Our Stratos visit to Elisa differed from the previous ones
in that the excursion did not take place in the company’s formal premises, but
rather at the Elisa Studio, a shop created to serve the needs of Elisa’s
customers. The excursion was organized in the evening, so this more relaxed
atmosphere with comfortable couches served us well. First we had a chance to
hear a little bit about Elisa Studio, how it provides a place where customers
can actually try out the different devices and services, and get face-to-face
support. It really seemed quite a cool place with the comfortable couches and
armchairs, headphones and gadgets all around.
After the introduction, Juho Urho, Elisa’s Account Vice
President, shared his contagious enthusiasm about Elisa Visual Communications
services, which include digital screens and virtual offices, for instance. What
makes it special is that the services are provided as turnkey by Elisa and
Videra, which is Elisa’s daughter company specializing in visual communications
solutions. We learned Videra is the leading videoconference service provider in
Northern Europe, providing services to some of the largest organizations in
Europe and the USA. Also, Videra has managed to retain its start-up feeling and
approach even though it is now part of a bigger company, helping it to remain
agile and retain its key people.
After our group was already immersed in Elisa’s innovative
solutions, up next was Kimmo Pentikäinen, Development Vice President at Elisa.
He shared with us Elisa’s approach to work together with science and academics
all around the world to ensure multiple perspectives and a stream of fresh
ideas. At this point our Stratos group also got a chance to predict the future,
and brainstorm what the next disruptive innovations will be. Among the many
great (and realistic!) visions our group
generated were smart houses where even your coffee maker knows when your
caffeine level is reaching low, and overall smarter life with mobile as a hub.
In the future we expect to have devices to tell us when we need more energy,
and observe our environment with augmented reality. Quite propeller heads,
aren’t we?
Last but not least we also got to meet some former Stratos
participants, today’s Elisa employees. First Laura Mattila shared her
experiences of last year’s Stratos, and told a little bit about her journey at
Elisa so far. Another “Stratos graduate”, Jussi Hermunen concluded with giving
us all some advice for our future careers. He emphasized the need to be a
specialist at something, and to be good enough at that to take it forward. We
should strive to make ourselves important in the organization and develop our
field of expertise, but also be able to share that wisdom and help others to
take control over operations in order not to become irreplaceable. One should
volunteer and be curious, and always move forward. Finally, if a headhunter
contacts us (which they will!), we should be nice to them and save their email:
you never know which network will become useful in the long run.
To summarize, Elisa provided us with great insight into the
future at many levels, from individual to strategic. Thank you for hosting us,
Elisa!
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