Ilkka Sassi Email & Phone Number

Helsinki, Fi

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

As Public Sector Practice Lead I am member of public business extended management team and internal business development team member having ten direct reports and reporting to the Business Executive.I build teams to create and implement effective solutions for cities and municipalities. This involves visualizing their specific requirements to address them through targeted strategies and actions. I played a key role establishing development and management functions for newly formed county wellbeing services. This included helping clients develop comprehensive business-wide models, overseeing their implementation, and cultivating a new organizational culture following the consolidation of multiple municipalities’ social and healthcare operations .- Made critical contributions to establish and grow Sofigate’s sector presence in the social and health services (SoHe). - Identified necessary key competencies and took charge of early-stage recruiting, successfully assembling a high-performing team from the ground up. - Played a key role in planning our market position and determining strategic market targets. - Participated in tendering and public procurement processes.- Led the development of innovative products and concepts, collaborating with partners across various industries to deliver comprehensive solutions. - Led efforts to explore creative approaches to resource management and initiated thorough market and competition analyses to refine our business strategy.

Helsinki Area, Finland

As Senior Advisor I have participated in several high profile business transformation cases, for example: - Designed and implemented an operational model to utilize a low code solution for a national public operator. - Created and implemented a total development model for the County wellbeing services’ PMO. Designed, modeled, launched, and led the PMO from idea to development, then found a successor.- Collaborated to draft a future-focused digital roadmap that guided the organization’s strategic growth and technological advancements.- As Program Manager for the City of Vantaa's Apotti implementation, oversaw the rollout of the world's first unified program to integrate social and healthcare systems, navigating legal and operational complexities. - Built and managed a 30-member team, ensuring the program’s success while under significant public scrutiny. - Personally addressed critical issues on go-live day, earning commendation from city leadership.- Implemented crisis management in a large-scale IT development program with 3700 users providing healthcare for over 200 000 people. - Led teams while navigating several complex interfaces, including global collaboration, public sector, political decision-makers, and legal specialists. - Solved several critical issues regarding national data privacy and GDPR within the social, health care, and juridical sectors. Company Info: Sofigate Oy, Helsinki is a privately owned IT and business transformation consultancy operating internationally in 5 countries. Turnover 150 M€, 750 employees.

As IT Manager, Pricing and Master Data, I was member of Extended IT management teamResponsible for 2 M€ P&L, had 8 direct reports (e.g. Development Managers, System Managers) and reported to Head of IT. Navigated a vast organization that spans diverse sectors, from technical trade to groceries. This position required extensive networking, provided me with exposure to various levels of decision-making, and required me to capture business requirements across different divisions. Takingpart in major organizational change and post-merger integrations and carve-outs, I had the opportunity to initiate new projects and restructure existing ones. My work involved integrating traditional development with DevOps. I implemented agile methodologies, including SAFe, Scrum, and DevOps, while bridging diverse working cultures to ensure cohesive and effective operations.- Following Kesko’s acquisition of Onninen, I played a key role in the integration process, successfully advocating for the 100% retention of my master data team as a strategic function..- Oversaw implementation of leading edge pricing tool as steering committee member.- Led a talented team through challenging business transformation and development projects guiding them to success while fostering a collaborative environment.- Improved employee engagement by initiating a development plan for internal processes.Company Info: Kesko Oyj, Helsinki. Wholesales and consumer sales in groceries, technical trade, and cars. Turnover 11.000 M€, 14,000 employees.

As Master Data Manager I was member of group-wide development management team for sales and procurement and was responsible for 2M€ P&L. I had 12 direct reports (IT Development Managers, System Managers, Data Specialists in multiple countries). Reported to Group Chief Information Officer CIO.Had significant management team exposure & led IT projects related to carve-outs & mergers, focusing on process and organizational design, as well as demand & development management. Set up international service centers & local service processes, negotiated multi-million dollar agreements, and managed the IT impacts of mergers and divestments. Key aspects of my work included crisis management, team restructuring & creating IT operational processes.The role required extensive business engagement. Contributed to crafting business roadmaps and defining the ICT capabilities needed to support them. Faced with a team in need of restructuring, I helped create a team that delivers greater value and manages change effectively by introducing structured processes aligned with business goals. - Led the formation & eventual downsizing of a 12-member master data maintenance team during SAP ERP rollouts across multiple countries.- Co-designed a coherent IT architecture for master data in multiple IT systems including SAP ERP, SAP CRM, and several PIM systems.- Streamlined processes & cutting maintenance costs by 50% over two years.- Introduced strategy development processes for digitalization & business development to the management team, including concept development teams for sales, sourcing, and Product Information Management (PIM).- Successfully executed challenging internal process development cases by implementing group level agreements to country organizations.- Set up group wide metrics for data quality and data management services.- Contributed to due diligence during Kesko’s acquisition of Onninen, successfully introducing Onninen’s IT and master data processes to Kesko.

As Service Manager for eCommerce I was group-wide management team member for e-commerce and reported to the Head of Application Services. I oversaw the delivery of e-commerce solutions, including EDI outsourcing, digital printing, webshop solutions, and made-to-measure services for businesses. Negotiated vendor agreements, monitored outsourcing partners’ service delivery, and provided direct business support with a small, dedicated team.- Participated in several country SAP ERP roll-outs for eCommerce and electronic data interchange (EDI) between companies. - Operated in a multivendor environment with budget responsibility and managed large-scale operations, including overseeing IT architecture. - Applied ITIL models in real-world scenarios and integrated a business perspective into IT systems.- Engaged closely with customers, led the RFP process, and managed the "big bang" live deployments.Company Info: Onninen Oy, Vantaa. International technical wholesaler in 7 countries. Turnover 1500 M€, 3200 employees.

Elma Electronic Trading Oyj, Now Opuscapita, Helsinki

As project manager for Service Implementation & Key Account Customer Engagement, I worked as Product Owner for Cross-Border Trade. Had three direct reports and reported to the Head of cross-border trade. Managed project deliveries and provided dedicated customer care for a select group of clients. Focused on ensuring customer satisfaction, I collaborated closely with clients to plan their outsourcing strategies. Oversaw IT service production, planned and executed large-scale projects, and managed product development. Held direct responsibility for project delivery and maintaining strong customer relationships.- Built cross-border customer service development processes, both technically and operationally, to harmonize the group-wide customer experience. - Improved the organization’s capability to proactively provide efficient customer service by collaborating with different business functions (IT support, product development, b2b sales)- Evaluated the organization’s business feasibility within large contract negotiations to ensure business profitability. - Developed and designed a vendor portal product as Product Owner.Company Info: Elma Electronic Trading Oyj (now OpusCapita), Helsinki. Electronic business connectivity services (EDI, e-invoice, etc.). Turnover 70 M€, 200 employees (before Posti acquisition).

As Laboratory engineer at International business development project I developed innovative solutions for small and medium-sized companies to help them compete with the market trends set by larger, more digitally advanced companies. One project involved creating solutions for an environmentally driven business consortium in Finland, while another was an EU-funded initiative aimed at establishing a European-wide marketplace for software and consultancy services.- Developed IT environments and supported digitalization. - Participated in an international business development project to support European level SME commercial services and B2B sales. - Designed and developed a core system for international eCommerce marketplace.