Simo Salmensuu Of Miradore On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Leverage device management strategically. Implement basic use cases to make your company compliant with regulations, efficient with device management, and secure against threats. For example, when it comes to the transportation industry, using device management can help trucking companies stay compliant with the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, helping to save them from potential fees.
As part of our series about “How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Simo Salmensuu.
Simo Salmensuu was appointed CEO of Miradore in March 2016. An IT industry veteran since 1998, Simo brings broad experience and a strong global network to the company. His prior experience includes management roles at Taiwanese networking manufacturer Zyxel, Finnish software company Comptel, and worldwide Nokia Networks.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I’m originally from Lahti, a city in southern Finland, and from there I got my Master in Science degree in computer science from the University of Helsinki. Around the same time I started at the University of Helsinki, I began my first job as part-time IT support at a help desk in the evenings after my classes. I believe that this truly kickstarted my passion in using IT to solve problems. After graduation, I landed different roles with Comptel, Nokia, and ZyXEL before eventually becoming the CEO of Miradore in 2016. I’ve always been drawn to the world of IT, and find the pace of innovation fascinating!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?
When I think back to the early days, there’s one particular situation that I’ll never forget. My team and I planned an on-site customer event at our office in Finland, but due to the lack of sign-ups, we made the unfortunate call to cancel the event. Fast-forward to the day we had originally planned, and one of our customers showed up because he hadn’t received the news of the cancellation. We moved quickly and tried to brainstorm what to do while some team members took him on a tour of the office. We turned this mishap into a fantastic one-on-one meeting with the client which ended up being a blessing in disguise. Rather than conversing at the surface level with multiple customers as we had originally planned, we were able to narrow in on one customer’s challenges. This conversation ultimately taught us the importance of customer feedback in steering the company in the right direction. I’ve guided my teams on this principle ever since.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Success comes with teamwork. If I could, I would name everyone at Miradore — we really have an exceptional team, and that’s one thing that makes Miradore what it is. If I had to pick one person, though, I’d highlight our Head of People Operations, Mira Majuri. Funny enough, the job interview for Mira only took 10 minutes, which was enough time for me to be 100% certain that she would be an asset to Miradore. Over six years later, and here we are today, with Mira by my side. I couldn’t be more grateful!
We have a lot of fun working together, but what’s most important is that Mira continuously challenges me and forces me to look at things from different perspectives. She always has our employees’ best interest in mind, which makes it easier for me to steer our company in the right direction.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Personally, I like to follow everything Jason Lemkin does. He runs SaaStr, the world’s largest community for B2B/SaaS founders, and I’ve found his guidance to be spot-on for SaaS company CEOs like myself. As a niche group of leaders, it doesn’t always make sense to look to general business CEOs, so I’ve resonated with a lot of what Jason has to say. For example, a quote by Jason is, “In business, the only thing you can count on is change.” I can definitely relate to this, especially being in a business that didn’t always exist and is constantly counting on innovation!
Extensive research suggests that “purpose-driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?
At Miradore, our vision was to take the IT industry by storm with our SaaS product, aiming to help small-to-mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to work more efficiently and securely. Our mobile device management product is so much more than just a seamless way for companies to manage their Android, Apple, and Windows devices.
We wanted to give SMBs peace of mind when it comes to their devices, which can help to create better work environments, and give more time back to leaders and employees so that they can do what they really love. Further, the pandemic drastically changed the world that we live in, and the work we are doing helps our customers streamline business operations, which increases efficiency and frees up time for more important tasks.
When it comes to security, there has been an increase in cyber threats, especially for SMBs, in recent years. And companies are not always equipped to face these challenges. That’s where MDM comes in, which can allow companies to automatically patch software vulnerabilities, prevent the download of malicious files, and enforce company-wide security policies.
Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Most recently, we joined forces with GoTo, an all-in-one business, communications, and IT support and management platform. GoTo’s acquisition of Miradore officially closed last month, and I’m thrilled to see how this partnership will evolve as it brings our customers forward in our vision to help SMBs lead the future of work movement.
Something else that excites me is our “onboarding” project, where we aim to improve the no-touch and low-touch product onboarding process for SMBs. The goal of the project is to simplify the first steps of device management, making device enrollments and initial configurations user-friendly and intuitive for people who are not that familiar with MDM.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about Digital Transformation. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what exactly Digital Transformation means? On a practical level what does it look like to engage in a Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation in the world of Miradore is more about the everyday IT changes that can dramatically increase efficiency for the average person. It’s certainly not rocket science, but we believe it lands just as large of an impact! Our innovations are changing the lives of caretakers and nurses in nursing homes who use mobile phones and tablets to enable calls between patients and doctors; logistics companies can streamline their operations by using mobile devices to share real-time inventory and delivery information; and tablets configured with MDM can be used for teaching in a secure way. The list goes on and on across a variety of industries, namely healthcare, education, transportation, and retail.
Which companies can most benefit from a Digital Transformation?
Not to sound cheesy, but I can’t think of a company that wouldn’t benefit from digital transformation! Specifically, in SMBs, the impact of transformation is very concrete — happier employees, less manual work, a safer workplace.
We’d love to hear about your experiences helping others with Digital Transformation. In your experience, how has Digital Transformation helped improve operations, processes and customer experiences? We’d love to hear some stories if possible.
We help to improve operations by allowing employees to focus on their actual work, as opposed to needing to spend time on managing mobile devices. Worrying about updating apps, securing phone and laptops, and other technical tasks are all taken care of by Miradore!
As an example of how Miradore improves processes, we can look to one of our customers, a fast-growing French company that helps freelancers and companies to connect with each other. Like many other organizations looking for an MDM solution, the growing number of employees — and devices — compelled the company to look for a more efficient way to manage smartphones and laptops. With the help of Miradore, they are able to configure devices 30 minutes faster. This not only helps IT but also improves employee satisfaction and makes the onboarding process smoother, creating a direct impact on business results.
When it comes to customer experience, an example is Miradore’s work with a Spanish company that provides IT solutions for the travel and tourism industry, including hotels and car rental companies. With the help of Miradore’s MDM, the company can provide tablets in Kiosk mode.
Has integrating Digital Transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?
Challenges in SMBs often relate to the company’s knowledge and competence of IT. If there isn’t an IT department in the company to help mitigate this, it’s hard to build trust in digital transformation. And vice versa. If it’s not your full-time job, it’s almost impossible to reserve the bandwidth necessary to even think about digital transformation, let alone execute on it. This is where Miradore comes in. We help SMBs by providing them with easy-to-use and flexible software that allows them to control and secure their devices and automate processes related to that.
One of those processes is by managing their devices involved in their digital transformation. We can automate this process, so it doesn’t fall on people without the proper training or knowledge base, and so that it doesn’t fall on IT employees who are already at their maximum capacity. Essentially, we are here to relieve workloads, streamline processes, and make life easier! We believe that MDM is crucial to the future of work that is dependent on digital transformation.
Ok. Thank you. Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are “Five Ways a Company Can Use Digital Transformation To Take It To The Next Level”?
First way: Leverage device management strategically. Implement basic use cases to make your company compliant with regulations, efficient with device management, and secure against threats. For example, when it comes to the transportation industry, using device management can help trucking companies stay compliant with the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, helping to save them from potential fees.
Second way: If your company is big enough and you have the resources, recruit your own IT person. This is the way to get internal ownership over the digital transformation you’d like to see, and they can serve as a point person for implementing necessary solutions like mobile device management.
Third way: Identify easy processes you can automate with IT. Start from the easiest one and go one step further, and then another. One example is automating device setups for new employees. When companies have multiple people starting at once, who all need their devices up and running, doing this manually can be a headache. Streamline this so that your employees can focus on more valuable work, while allowing for greater time and cost savings.
Fourth way: Try to find services supporting YOUR company challenges ahead of digital transformation. SMBs do not benefit from enterprise-level service as it costs them too much and is often incredibly complex. And the opposite goes for enterprise companies who need a significant amount of services to enable the digital transformation. You need to search out the precise solution that is right for you. Beyond that, if you are looking for an MDM provider, you’ll need to find the right team to support you, a team that can understand your challenges as they adapt and align on the values that are most important to your organization. This is something we pride ourselves in at Miradore.
Fifth way: When thinking of implementing a strategy for digital transformation, involve the Chief Financial Officer from the start. You need to have a clear idea of what your limitations might be before dreaming up a comprehensive plan. You should always have a clear monetary direction before you start to do any digital transformation work “just for fun.” If done incorrectly it could stunt your growth. As your company grows and transforms, there’s always the opportunity to grow the budget and your transformation approach as well.
In your opinion, how can companies best create a “culture of innovation” in order to create new competitive advantages?
At Miradore, we strive to create a culture where every employee feels empowered to throw out crazy ideas and test them, but to test them with data. No one can be creative and innovate without mental space and free time. So it’s essential to make sure employees feel they have enough time to focus on idea brainstorming and testing. Do what you can to prevent them from being bogged down by admin and other menial tasks that detract from this.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorites is “stick to the goal.” I notice that competitors or other companies in general lose sight of what their original goal or purpose was. It’s too easy to get lost along the way, but I make it a point to always ask myself why I started on this path in the first place. I let that ground my approach to running Miradore and supporting my team.
Another one of my other favorites is, “if you can’t find the answer to your problem in 10 minutes, ask for help.” I think that showing this vulnerability as a leader, and leading by the example that not one person can solve everything, is important for demonstrating that teamwork is the best way to earn success.
How can our readers further follow your work?
They can follow my LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/in/simosalmensuu/
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
Simo Salmensuu Of Miradore On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
