Aro-Yhtymä – accelerating digital transformation across operations .

At Aro-Yhtymä, known for its Autokeskus brand, IT solutions are a key competitive advantage. The move to cloud services has significantly improved internal user satisfaction and enables even better service capabilities within a wide international partner network, where every actor is at the forefront of digitalisation. 

“Technology is a very central part of our business. We’ve been on this journey together with Enfo for ten years. During these years, we’ve built the foundation for the current state – where processes in car repair, purchasing, sales, marketing and customer service are as digital as possible, and the services we use are agile and scalable. This allows us to maintain a high level of service in a partner network that includes insurance and finance companies as well as car manufacturers – all among the frontrunners of digital development. Our own operations must evolve continuously,” summarises Tomi Valasvuo, CIO at Aro-Yhtymä. 
 

The evolution of car manufacturers drives development forward 

“Even ten years ago, it was clear to us that application use would move to the browser. We saw that the browser would become the new ‘application client’. Today, we use more than 100 applications provided by various principal partners. Previously, some of these were published via Citrix, when they were still CD-based or desktop clients. Fortunately, in recent years we’ve migrated most of our applications to the cloud – alongside our manufacturers and partners,” explains Valasvuo.

In 2015, Autokeskus made a major decision to phase out Citrix and soon after, guided by Enfo, adopted the Office 365 cloud service.

“Other systems we use, such as the sales ERP, reporting, payroll and HR, were also moved to the cloud. By introducing Office 365, we were able to simplify the workstation environment significantly, and work mobility improved further. Today, we can operate more effectively regardless of time and place: the applications needed by salespeople or service advisors are partly accessible through mobile browsers, and their number continues to grow. As a result of this development, internal user satisfaction has increased by 16% compared to 2014,” says Valasvuo
 

Improving service capability as the goal of collaboration 

At Aro-Yhtymä, IT solutions are a central competitive factor. They enable better service and cooperation with principals, smoother daily operations, and more data-driven decision-making. When you operate at the very core of the business, development must be continuous – requiring deep business understanding from both the internal IT team and the partner.

“The foundation of our cooperation is that Enfo takes care of the core services and data centre, while our own IT team focuses on developing business applications. However, many things are built together, as Enfo has broader expertise particularly in cloud services and integrations,” says Valasvuo.

The decade-long collaboration with Enfo has been excellent.

“We and Enfo are like one family. Ten years of collaboration have taught us to work closely together – we trust each other and our work. At the start, we met all the specialists important to us, and now we know them well. The most valuable thing is that Enfo people understand what’s critical to our business: if the technology goes down, our operations stop. The cooperation continues, though it’s hard to predict the future. What I can say is that what we’ve achieved in digitalisation over the past ten years will, in the future, be done in no more than five,” predicts Valasvuo. 
 

Tomi Valasvuo’s tips for successful partnership  

1. Dare to renew and trust your partner: When outsourcing, make use of the model your outsourcing partner provides. It’s usually better to use their established processes rather than define your own, as basic services tend to run well. Discuss with your partner what would be a modern way of working.

2. Maintain openness between parties: Partnership must include open communication and mutual understanding of needs. The supplier needs to know what business requirements and materials come from different sources, and the partner should proactively suggest solutions that best serve the client’s business.

3. Service quality equals partner quality: Quality is only as high as you demand. Things will get done properly when expectations are clear to both sides. 

Service benefits

• Long-term cooperation helps identify business needs and requirements: the partner can independently provide solutions that support business goals.
• The client’s IT department can focus on development projects that require deeper business expertise, while core services are outsourced and additional support is available when needed.
• Cloud services help maintain a versatile, easy-to-use operating environment with smooth access to partner-provided services.
• Work is no longer tied to physical offices or fixed workstations.
• Service levels remain high, and an external partner ensures adequate resources in case of disruptions – securing operational continuity.
• Internal user satisfaction has increased by as much as 16% since 2014. 

Aro-Yhtymä Oy is a Finnish family-owned company and one of the country’s most significant automotive sector operators. In 2014, the Group’s turnover was approximately €267.9 million, and it employs around 550 people. www.aro.fi