The 24 Center for Building Services has been operating in Finland for three years. With a nationwide reach, the company is well established in the building services sector. In September this year, 24 Center took its first step towards internationalisation by launching a pilot phase in Sweden.
"We have found that our service works best in densely populated areas," says Joose Pinomaa, CEO of 24 Center. "The idea is to expand to larger markets and pilot how our service works abroad in larger cities, in this case Stockholm. "
Expanding your business abroad requires a lot of work and preparation. It's not without risk, especially when the world is shaken by an international pandemic and many companies are in financial difficulties. But achieving one's vision requires courageous steps, even in difficult times.
"Finland is too small an environment for us," says Pinomaa. "Our vision is to be one of the most renowned building technology players in Europe. We must work boldly to achieve this and seek new growth."
The test period in Stockholm was originally scheduled to start in early summer, but events in the spring, partly due to the interest rate, postponed the start. On 22 September, however, the Western Neighbourhood got off to a good start. It has all taken a long and careful planning process.
"The Sweden pilot has not been a spur of the moment, but a long process," says Pinomaa. "It has required a lot of research and exploration of different possibilities. Everything has started well and our business is now up and running."
Kalle Matikainen , who is responsible for partnerships at 24 Center, says that one of the first and most important steps in the expansion was to increase the network of partners in the Stockholm and Uppsala area.
"We started this Swedish pilot as if we were ahead of the game when it came to finding partners," says Matikainen. "We wanted to have a good network in the region in advance so that we could guarantee a quality service to our customers."
According to him, partnering has been clearer in Sweden than in Finland. This is mainly due to the fact that there is now a fully developed concept and clear answers to companies' questions.
"We have been able to get partner companies in Sweden on board and the service has got off to a great start," says Matikainen. "It has been positive that the partners have started to receive orders automatically and the flow of information has been clear."
There has already been good feedback from Swedish customers and partners. Service Manager Henrik Jyränoja is pleased with the first few weeks. 24 Center now has more than 100 completed orders and 40 partners in the Stockholm area.
"We have had 5-6 orders a day in Stockholm," says Jyränoja. "When you take into account that in Sweden we don't yet operate 24 hours a day, it's already comparable to the figures in Helsinki."
Joose Pinomaa describes the Swedish operation as a light pilot. This means that the service is only available during office hours and is largely operated from Finland. Despite this, the results have looked good. Jyränoja cites Sweden's different household tax credit as one of the factors that made the service a success. In our experience, Sweden is a service-oriented market, where companies largely handle the household tax credit on behalf of the customer, unlike in Finland, where the application for the household tax credit is left to the subscriber and only takes place in connection with the tax return.
24 Center welcomes the new opportunities that expansion abroad has to offer. Internationalisation at a time of economic fragility and surrounded by the threats of the interest rate pandemic requires courage. But the most important thing is to do one's job conscientiously and carefully.
"We and our partners have high expectations for 24 Center in Sweden," says Kalle Matikainen. "Of course there will be challenges and competition. Ultimately, it is the customers who decide who to order the service from, and we want to do our job as well as possible."
