Jukka Laamanen, Rantalainen Ltd:

A busy manager needs all the key information in one view

Rantalainen Ltd is a financial administration expert company experiencing strong growth. The company’s vision is to be the best local partner in the financial administration sector. Rantalainen wants to develop and systematise knowledge-driven management and systematically collect data regarding, among other things, customer and employee experience. Jukka Laamanen, Director, Customers & Marketing, who is also responsible for sales, emphasises that Rantalainen’s own customer promise, ‘Future is insight’, spurred them to take bigger steps in knowledge-driven management.

– In my own position, I strive to accelerate the organic growth of our company. This means growth in sales and, on the other hand, continuous care of customer satisfaction. Furthermore, we are harmonising the processes of these goals all the time, pushing to have common processes for them, Laamanen reasons.

Laamanen states that the functions he is responsible for are large entities and their management requires a wide-ranging and comprehensive view across the various functions.

– We started building our customer relationship management (our data capability) piece by piece about six years ago, as we wanted to highlight the issues affecting our business more clearly so that they could be managed. Among other things, customer satisfaction and personnel satisfaction are things that we wanted and still want to develop. Innolink has helped us build knowledge-driven management models and functions that we now implement in day-to-day activities. At the same time, of course, we are also deepening our partnership with Innolink.

Data capability as the foundation of knowledge-driven management

Innolink has helped Rantalainen to collect just the right kind of data fitting the company’s goals. Laamanen also gives praise to their partner for familiarisation with the practices of knowledge-driven management and for dashboard building.

– Knowledge-driven management and dashboard building are Innolink’s clear strengths. Now that we have built a good basis in cooperation, we at Rantalainen strive to develop the quality of data and its collection, both in terms of internal and external data. Still, our journey to even better knowledge-driven management is still ongoing, Laamanen says.

When creating new models and operating methods, it is good to ensure that progress is made at a pace suitable for the organisation.

– Data is kind of a slow companion, as collecting it and obtaining reference data takes time. With a good research partner, we made sure that we are collecting the right data and in the right way. It is not a good idea to cut corners too much in this matter, Laamanen explains.

In addition to collecting systematic and relevant information, the benefit and value produced by Innolink lies precisely in what is done with the information and how measures are derived from it.

– Now that the partnership has been ongoing for years, there is good mutual trust between us and it is important for our research partner to have a forward-looking approach. The cooperation has been a positive surprise and it has also developed and renewed in a way that is meaningful for us.

Day-to-day with new management

The biggest change in day-to-day management is that he and his team know and see if there are major changes in the things being measured.

– We have our ear to the ground and know how to react in a timely manner. That is clearly the biggest change, which brings certainty and sensitivity to my own multisectoral management. With regard to day-to-day management, I can tell you, for example, that I get an alert in my email if there are deviations in something that is being measured.

Innolink’s CEO Pekka Vuorela takes part in Rantalainen’s journey to knowledge-driven management.

– It has been amazing to see how an organisation that has grown enormously has managed to bring knowledge-driven management to the day-to-day management of the entire organisation even in the midst of that growth. We at Innolink are of the view that this will enable even more new stages of growth. We are proud that we have been able to participate in Rantalainen’s journey to knowledge-driven management and develop our capabilities together by learning from each other, Vuorela says.

Laamanen is happy that Rantalainen has done strong groundwork for utilising visualised information for dashboards, which he says are interesting to monitor. The company’s own BI platform is used at Rantalainen as a data view.

– We have learned a lot about the correlations of cause and effect during our joint partnership. We have better control over customer relationship management and its touch points, and based on relevant information, better decisions are made that develop and promote the right goals.

According to him, a major mental shift has taken place at Rantalainen.

– We no longer just look at the results; with the help of Innolink, we have learned to ask ‘Why’ questions and also answer them.

Towards knowledge-driven management of the future

While a strong basis for knowledge-driven management has been built together over the years, Laamanen is also satisfied with Innolink’s consultation in utilising data and drawing conclusions.

– I like the spirit of sparring and proactiveness in our direction. Innolink’s business insight and experience from similar other client companies is channelled to our advantage. I am in charge of quite a large area, and neither I nor my team have enough time to observe all the different things and variables everywhere. We benefit from the fact that Innolink has a really strong understanding of the strategic, operational and tactical level of knowledge-driven management, Laamanen emphasises.

In order for the goals of his own area of management to be achieved, Jukka Laamanen considers it important to get the internal affairs in order and within the scope of so-called common processes.

– We at Rantalainen have had a strong culture of company acquisitions.  The correctness and utilisation of our data will only become better once we manage to bring the data of the acquired companies into a common view. That takes time.

For managers considering similar partnerships

– You should make sure that the research partner has their strategic, operational and tactical level of research and knowledge-driven management in order. You should really challenge the partner about these things, as it will bear fruit, Laamanen sums up.

Jukka Laamanen
Director, Customers & Marketing 
Rantalainen Ltd

Rantalainen is a reliable and approachable company with financial administration and financial administration services at its core. Authorised by the Association of Finnish Accounting Firms, it is one of the largest accounting firms in Finland, where customers have access to the expertise of over 1,000 trained professionals. Its local offices provide services in more than 50 locations. Rantalainen offers comprehensive modern financial administration services to companies, communities and other organisations of all sizes according to the stage of the customer organisation’s life cycle. As a customer of Rantalainen, you always know who to turn to when it comes to financial administration challenges.

Rantalainen’s management has strong networks with the most important national business advocacy organisations, such as Suomen Yrittäjät and the Finland Chamber of Commerce. The company actively works in these networks while taking into account the special characteristics of SMEs.