Our leading software architect Tuomas started at Canter in 2011. Tuomas is an electrical installer and IT engineer who takes care of the development of our new product version (and many other things) together with our CTO Janne Costiander.

Canter is a small company with a relaxed atmosphere. Every once in a while I used to explore work options elsewhere, but kept returning here. The best thing about being here is being able to impact upon your own job and the way that things get done.

Before coming to Canter, Tuomas worked as a self-employed web developer. Work and hobbies slotted together nicely for the dad of twins under the age of one.

My hobbies are self-employment, programming and disc golf. Before having children, I had more exercise-based hobbies but I have had to cut them down during the last year.

Learning new things, pro-activity and the desire to develop are some of the most important things for Canter. Tuomas also has his own action plan.

I want to keep developing as a manager and team leader. I also want to develop my language skills, and thankfully I can practice my communication skills daily. I am interested in new programming techniques, too.

Among the employees, general job satisfaction in the workplace is highly valued. Tuomas describes his co-workers:

We have a great time together at work, and everyone is really friendly and willing to help wherever necessary. The atmosphere is relaxed and filled with humour.

Our own Front End Developer, Lotta, has worked with Canter for three years. The media technology engineer came to work with us through a classic recruiting process, after having worked earlier as a web developer and freelancer.

 

My typical workday consists of client projects. My duties are versatile: a work week may include e.g. design and implementation of the client’s product information intranet interface, InDesign layout automation, image processing, and client training. I am additionally somewhat involved with font product development.

At Canter product development and the new product version under development permit learning new things.

 The best things in my job are versatility of tasks and the possibility to do a wide range of different things. On the other hand it’s challenging, but also rewarding on the other, when you are regularly allowed to step outside of your comfort zone. I have learned new techniques and working methods, and I have a good flow completing projects even on a tight schedule. Through product development you are able to learn new techniques constantly.

Work life and flexibility are important things to the mother of an almost two year old daughter.

 In my case it is important that Canter enables flexible working hours and opportunities. Combining family life and work is a breeze.

Lotta encourages job seekers to apply at Canter.

Working here, attitude is of utmost importance. Many things were unfamiliar also to myself at the beginning, but here you also have an opportunity to learn things with the help of experienced colleagues.

We are looking for colleagues to Lotta and us others. Find our other open positions here.

 

I recently had an interesting conversation with an information management officer from a medium-sized Finnish company. He had joined the company around a year earlier, and it seemed like the strategic work on enterprise architecture had been completed and the roadmap for systems architecture was beginning to be clear. Moderate-scale modernisation, renovation, and systems updates expected within the next three years. Or four years –

these plans always overrun a little bit.

The guy’s vision for 2020 was music to a well-marinated PIM consultant’s ears. Paraphrasing liberally, the goal is an updated, modern architecture where master data and its related processes have been put in order, information flows according to API thinking, and communication with customers, at the highest possible level, is allowed using information resources and automation.

From our nice and straightforward chat, one quip stuck in my mind.

So my aim here is to kill around 16 systems, leaving only 5 or 6 systems instead. In the spirit of Metallica: Kill ’em All!

Excitement in the air and brains in overdrive – great vibes! Extra points for getting the favourite band from our youth mixed into the same pot with business applications, interfaces and data. I also got the feeling that it might be fun to work with them in the future.

After the meeting, however, I got to thinking about today’s challenges in leadership in information management. Though if any topic has been written about at length and from different perspectives, it is this one. And in Finland we have some really solid know-how, recognized at an international level too (take IT Standard for Business as a single example).

But right now I couldn’t stop contemplating the Metallica approach.

The remaining 5-6 systems specified by the CIO are, of course, main systems critical to business activities. They own the basic information associated with each system. In this case, they also include a platform for e-commerce that, among other things, will be used to run future online trading of different business units.

This is the basis on which business and core processes operate. Master data is managed and cared for using best practice, and modern interfaces deliver it to the right place at the right time. Using BI and analytics tools, valuable information is produced to support decision-making so that operations can be developed in the right direction and that leadership can be based on knowledge, not guesswork.

Then there is the layer that is full of the pulp of tools and applications, and the boundaries of which are irritatingly mushy.

Business wants to develop customer experience and communication, online commerce and sales toolbox – let alone marketing digi-gizmos. All this as agilely as possible, please. At the same time costs need to be kept under control and activities need to become more efficient.

In turn, people, regardless of unit and role description, wish to use tools that are quick to learn and easy and efficient to use. Perfectly natural. If this is not realized, problems tend to get piled on the desks of data governors and information management.

How should this ever-growing and shape-shifting tangle of applications, utility programs, and cloud services be managed? Who is responsilbe for what? Who even knows what apps we have in use, and for what purposes? Which is the right model for us: the ’Master of Apps’ or ’…And Apps for All’? What information is used where? Is some place producing information that is valuable from a business point of view and which should be linked to a process or analytics? And so on…

By the way, I am not jealous of today’s CIOs.

I am also not surprised that there is a worldwide race to invent new titles and roles to manage these areas, as one man/woman shows have not been sufficient in a long time.

It would be interesting to hear real-life examples of what practices you have in place for depicting applications and information flows. Are there, or have you come across, any good ready-made models, or have you developed or drawn ones for your own needs? Leave a comment or send a private message. I would gladly exchange views on this.

Next time I was planning to open up and explain how I have tended to structure, from a product information management and digital development perspective, an information architecture framework that addresses the requirements of today. I suggest that nobody holds their breath waiting for that though, as a suggestion entitled ’Mushroom gathering trip to the forests of Nuuksio’ hit my inbox while I was writing this. Have a nice fall!

In collaboration with the Myer’s store chain, eBay has published the world’s first 3D virtual online store. This pretty simple concept consists of a cardboard “Shopticals” box, into which a smartphone is attached. An app is loaded into the smartphone which is then viewed through the cardboard box mount.

In a virtual store there is no need to click the mouse. All the choices and navigation are accomplished by aligning the gaze. If you look at a certain item or a product for a while, more detailed information will be listed. The store has 3D images of the most popular products in each product category. Right now the virtual store is available only in Australia, but surely we will soon have something similar.

Virtual shopping and the 3D world present new challenges for listing product information and sharing this information via different channels. 3D product images are clearly the first milestone, and maybe in a few years there will be product content for the other senses as well – like scents, virtual touch and feel and sound.

When product information and its foundation management are done right, it is easier to share information and refine this information toward new technologies and distribution channels. If you feel like your company’s Product Information Management needs to be improved, do contact us!

More information:
Manager, Customer Relations
Katri Koskentalo
040 167 8971
katri.koskentalo@canter.fi

Read also “Product information and buying”!