Sofigate broke its growth record and is looking for new corporate acquisitions
Sofigate has risen among the fastest-growing consulting companies in the Nordics. During the first half of 2018, the company hit its new turnover record of 42 million euros, which is 17 per cent more than the year before.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, Sofigate has grown from a IT management consulting office for Finnish companies to a leading business technology management house conquering the market in Northern Europe. Sofigate’s aim is to achieve a turnover of 150 to 200 million euros by 2020, which means a team of more than 1,000 employees.
“When we look at Nordic IT companies, Sofigate is among the fastest-growing companies specialized in management consulting at the moment. The drivers for growth are our startup-spirited business culture and the agility characteristic of digital companies. Our customer base has expanded along with digital transformation: when technology management once used to be a topic discussed primarily with IT management, today these matters are a must on the agenda of business management and the CEO”, says Sami Karkkila, CEO at Sofigate.
In spring 2017, after purchasing the Swedish consulting companies 3gamma and Daymark, Sofigate became the largest IT management house in the Nordic countries. Along with these acquisitions Sofigate expanded its operations, in addition to Sweden, to Denmark and the U.K.
This year, two more corporate acquisitions have been made: in January Sofigate purchased Headstart, a SAP consulting specialist, and in May, Csolutor specialized in Salesforce, Oracle and Netsuite technologies. With these acquisitions Sofigate extended it operations to cloud-based business solutions, the demand of which the company estimates to multiply in the next few years in Northern Europe. The acquisitions were preceded by Sofigate’s announcement to invest 50 million euros in corporate acquisitions.
Sofigate is constantly looking for new corporate acquisitions from Finland and Northern Europe, but action is taken only when a suitable company is identified.
“We have the search ongoing all the time, but we take the patience to find the right one. Part of our growth strategy is to continuously look for innovative, interesting companies and to use the opportunity, even quickly if necessary, when a suitable candidate for acquisition is found”, Karkkila says.
200 employees as new shareholders – the well-being of personnel is a key for growth
When a company is moving fast, it is also essential to focus on taking good care of the employees. Therefore, Sofigate emphasizes the well-being and commitment of the personnel in its strategy. A year ago, Sofigate started extensive cooperation with Hintsa Performance with the aim to help the employees take care of their overall well-being, both at work and outside it.
As a way, among others, to increase the commitment of the employees, employee shareholder programs were carried out in the autumn 2017 and in spring 2018. As a result, the company has more than 200 new shareholders.
“Even though the pace is fast and growth is important, we wish to create market economy with a human touch. We are building a sustainable and solid value for Sofigate together with the employees”, Karkkila says.
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