic IT partnership to support our business operations. 

Another tip is related to responsibility: Outsourcing does not mean throwing away the reins even after takeover. 

As a customer, we must understand that we are still responsible for the functionality of IT and ultimately control it. We can trust Elmo in substance, but Elmo can only succeed if we give them sufficient resources, Maaranen sums up. 

Joint resources will next be directed to the ICT roadmap and development projects. The goal is to draw up a comprehensive IT strategy, among other things. We meet with our own customer experience architect, or AKA, at a condensed pace every two weeks to get the strategic work up to speed. 

And it feels like we have enough speed: things are going as smoothly as riding an electric bike.

 

Maarasen’s 4 reasons to choose Elmo: 

1. Company culture: Elmo’s enthusiastic company culture is seen as a motivation to take charge of the customer and make the customer feel important. 
2. Customer orientation: Elmo’s operations are proactive and customer-oriented; not generic and reactive. This allows development projects to be carried forward agilely. 
3. Resources: The expertise of over 100 experts brings extensive substantive expertise and resources. 
4. “Best practices”: Elmo has experience and a view on how things should be handled today.