Huhtamaki

Modern tools help your company to e.g. increase collaboration, improve internal communication, and make joint editing and sharing of content easier.

At Huhtamaki, an expert in food and beverage packaging, Sulava was the partner in planning and carrying out a global transition from an earlier cloud service to modern Microsoft cloud services. 6,500 office workers were introduced to modern cloud services.

Huhtamaki embarked on the change because the company sees the strategic need to increase and facilitate internal cooperation and improve working practices. The tools offered by the previously used environment did not serve the needs of modern work. For example, a change was wanted in inter-departmental communication by increasing and improving the quality of online meetings.

Major change in the working culture

Thanks to the change, the workers are on their way to modern ways of working with modern tools. Although the technical transition and the change in tools was in itself one of the most challenging Office 365 transition projects in the world, this primarily meant a major change in the working culture.

“Using tools is much easier and more intuitive than before. People are so pleased, for example, that it is possible to work with all the files in the same place, and the versions are not mixed together. It is also really valuable that people can more easily ask for advice from any colleague worldwide”, comments Communications Manager Reeta Eskola.

The aim of the change was to increase cooperation and productivity. The company wanted to enable colleagues unknown to each other to share their skills and cooperate more transparently, also in matters of unfinished business. A key tool for achieving the goals was Microsoft Teams, which promotes discussion and sharing culture.

Changing a working culture is challenging and takes a long time. People tend to rely on the things they have already learned. Change is not brought about by using tools in the same outdated ways as earlier.

“We were not just changing tools; we also embarked on a change of working habits and behavior. So we put a lot of effort in how to change everyday working habits”, comments Group IS Infrastructure Manager Aki Kemppi.

Four areas that are essential for successful deployment of tools:

1. Setting the goals of the project, determining the success criteria, and tracking them.

2. Engagement of business areas and management, support by management, and construction of a Champions Network as trainers and messengers.

3. Communication which will clearly convey to the employees the benefits the change brings to them, and how the change is progressing.

4. Training to provide assurance to staff on the use of the new tools. The staff will get everything out of the tools in terms of facilitating their work.

We will publish a series of articles where we go through the change at Huhtamaki to inspire and advice you in your journey.

Author: Hanna Valjakka
Published April 2020