According to Ilona Ylinampa, Deputy Managing Director of Fujitsu Finland & Estonia, who has had a successful career in the IT world, the journey from goals to action plan is very important for the success of companies. But there is one important nuance in the view of the future, which is often overlooked and affects the company’s success in the long term, said a female director who is valued in Finland, speaking at the Ülemiste City Future Forum in Tallinn in May.
According to Ylinampa, companies should be aware of the factors that make it difficult to realize the company’s potential and the readiness to respond flexibly to changes in circumstances.

“Some companies feel too comfortable and do not proactively monitor changes in markets, customer behavior and competitors, but this is an important input for making business decisions,” said Ylinampa. “Another important thing to keep in mind is how to create and adapt scenarios. It is a powerful tool for predicting and adapting to outcomes and variables in today’s drastically changing world.”

A company should always have two or three different scenarios about its possible actions and results, which help to be much more prepared to make decisions based on different aspects, risks, and angles,” said Ylinampa. As both micro and macroeconomics are changing rapidly, it’s important to prepare by forming different kinds of scenarios with careful calculations and estimates. It might not help us predict future fully (as you never know about tomorrow), but it improves forecasting and preparing.
Ylinampa has collected several titles in Finland – in the last two years he has been selected as one of the hundred most influential IT influencers in Finland, and in 2019 she was selected as the best sales director in Finland.

According to her, business leaders should prepare for the future on an ongoing basis, and for this forecast to be relevant, you need to work closely with your partners and be close to them. “Ask your cooperation partners for assessments of future trends, read the annual reports and challenge yourself to form your own possible forecast based on this. Of course, you don’t have to run ahead of time in all things, but it’s worth being moderately hungry for information, because it may be needed for future decisions,” Ylinampa added.
According to the woman, who started as Deputy Managing Director at Fujitsu Finland & Estonia last year, the recent years of Covid and the war in Ukraine have also affected their company. And it is at this time that scenario preparation and preparation for changes are even more important than before. However, one thing remains the same – the core of the company still boils down to people.

As Deputy Managing Director of Fujitsu Finland & Estonia, Ylinampa is helping to take the next step in future healthcare by connecting technology and health. Healthcare is one of Fujitsu’s focus areas and the company has several IT solutions for various purposes in the healthcare industry.
“Since people are aging rapidly in Western countries and we are sicker, it is therefore important to improve the quality of life and focus on predictive healthcare using technology,” said Ylinampa. “For example, Fujitsu has developed a genomics AI solution that creates genome profiles. With an artificial intelligence solution, we can predict, based on a person’s genomes, what diseases someone may have and what specific treatment is best for each person.”

In addition, Fujitsu has an eMoM mobile application for the treatment of gestational diabetes together with Helsinki-Uusimaa University Clinic HUS and CleverHealthNetwork. The mobile app helps pregnant women improve their health and that of their unborn child, and thus has an impact on the next generation.
According to Ylinampa, the implementation of plans is often incomplete in business activities, and therefore the desired results are not achieved.

“Companies often forget that a good strategy or digitalization also requires successful implementation,” said Ylinampa. “Implementation and effective change management are the keys to successful strategic change. McKinsey estimates that 60-70% of all transformation projects fail, and this is mainly due to poor implementation.”

According to her, many organizations are in the wind of change, and when applying the development trends of society, it is necessary to consider how, for example, digitalization changes individual roles and daily operations. At Fujitsu, goals and key results are used, which are a daily part of strategy implementation.
“We are thinking about how we can apply it in daily operations to help create them at the level of each team, because it also gives dynamics to daily operations,” added Ylinampa. They are part of a journey that leads from goals to an action plan, includes metrics and regular monitoring.

At the Ülemiste City Future Forum on May 10-11, as a spokesperson for the topic of talent and health, Ylinampa will talk in more detail about why managers should pay attention to future healthcare and what it means for companies. Ylinampa has extensive experience in IT and technology and has worked from growth companies to multinational corporations.
Check out the Future Forum program and buy your ticket to the smart future today!

In 18 years, Ülemiste City has grown into the largest smart city in the Baltics. It is an environment that connects international experience and partners, with a total of 500 companies and 16,000 talents from more than 70 different countries. Ülemiste City is today the third economy in Estonia in terms of corporate labor taxes, after Tallinn and Tartu.
Ülemiste City focuses on driving innovation, retaining and attracting talent to Estonia, and creating a smart test environment that benefits the entire society.

Read the original article in Estonian here.