New digital ways of working help to harmonise Valio’s procedures

• Valio turned to Advania for help in finding more sophisticated ways to use digital Microsoft tools and deploying a new intranet solution based on Valo software. 
• All of Valio’s internal communication and project management processes now flow through Teams and other cloud-based tools.   
• This was a major project that has given Valio’s staff the ability to work whenever and wherever.
  

Valio is a dairy and food company owned by Finnish dairy farmers, which operates across Finland as well as in five other countries. Valio’s partnership with Advania has enabled the company to modernise and harmonise its approach to digital work: staff in all six countries in which Valio operates now use the same digital tools. This has made it possible for Valio’s staff to work whenever and wherever.  

Valio’s products are a familiar sight in shops and homes across Finland. However, not many people realise that Valio’s products are not sold exclusively in Finland but also abroad.   

‘What often surprises people is how international our organisation is. We export to more than 40 countries and employ people in six countries. Our new Valo intranet also covers all the six countries in which we operate’, explains Valio’s Internal Communication Manager Elina Halme.   

From Excel spreadsheets to a cloud-based project portfolio  

The partnership with Advania has enabled Valio to modernise and harmonise its approach to digital work and maximise the benefits of digital tools. The company’s old intranet solution was replaced by Valo Intranet and its old workspace solution by Valo Teamwork. Project management used to be largely based on Excel spreadsheets, e-mail correspondence and SharePoint. Now, all of Valio’s internal communication and project management processes flow through Teams and other cloud-based tools.  

‘One of our goals was to reduce the use of e-mail and start favouring cloud-based tools such as Teams’, explains Valio’s IT System Manager Teemu Hänninen.  

‘Our Valo Teamwork set-up also includes a project portfolio based on the Power BI data visualisation tool, which collates all projects that are in progress across the organisation and makes it easier to prioritise and track progress’, Hänninen adds.  

‘Our people are now able to work whenever and wherever.’   

A lot of work has gone into the modernisation process, and a lot has changed as a result. Despite the many challenges along the way, working with Advania has been a positive experience for Hänninen. The partnership has got off to a good start and has a bright future.  

‘This is a great starting point’, Hänninen says.    

‘The changes that have been made have had a big impact on how we work. Our people are now able to work whenever and wherever’, Halme says.  

 Same tools in every country   

One of the biggest benefits of the changes is the reliability of the newly deployed digital tools and the Valo Intranet solution.  

‘The platform is incredibly stable, and our new intranet works like a dream. What that means in practice is that our staff can always access the information they need, whenever they need it’, Halme explains.   

‘We are a big organisation, and these new tools have brought us much closer together. We now have excellent tools that work in every country in which we operate’, Halme concludes.