Unikie Inc has now been in software development for little over a year. During this time, the company has grown from only five founding members to around 50 employees. We have been moving to the direction we set when founding the company. The founding members’ extended knowledge of the software industry at large and especially their understanding of the development potential of its Finnish field structure gave the needed impetus to our operation.
The Finnish software industry has been mostly focused on large projects. Unikie’s business model on the other hand is based on offering the expertise of the software industry’s leading talents directly for client projects in a consult-like manner. The company also provides architectural and project management services, again with a consult-like approach where the workload and technology risks are on the client. This ensures an effective cost structure. These days most clients also wish to understand their projects, and therefore outsourcing project risks isn’t necessary. Unikie’s idea is to meet the needs of clients while optimizing the benefits for both client and employee alike. The advantages of this concept are its transparency and cost efficiency, and the rapid growth of our company is a clear indication of the model’s success.
Unikie’s operation relies on a network-like approach that seeks to avoid the more traditional and hierarchical organization structures. The whole operation is managed through key personnel, which enables dynamic optimization of client needs. The main customer benefit is finding experts cost effectively. With the help of the subcontracting organization, the client receives skills needed for their project.
In Finland, Unikie operates in four locations in Tampere, Helsinki, Turku and Oulu. In addition, we operate in the USA and are now setting up in Germany. Our network-like approach is great for clients, but creates its own challenges for the staff. However, we find that sharing values is more important than sharing a physical location. The desire to work with highly motivated people is key. This is also reflected in the employee’s motivation to develop their own technical skills.
For software professionals, Unikie offers interesting and challenging projects. The pay also depends on the professional, good work warrants good compensation. Everything is handled very transparently and earnings correlate strongly with the billing. Our model of low organization also enables you to use the company’s sales to easily find the projects that interest you personally.
Our short-term outlook is quite positive, as the market demand is there. The biggest challenges at the moment are recruiting related. We are trying to find the right people for our clients’ projects, they should not only have the required skill sets but also share our company’s values. Nevertheless, Unikie has a strong trust in the future. Entrepreneurs have a strong desire to develop industry appropriate methods and help Finland progress in the field of software technology at the same time.
Esko Mertsalmi, Unikie CEO
