We are continuing our European expansion. Starting January 2023, Italian enterprises will be able to leverage Avaus’ best practice assets and methodologies, for accelerating data-driven transformation in marketing and sales.
Listen to Emma Storbacka, Avaus Group CEO and Piero Trivellato, Country Manager Avaus Italy talking about what European organisations in general, and Italian firms in specific, can learn from the Nordic way of working with data-driven transformation.
They also talk about contemporary art, karaoke singing, both Italian and Nordic stereotypes, and if we are in either a digital depression or spirit of optimism. Here is a short and concentrated summary of the conversation. Listen to the conversation in its entirety in our first podcast.
Buon appetite!
First we take Italy, then we take the moon
Emma: What is your non-work related special skill?
Piero: This is definitely contemporary art. I really like to collect with my limited means.
Emma: My special skill, which I have the pleasure of enforcing on everybody at Avaus, is karaoke singing. I know you are not a big fan of karaoke, but if I would force you to sing karaoke and your life depended on it, what song would you pick?
Piero: As I am completely reluctant to do karaoke, then I would go with some big classic, like Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon.
So, the sky is not the limit. We aim higher than that.
A land of opportunities
Piero joins Avaus from leading telecom operator Telia in Sweden, where he was formerly Head of Digital & Analytics, and a member of the leadership team. He has experience from top tier consultancies and investment firms, as well as managerial positions across Europe and Asia. According to him, Italy is a land of opportunities when it comes to data-driven transformation:
“First of all, Italy is a large and important market. It is one of the G7 countries. It is a very important economy. It has had some stagnation recently, but it is still a very large economy and also giving positive signals in the recent period. When it comes to the specifics of what Avaus does, I think Italy has a tremendous appetite for digital and data-driven transformation. So, the demand is very high, but the level of maturity and the offer to fulfill that is not always there. These are perfect ingredients for a management consultancy focused on that.”
A pragmatic way of working
According to Piero, Italian organisations have much to learn from Nordic firms about digital transformation of marketing and sales. Using the learnings from the digital forerunners in the North, will be a great asset for Italian companies looking to speed up their digital transformation, and avoid repeating mistakes done by others. He believes Avaus has some unique assets and methodologies in this domain, which will now be made available in Italy. One thing Italian organisations can learn from the Nordic way of working is pragmatism:
“We are past the hype era. ‘Just put the data together. Some magic will happen. Artificial intelligence will make it happen by itself.’ Those types of slogans. People have tested them and not seen them coming true. So, we are in this disillusionment era. That is why I like the Avaus approach, because you go use-case based. Very realistic. Which type of data and algorithms bring value and which do not? Scrutinising that clearly without promising futuristic things.”
A cross-functional way of working
According to Piero, another thing Italian organisations can learn from the Nordic way of working is the organisational dimension. Specifically, working together in cross-functional teams. And speaking of cross-functional teams: What type of people is he looking to recruit into his team in Italy?
“The type of support we are dealing with, is first and foremost a strategic management one. I will need to have the classic 360 consultants, with good problem-solving and sense of business impact. But then I will also need to have a good mix, with people who understand data and the potential of it. A little more of a technical background, to contaminate the pure business vision, and especially to show the opportunities. So, it is a mix. But that is exactly what you have in your offices in the Nordics.”
In turn, Emma emphasises what Piero says about the organisational dimension:
“If I look at what is happening in Germany, there is a clear need for a new way of working. Because if you want to be data-driven, then you have to work across competencies and silos. There is no other way to become data-driven, and especially if you want to become customer-centric. That means that you have to be able to work across divisions and functions. To my understanding, in the Nordic way of working, that is very natural. Because of the flatter and less hierarchical organisational structures, it is perfectly feasible for a marketer to reach out to somebody in the data team and ask for help. But if the organisational culture and way of working does not allow that, which is a reality in many European organisations, then one USP we could bring to Italy is the cultural aspects of working together.”
You are welcome to join our European expansion
Do you want to work together in cross-functional teams and accelerate Italian organisations’ time to value, efficiency to scale and productivity? Contact emma.storbacka@avaus.com or piero.trivellato@avaus.com.
Benvenuto!