Elmo’s biggest announcement this spring was its collaboration with the aerospace and defense group Patria. The agreement was made possible thanks to the alignment of company cultures.

“This isn’t a company, it’s a cult,” remarked Janne Mäenpää, responsible for IT services at Patria, when discussing Elmo in the spring. Patria had signed an agreement to transfer the Service Desk operations of its 2,800-person organization to Elmo, and at the same time, 18 employees from the previous service provider joined their new employer. The decision was made over the course of a year through a tender process and negotiations, culminating in the signing of agreements on February 15, 2019.

But what exactly is Elmo? What makes Elmo a reliable IT partner in Service Desk outsourcing? During the negotiation phase, when Patria interviewed Elmo’s representatives, they all spoke in unison about the great atmosphere and Lean philosophy. Was it true or just a sales pitch? There was something familiar about it, though.

Patria’s path to partnering with Elmo was a multi-phase process. Ten years earlier, Patria had outsourced its IT management to a national service provider. A common rhythm was found with the provider, and the Lean philosophy was adopted. “Laughter returned to meetings when Lean arrived,” headlined Kauppalehti. The cooperation continued until 2018, when thoughts of renewing the service model, increasing agility, and adding flexibility emerged as the end of the contract period approached. Perhaps refreshing the model would keep the smile intact. The decision was made to put the service providers up for tender.

Then came the itSMF seminar, where Elmo’s Service Director gave a presentation. After lunch, Patria’s IT Services Manager, Janne Mäenpää, approached Elmo’s CEO Janne Aaltonen and asked, “Would you be interested in discussing device-related topics?” Elmo invited both Mäenpää and IT Director Jarkko Marjasalo to learn more about their operations. It turned out that the conversation flowed smoothly, not only about IT equipment but also about Lean philosophy. Soft values and strong expertise brought them together. This initiated months of dialogue, meetings, and honest exchange of ideas. In addition to the service offering and references, Elmo’s corporate culture became increasingly intriguing to Patria. Could they transform the Service Desk into a service oasis together?

Instead of just renewing the existing model, the idea emerged to create a new way of working for the entire industry: what if Patria would be responsible for demand while Lean and Six Sigma methods would be used together to adjust the supply accordingly? The goal was to be one step ahead in IT management issues, proactively. As the existing agreement would end in March 2019, it was time to submit a formal offer. Marjasalo remained skeptical:
“You say you have an exceptional culture, but is it really so? Can we interview Elmo employees and your reference customers? Do you have experience with cases of this scale?”

Interviews were conducted, and Patria delivered a 10-point requirement list that needed to be met before entering into collaboration. In addition to openness, high standards of data security and access control were particularly emphasized.