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Implementation as a service

It means working with your people to establish deep understanding of what must be accomplished and planning how to get there. It also means getting things done together with your people. And done means done-done.

  • We facilitate.
  • We coach.
  • We lead.
  • We manage.

We will do whatever is necessary to get you there – whether it is pleasant or not.

What is implementation?

Implementation is a close contact sport

It is a common misconception that implementation means launching something new, communicating the change story and setting targets accordingly.

These things certainly are part of the work to be done, but true implementation happens through intervention to leaders’, managers’ and workers’ daily behavior and ways of working.

Regardless of change or industry, implementation is a close contact sport. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not so much about physical promiximity in today’s global business, as it is about making the change real on the level of an individual. The key to exceptional success is driving the change with people in the context of daily business, in a relevant way, on the ground.

Sounds like everyday work, right? Well, it should be. What we’ve found, however, it is a rare luxury for leaders, managers and workers to invest sufficient time and bandwidth to really implement something new. That’s where a bit of external help is often needed.

To be able to help in implementation in a relevant way takes a lot of experience. That is why our team is composed of senior leaders and implementation professionals with background from wide range of industries.

What we do

Here are some examples of what we have helped our customers implement

Sales excellence

We have helped steel, construction, forest, paper and pulp, ICT and utility industry customers to excel in sales by supporting them with hands-on sales management and leadership, facilitation and coaching services.

Service excellence

We have worked with ICT and customer service providers in improving their service quality, productivity and efficiency with hands-on management and leadership, facilitation and coaching services.

Transformation programs

We have worked with machine building and engineering companies in supporting their global transformations by providing program management, change facilitation and leadership support.

Operational excellence

We have helped companies in engineering, machine building, food and utility industries turn goals and targets into actions and behaviors from top management to floor level with program leadership, facilitation and coaching services.

Strategy, vision and values

We have helped companies in healthcare, paper and pulp, food, chemical and retail industries translate their strategy, vision and values into everyday actions and behaviors by facilitation and coaching services.

Safety improvement

We have helped many industrial customers in implementing their safety tools and policies into everyday behavior by leadership, facilitation and coaching services.

Customer story:

KONE’s mission is to improve the flow of urban life. As a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, KONE provides elevators, escalators and automatic building doors, as well as solutions for maintenance and modernization to add value to buildings throughout their life cycle.

In 2019, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 10 billion and at the end of the year approximately 60,000 employees.

KONE

Brave Alliance has been in a key role in driving and guiding us throughout our Finance transformation journey.

What I have been impressed about is the ownership and commitment the team puts into their work – you can’t actually recognize that Brave is an external advisor as they are serving us as they would be part of KONE.

This is customer centricity as it’s best. Brave have strategically positioned themselves very wisely as their focus is more in “getting things done” vs. “powerpoint magic”. In their case the promises actually happen and they aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty. Thus they have developed a strong reputation as highly professional implementation partners.

Last but not least, it’s all about the people: Jupu, Teemu, Risto, and especially Sirkku, you are great people to work with. Your pragmatic yet energetic approach combined with a relentless “can do” attitude has brought us miles ahead. We have jointly had the courage to fail fast and learn and you have challenged us when we really needed a push.

It has been a privilege to work with you and I can genuinely recommend Brave for other clients.”

Kenneth Lindgren
Head of Finance Development and Operations
KONE

Customer story:

YIT is the largest Finnish and a significant North European urban developer and construction company.

YIT develops and builds apartments, business premises and entire areas, and is a specialist in demanding infrastructure construction.

In 2020 YIT generated 3.1 billion € in revenue and employed 7,400 people.

YIT

Brave Alliance worked with us in implementation of Step Change in Occupational Safety pilot project in our capitol area Housing business units. The project objective was to achieve a significant improvement in building site safety by changing safety management practices and how supervisory work is done at the building sites.

We also wanted to ensure that commonly agreed safety measures are actually manifested by change in daily behavior.

As the pilot project progressed, safety levels at our building sites showed a marked and measurable change. Safety became even more integrated part of the daily operations and a common priority throughout every moment of the day.

Another indicator of success is that now the pilot building sites are actively sharing best practices more than ever.

Kaisa Kuvanto
Head of Group Health and Safety
YIT

Customer story:

Caruna distributes electricity and maintains, repairs and builds a weatherproof electricity network for its approximately 700,000 customers in South, Southwest and West Finland, as well as in the city of Joensuu, the sub-region of Koillismaa and Satakunta. Caruna’s electrical network is approximately 87,300 kilometres long.

In 2019, Caruna had annual net sales of EUR 466,4 million.

Caruna

In 2018 we updated our strategy due to the disruption in the energy sector and consequent significant changes in the competitive and operating environment. At the same time, we implemented significant changes to our operating model and values to speed up cultural change.

All these changes resulted in great number of initiatives being run at the same time, causing execution challenges. Also, due to changes in the organization and my leadership team, my new team was not aligned on management practices and goals.

Brave Alliance supported us in establishing clear picture of the current state, aligning the management team and defining the team’s role in leading execution of these numerous simultaneous changes. Clarified management priorities, strengthened execution focus and more engaged people were the key outcomes.

Clarity on how Electrical Networks contributes to implementing Caruna’s strategy, improved commitment of the management team, and solid implementation plans with clear objectives accelerated strategy execution significantly. Employee engagement index improved by 6 %-points to an all-time high. Strategic KPIs (customer satisfaction, safety, quality, predictability) show continuous positive trend.

Brave’s approach took our business reality and needs as the starting point and allowed sufficient focus to really dig into individuals’ situations, establishing team alignment and common direction. The results speak for themselves.

Kosti Rautiainen
Director, Electrical Networks
Caruna

Customer story:

Sandvik is a global, high-tech engineering Group with three business areas, approximately 40,000 employees, sales in more than 160 countries and revenue of over 10,000 M€ in 2019.

Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology business area’s nine divisions manufacture equipment and tools for the mining and construction industries and offer service and digital solutions that help customers maximize their productivity and profitability.

In 2019, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology employed 14,000 people and generated 4,100 M€ in revenue.

Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology

“Our cooperation with Brave Alliance started in 2018 shortly after I had been appointed as the CIO of the Business Area. The entire Sandvik Group was transitioning from a centralized operating model to a decentralized one, with which our existing ways of working were largely incompatible. Consequently the IT function had to be nearly completely rebuilt and company governance model altered to enable cross-organizational decision-making in the decentralized setup.

Support from Brave Alliance was instrumental in making this change. Majority of the work by Teemu Saikkonen and the Brave team concentrated on changes to the governance model. Comprehensive discussions with key business stakeholders formed the starting point for the new decision-making structure design, which was then implemented with hands-on support from Brave to the first rounds of decision-making. 

Brave Alliance’s approach immediately inspired confidence. They dug into the topic exceptionally profoundly, didn’t lock into any single theoretical model and drove the implementation decisively while still incorporating new ideas into the model as new information and feedback came in. During the final steps of our nearly 2-year cooperation, Brave Alliance did an exemplary job at making sure our organization properly assumed the new governance model roles and responsibilities.

The results of our cooperation were excellent. In addition to rebuilding the IT organization we ended up making changes to the operating model of the entire Business Area, which has helped us clarify the next steps of our digitalization development. Despite subsequent significant changes in our business environment, the changes we made with Brave Alliance have persisted and I believe they continue to create value for us for years to come.

I warmly recommend Brave Alliance for similar assignments.”

Antero Aalto
CIO
Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology

Customer story:

Fortum is a leading clean-energy company developing and offering solutions for our customers in electricity, heating, cooling, as well as solutions to improve resource efficiency. We also provide services for the power generation industry and solutions for consumers so that they can be smarter in their energy choices.

Fortum’s operations in 10 countries serve 2,5 million customers, generating 5,447 M€ sales. Fortum employs 8,000 people.

Bio2X mission is to produce high-value products from agro-residues and woody biomass to replace fossil and other environmentally detrimental raw materials.

Fortum Bio2X

”Bio2X is a Fortum internal growth initiative with a mission to produce textile fiber and other high-value products from straw.  

Brave has helped us clarify our vision and change our way of working to be ready for the next phase of the initiative as we proceed from development to implementation.

Brave provided us with a structured process and challenged us to answer the right questions and identify the steps to implement our vision.”

Heli Antila
Vice President, Biobased Solutions
Fortum

Customer story:

Stora Enso is a leading global provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden construction and paper. Stora Enso has some 25 000 employees in more than 30 countries, and is publicly listed on the Helsinki and Stockholm stock exchanges. Stora Enso sales in 2019 were EUR 10.1 billion, with an operational EBIT of EUR 1.0 billion.

Stora Enso Wood Supply Finland procures wood needed for the mills in Finland from private forest owners, state forests and companies. Wood Supply Finland employs 550 forest professionals and 400 contractors across the country.

Wood Supply Finland procures approximately 20 million m3 of wood annually.

Stora Enso Wood Supply Finland

”We have cooperated with Brave Alliance extensively, covering topics such as sales management and customer strategy development.

Brave Alliance can provide us with wide range of expertise and good networks. Above all we have been impressed by Brave’s strong commitment to our cooperation.

We have carried out entire development initiatives with Brave, covering all phases from planning and design to following up on implementation, but also smaller scale cooperation such as workshop facilitation.

Brave Alliance puts a lot of effort in understanding customer needs deeply and also challenges customer’s views if necessary. I think this is what makes Brave different from most service providers – customer is delivered a solution that is based on deep customer-specific analysis, not an off-the-shelf standard package. This is often a critical factor when seeking true improvement and change.

Another strength for Brave is commitment. I feel they have been equally committed to our objective as we have as the customer. An indication of this is that we keep in touch and follow-up on our progress on the topics long after the project completion. Brave appears to have true and keen interest in that we really accomplish what we set out to do together.

I warmly recommend Brave Alliance.

Janne Partanen
Senior Vice President, Head of Wood Supply Finland
Stora Enso

Customer story:

Fortum is a leading clean-energy company developing and offering solutions for our customers in electricity, heating, cooling, as well as solutions to improve resource efficiency. We also provide services for the power generation industry and solutions for consumers so that they can be smarter in their energy choices.

Fortum’s operations in 10 countries serve 2,5 million customers, generating 5,447 M€ sales. Fortum employs 8,000 people.

Fortum Recycling & Waste Solutions aims to turn waste into new raw material whenever possible and keep it in circulation and utilized again and again. Fortum offers sustainable turnkey solutions to treat hazardous waste and ensure a safe final disposal, recycling services for plastics, metals and for example lithium-ion batteries.

Recycling & Waste Solutions business area is part of the City Solutions segment, generating revenue of some 250 M€ in 2019.

Fortum Recycling & Waste Solutions

We have worked with Brave Alliance around management team development, making and implementing business plans as well as a business turnaround project.

We sought support for implementation and idea generation. Brave Alliance was the chosen partner for their pragmatic implementation approach and because they follow through. They are proactive, energetic and are not afraid to challenge if needed.

All projects have been delivered as planned, especially when they have been scoped and defined well. Compared to many other service providers, Brave Alliance is more focused on implementation, meaning that they focus more on getting things done instead of slide decks.

I recommend Brave for implementation cases and making execution plans.

Kalle Saarimaa
Vice President, Business Area Recycling & Waste Solutions
Fortum

Customer story:

Suur-Seudun Osuuskauppa SSO, owned by 72 000 members, is a growing regional retail cooperative with operations within eight municipalities across western Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi regions.

SSO provides well-known private label and branded goods for its customers through over 80 grocery and department store, motorist service station, hospitality, hardware and agriculture, and car dealership locations.

SSO revenue is over 450 M€ and it employs over 1100 professionals across multiple fields.

Suur-Seudun Osuuskauppa SSO

”We worked with Brave Alliance on a strategy implementation initiative with focus on how our values and revised strategy are made real and tangible on all levels of the organization and what changes are needed in our leadership and management practices to ensure successful implementation. We selected Brave due to their extensive experience in developing strategies and corporate culture, as well as their long background with leadership positions in various industries.

Brave Alliance started off the project with an extensive interview study on how well the personnel understand the strategy, how our values are reflected in our daily operations, and the state of our leadership and people management. The study results partly confirmed our preconceptions about the state of our strategy communication, but also brought new understanding of our current challenges.

Through workshopping with top management and line managers a common understanding was formed on how we must develop our management behavior to align with our values. In addition to the concrete outputs from the workshopping, our managers liked the practical, down to earth approach and sharing valuable insights among colleagues.

Personally I was especially impressed by Brave’s thorough and analytical approach. Peter and Esko are trust-inspiring personalities and strong experts of their trade. The study findings and clear understanding of the required actions gained from the project equip us well to drive our strategy and values to all our employees in daily operations.”

Tapio Finér
Chairman & CEO
Suur-Seudun Osuuskauppa SSO

Who we are

Peter Träskman

Consultant & Partner

+358 50 563 0204

Teemu Saikkonen

Consultant & Partner

+358 40 7511 872

Jukka Puustinen

Consultant & Partner

+358 40 591 9948

Thorsten Sand

Consultant & Partner

+49 172 886 5805

Pekka Koskinen

Consultant & Partner

+358 400 444 618

Sirkku Raussi

Consultant & Partner

+358 40 504 4420

Esko Lantto

Consultant & Partner

+358 50 351 6501

Roope Takala

Consultant & Partner

+358 50 482 0860

Virpi Mäkelä

Consultant & Partner

+358 40 502 3055

Meiju Sundelin

Consultant & Partner

+358 50 462 4987

Heidi Hallamaa

Consultant & Partner

+358 40 5460 729

Join us

We are looking for experienced, brave people with exceptional leadership skills to facilitate, coach, manage and lead implementation for our customers. If you have a proven track record and you are truly passionate about helping customers succeed, we should talk.

To learn more about Brave Alliance and discuss our potential future together, please call Peter or Teemu.

Contact

Helsinki

Annankatu 27
00100 Helsinki
Finland

helsinki@bravealliance.net

Köln

Zur Halfenwiese 10 NG
51503 Roesrath
Germany

cologne@bravealliance.net