Persistence pays off – Sulava and the Fabulous Bergius Brothers boost your cloud transformation

Finland and Sulava have been at the forefront in the digitalization of the businesses since 2010. The relentless work has created a competitive advantage for Sulava customers by transforming the way their employees work and utilize Microsoft cloud to the max.

Sulava has focused on attracting the best cloud talent and having a deep understanding of the digital transformation and what it means for us and our customers. One, or actually three examples of this are Bergius Brothers, who are among the most talented who ever worked within the Microsoft ecosystem, are now working at Sulava under the same roof.

When Kimmo Bergius joined Microsoft as a Chief Security Advisor back in early 2000, Sulava’s CEO Aki Antman thought: “What a talent, integrity and professionalism, I really have to get to know this guy better.” Kimmo was obviously extremely busy with his new role at Microsoft and their paths did not join yet.

Persistent talent hunt started

The next small step on the path is when Aki found out that Kimmo was going to the annual Windows Professional users’ club cruise. Aki’s secret plan was that being on the same ship for three days would be the perfect way to get to meet and know Kimmo better. Aki immediately joined the Windows Professionals and enrolled on the cruise. None of this is a surprise to those who know Aki. Unfortunately, he only had a minute to discuss with Kimmo as something urgent came up at Microsoft and Kimmo had to skip the cruise before it even started.

Persistence gets its price

Fast forward twenty years and now Kimmo is the CTO of Sulava. And not only that, his amazing brother Heikki Bergius joined Sulava a few years back as well. And to top things off, the third Bergius brother, Jorma Bergius, recently joined Sulava. Aki’s persistence finally paid off.

The Bergius brothers are by far the most talented brothers ever in the global Microsoft ecosystem. They live and breathe technology and its implementation, and more importantly, what really makes the brothers stand out is their joint understanding of the current and the future state of the Microsoft ecosystem. The circle has closed, the brothers now work in the same company for the first time since the early 1990’s, when they founded their own company BitWit.

Microsoft 365 and Azure make dreams come true

Finland is the leading nation in the digitalization of the businesses: paper forms, checks and printers are no longer used. Sulava has been at the forefront of this transformation.
“From the start, we focused on attracting the best cloud talent and having a deep understanding of the digital transformation and what it meant for us and our customers,” says Aki Antman.

The public (Microsoft) cloud adoption rates in Finland are the highest in the world, including the highest Microsoft Teams active usage rate in the world. Sulava has driven this change since 2010. The relentless work of Sulava, one of the first born-in-the-cloud Microsoft partners, has created a competitive advantage for Sulava’s customers by transforming the way their employees work.
“Our dream projects are those where we get to start from scratch with clients who haven’t begun their cloud journey yet,” says Jorma Bergius, and continues

“The fact that we at Sulava combine the technological and the cultural components, is a major innovation. We can create a next-generation technological and working culture from scratch and truly show customers what kind of amazing things anyone can accomplish with the Microsoft cloud”.

Expansion to the UAE and whole Gulf region

Sulava recently opened its Sulava Gulf subsidiary in Dubai and is providing cloud and digitalization services to the UAE and the whole Gulf region. “We are going to replicate the success we have had in Finland and provide this market the means to create better work environment for the clients in the UAE and the whole Gulf region.” says Kimmo Bergius.

Heikki Bergius, a world-leading consultant and Microsoft Certified Trainer, has a crucial architectural point of view on how to approach the cloud transformation:

“In reality, most of our clients live in a hybrid world where it is practically impossible to move everything into the cloud at the same time. Somewhat surprisingly, it is a good practice to move workloads to the clouds one by one as they are nearing the end of life cycle. When using Microsoft 365 and Azure you are not tied to one single Microsoft Partner but you can use the best of the breed competencies whenever needed. Integrating between the Microsoft Azure cloud and other solutions is now straightforward – but naturally, require careful planning and execution. We are the best partner for this transformation”.

Brothers for life

Aki Antman’s first impression of Kimmo Bergius was right on the money – talent, integrity, and professionalism are Kimmo’s core values. On top of that creativity and problem-solving skills are at the center when implementing organization-wide changes.

Kimmo describes his brothers:” They always face new and unknown challenges head-on with no bias, no prejudice. They are completely honest and always find the best solution for the customer. It’s a true blessing to be able to spar my own views and visions with my brothers – they always provide me with another point of view, and this makes for a better final outcome.”

Heikki continues:” It’s so amazing to work with my brothers at Sulava. We get to spend even more time together than before. At times our communication doesn’t even need any words – you can tell what the others think by just looking at their body language”.

And the third Bergius, Jorma, adds:

“We still spend our leisure time together so obviously working together hasn’t added any strains to our relationship”.

Juha Heikkonen, a former Microsoft executive and current Group HR director of Sulava, describes the three brothers as the most talented brothers he ever worked with in the Microsoft ecosystem.

“They do amazing things for our customers. In addition to that they are all world-class trainers and teach new skills to the whole Microsoft ecosystem. Having said that, in my opinion, the best part is their attitude. They bring happiness and share their vision and knowledge with the whole Sulava family – we learn daily from their vast and ever-growing experience. Shared values, shared understanding and laser-sharp future vision – this will all benefit for our customers in Finland, and now the UAE and Gulf area”.

Sulava, the #1 born-in-cloud-Microsoft partner in the world

Sulava’s core values are:
Aim to be the best
Share your knowledge
Take care
Together we thrive
You have the power

“The three Bergius brothers are a physical incarnation of our values” says Aki Antman. And continues: “They are a perfect example of what Sulava is all about. In addition to the brothers, we have over 100 Microsoft cloud professionals who have their own unbelievable skillsets. They can all learn from the Bergius brothers, but the knowledge sharing goes both ways. Our company is 100% owned by its employees and our clients know that we are the best born-in-the-cloud Microsoft partner in the world. By sharing our knowledge, we aim to be the best in the upcoming decade as well”.