Helsinki accelerates efforts to improve citizens’ daily lives - Digia signs €19.7 million integration agreement

"Functional and secure integrations ensure that the city's services work together. They enable the utilisation of automation, the availability of information and the development of services. The service package will provide the city with the necessary solutions and expertise in a new way," says Janne Tuominen, Senior Vice President and Director of Managed Solutions at Digia.

"We have an extensive and diverse system environment constantly being developed in numerous projects. The centralised integration service provides the city with a uniform interface layer that speeds up the connection of new services to each other, enables the provision of common APIs and changes in data flows where integrations combine old and new systems. Integrations are secure and monitored through a centralised service, and any disruptions can be addressed quickly. We will promote introducing technology platforms and services common to all divisions and municipal enterprises," says Hannu Heikkinen, Chief Digital Officer at the City of Helsinki.

Digia is the leading provider of integration services in the Nordic countries. With the acquisition of Savangard, the company has become a significant player in Northern Europe. 

Digia has over 400 integration experts in Finland, Poland, and Sweden and over 200 European customers. The City of Helsinki's agreement is one of the company's first joint implementations after the acquisition and also the most significant integration agreement in Digia's history. 

Instead of just capacity, a comprehensive service is purchased – cost-effectiveness and manageability take precedence

According to Tuominen, the City of Helsinki's integration procurement follows an upward trend in the market. 

"People no longer buy capacity, but want a comprehensive service that is easier to manage and for which costs can be predicted. The city's IT department acts as a coordinator, as we are responsible for managing integrations, environments, transfers, and continuous services around the clock," he says. 

Digia's service model is unique in Finland. Few operators have the resources needed for an organisation the size of Helsinki and the pre-productised and efficiently scalable integration services that Digia can now deliver together with Savangard.

"Our service is based on open source code and utilises artificial intelligence to make the deployment and maintenance of integrations as smooth as possible. For example, the city's sectors can efficiently utilise ready-made integration services for their needs without additional or unexpected costs," says Mikko Hakola, Vice President, Integrations and Data at Digia. 

"This is a historic agreement and partnership for us in many ways. We have been cooperating with socially significant and security-critical operators for a long time. Still, now we can serve Helsinki and its residents very comprehensively with our modern service package," Tuominen rejoices.

Further information:

Janne Tuominen
Senior Vice President, Managed Solutions, Digia Plc 
tel. +358 40 839 4370, janne.tuominen(a)digia.com

Mikko Hakola
Vice President, Integration & Data, Digia Plc 
tel. +358 50 356 6403, mikko.hakola(a)digia.com