Econet Oy designs and creates water and environmental engineering solutions. The Finnish cleantech competence has a good reputation around the world, while the battle for clean water is one of the global megatrends in the near future. Daily work in an expert organisation is hectic and versatile, which also applies to communication. Various interest groups must be kept up to date while regular liaison is continuously developed to further improve service experience. Econet CEO Heikki Viitanen contracted Mailand to handle the communication tasks regarding the fresh mbo in the August of 2021. The collaboration based on outsourced Communication Manager has developed ever since.
The task
Mailand had been working with Econet’s previous owners, so it was convenient to let the company handle also the communication related to the mbo. Heikki Viitanen says that it became clear for the new owners already at the business plan phase that they would not recruit a full-time employee to handle marketing communication.
– A flexible operation model has been the preferred alternative for us all the time. Communication develops as an industry continuously – it is essential to stay on top of trends and new tools, and you must be able to utilise those tools efficiently. An in-house employee is surprisingly soon exposed to standard procedures, and this is precisely what we want to get rid of with this collaboration model.
The solution
According to Heikki Viitanen, the greatest added value that the collaboration with Mailand can provide is based on the fact that Maarit Saari, who carries out the tasks of outsourced Communication Manager, works for several other clients as well. This ensures a broad perspective on the field of communication and the selection of available tools, which again creates new ideas for Econet to develop its communication. The collaboration that started with content production has reached new dimensions along the way. Econet’s website has been developed together and customer satisfaction has been researched with systematic interviews. Upcoming actions are outlined together for the following months while ways to further boost communication are pondered.
How did we do?
– Maarit was able to take a deep dive with us already at the beginning – we are hands-on people and obviously had to explain and talk about a lot of things. Thanks to her history with Econet, Maarit understood immediately what we do and what we are all about.
The collaboration has proceeded smoothly all the time. Now we have reached a phase where we don’t really have to explain things anymore. Maarit knows us and our operations well. Additional added value is brought by her working a couple of days a month at our office. That creates natural interaction thanks to which matters proceed even more efficiently.
Through this collaboration we have been able to utilize also other special experts – Maarit seems to always have someone in her network to turn to. When we, for example, needed an animation of one of our equipment for our website, Maarit mapped out candidates. We found a suitable one and are very satisfied with the outcome. If we had to look for experts by ourselves in situations like this, it would be like shooting in the dark.
Even though Maarit only spends a couple of days a month with us, she has become one of us – an integral part of the team, Heikki Viitanen says.