Nextcon Finland Oy turns 13 years old this year, and these years have seen many different stages in the company’s development and growth to its current form. The company started in the autumn of 2008, when Petri Ohtamaa and a colleague decided to become entrepreneurs after much deliberation. Both had long careers in international companies, but both were interested in the “artistic freedom” of entrepreneurship.

In this article, you can dive into the growth story of Nextcon Finland Oy through an interview with the company’s CEO Petri Ohtamaa. We asked Petri where it all started, where we are now and what the future holds for Nextcon.

Nextcon founded in the middle of the financial crisis

The end of 2008 was not a good time for the new company, as it was the culmination of the famous financial crisis in the financial markets and the euro area was also plunged into economic recession.

– “The financial crisis meant that not all the new contracts and deals we had anticipated materialised as expected and potential customers were unable to make decisions on new contracts in that situation,” Petri says.

However, the young entrepreneurs didn’t just sit back and wait for a fire to break out, they set out together to find a solution.

The business plan was rebuilt several times

Petri says that the financial crisis was above all a learning experience.

– Looking back, that recession was a very instructive time for young entrepreneurs. We did everything we could to find a way to survive in a situation that seemed impossible. Among other things, we rewrote our business plan several times and innovatively looked for new opportunities.

Through difficulty to victory

Perseverance paid off and Petri and his partners managed to find a new direction for the company in IT consulting. Petri says that his first clients were large government organisations.

– Project management services were among the first specialist services we offered to our clients in both the public and private sectors. We managed major change projects including systems development, version upgrades and ICT service provider changes.

Services continue to evolve

Today, Nextcon experts work in a variety of specialist roles in project management services, testing and quality assurance across a range of industries.

– We have been developing project management services for more than 10 years and are currently working in a wide range of agile development specialist roles such as Product Owner, Agile Coach, ScrumMaster etc. and also in traditional project management models as Project Managers, Project Managers, Test Managers and Technical Project Managers.

The majority of Nextcon’s customers are public sector organisations, but over the years we have also attracted customers from the private sector.

– Another important service area is testing and quality assurance services, which we have also been developing for almost 10 years. Currently, we are spearheading the development of test automation, which we have been investing in for several years.

In the area of testing, Nextcon has started to explore the use of AI and machine learning in test automation and will focus on this in particular over the next few years.

A growth company after ten years

Nextcon only became a growth company towards the end of 2018, when it was decided to invest in recruitment, sales and marketing by hiring people responsible for these functions.

– Since our transition to a growth company in late 2018, we have invested heavily in employee wellbeing, strengthening Nextco’s brand and culture, and an agile management model.

At Nextcon, decision-making is decentralised and transparency is a value in itself

Management at Nextcon is partly based on Teal-type thinking. The Teal concept was introduced as part of organisational development and management by Frederic Laloux, a Belgian in his book “Reinventing Organizations“. Decision-making is decentralised and transparency is a value in itself.

 – In our company, this means that there is no traditional command-and-control, pyramidal hierarchy of management and leadership. We work in autonomous and independent teams, which have the power to decide on the development of their own working environment and training.

The autonomous teams are coached by senior-level experts who ensure, among other things, that team members are happy and the work runs smoothly. Their development and training is also steered in the right direction.

– The starting point is trust in people’s wisdom and ability to make decisions for the good of the community,” Petri says.

“Our vision is to be the best and most desirable place to work in project management, testing and quality assurance services in Finland within 2-3 years.”

Today, Nextcon Finland Oy is a rapidly growing specialist organisation employing just under 20 professionals. Several projects are currently underway with influential public actors such as Traficom, Mela and DigiFinland.

Nextcon’s future will see steady organic growth and in particular the well-being of its staff and an open, positive and conversational working community that enjoys and develops in the direction they want to work. Petri believes that employee satisfaction is also reflected in Nextcon’s professional services deliveries and client projects.

– Our vision is to be the best and most desirable place to work in project management, testing and quality assurance services in Finland within 2-3 years.