Fibre-optic network company Valoo revamped its customer journey in just six months
The challenge
In the spring 2023, the fibre-optic cabling company Valoo had to make important decisions: having launched a fibre-optic revolution in Finland, the company was undergoing a major transformation. Valoo’s operating model and IT environment had been designed for small local network projects, and had become inadequate. The company needed to rebuild its entire business model and capabilities to secure future growth opportunities. A company seeking strong growth needs to plan its investments wisely. One important development area is effective sales to consumers and its integration into the construction of the fibre network.
The outcome
With Sofigate’s help, Valoo’s management identified the steps it needed to take to break off from its former owner, create a new operating model and manage business technology. During the planning phase, the success of digital sales was identified as critical to the realisation of Valoo’s strategy. Sales should extend all the way to construction and billing. The digital customer journey was implemented on the Salesforce platform. Sofigate’s end-to-end service included change management, business-enabling technologies and services, and ecosystem building and operation.
The results
The Valoo customer path is now digital and supports Valoo’s strategic objectives. Customers can place an order and view their own data via the online service. The service is integrated with various processes such as billing, and business logic is ensured. Valoo has a solid basis for further development of future sales capabilities. Any need for sales development can be easily implemented into an existing service package. Salesforce enables versatile business development.
Six months to modernise the customer journey
By the start of the project in August 2022, Valoo had implemented a new sales process and customer service solutions. It was time to redefine the customer buying path to meet the company’s business objectives and growth ambitions. Valoo wanted to automate the customer journey from ordering to customer service, invoicing, viewing one’s own data and construction planning.
Valoo and Sofigate set an ambitious schedule for the first phase of the project: to automate the customer journey within six months.
The solution was built on top of the Salesforce platform, taking into account the necessary ecosystem services, such as billing operator services. The goal was to deliver a functional solution that supports business growth.
In line with a modern development approach, Valoo committed to continue to develop the service at the pace required for business development and growth, with the support of a strong ecosystem. The ecosystem leverages off-the-shelf solutions or services from different partners, sharing data and working together to create a seamless customer experience.
Valoo’s management understood that commitment is the heart of the project
Tommi Linna, CEO at Valoo, is pleased with the outcome. What did he learn from the project?
“At Valoo, we tend to develop our business at top speed. Therefore, the management team and I must feel that our development projects are firmly under control, both for the project team and the decision-makers. We have the guts to make bold decisions, as long as the risks are under control and decisions are based on facts.”
Tommi Linna,
CEO, Valoo
“Overall responsibility for the reform must lie with us at Valoo, both in terms of managing ecosystems and integrating and developing our own activities. We must be able to monitor the ecosystem to avoid surprises. In addition to the company’s management, the owners must be kept well informed of the situation,” Linna lists.
“Sofigate is doing things in a modern way, reforming IT operating models and also spurring us on our transformation path. That’s why we are working with them to develop our business,” says Linna.
“We succeeded because the whole team and especially Valoo’s management were firmly committed to the project and its schedule. We ensured the project’s success and adherence to schedule by designing a development model that was flexible, agile and ensured rapid development. People’s involvement, skills and, above all, growing with the project were the keys to success,” says Markus Frilund from Sofigate, who led the project.
With only six months to go, the project had to make use of modern approaches.
“The team, the project leader and the management have to be able to think in a new way,” Frilund emphasises. “We did away with the traditional project slow-downs: instead of lengthy comparisons and tendering for separate solutions, we focused on building an ecosystem using the project team’s expertise. Services and expertise were continuously sourced from the best in the business.”
The keys to success in a fast-track project
Off-the-shelf technologies and cloud services. Valoo and Sofigate selected Salesforce.
Agile development methods. The implementation was split into parts.
Change management. Valoo’s owners, management, project team and key people engaged in ongoing dialogue and coaching.
The experience of the project team. The project involved an experienced technology manager and strong business and technology experts.
“Implementation is based on understanding which capabilities – processes, people, technology, data and ecosystems – are needed to achieve the strategy’s goal. It’s also about understanding how to combine capabilities to deliver the strategy,” says Markus Frilund.
“Traditionally, people have been reluctant to procure solutions and services without a benchmarking or tendering phase. However, we have proven that often, the fastest way to achieve the best solution is to build an ecosystem and involve it in the change.”
Business is made up of ecosystems. Customers are ecosystem networks rather than individual actors or separate segments. Read more about ecosystems and how to develop them: https://www.managebt.org/book/demand/ecosystem-development/
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