with Otso Kasanen

Solutions architect by day, musician by night, Otso talks childhood dreams, future plans, and bringing the SAS to SaaS.

So, what do you do around here?

I’m a solutions architect in Sulava’s modern work business, mainly focused on adoption and change management activities. For us, modern work means how organizations communicate, collaborate and have meetings. As such, my main technology focus areas are MS Teams and SharePoint.

What are you working on right now?

I’m managing a project that’s renewing the operational processes of an organization that does psychological evaluations as part of their customer’s recruiting process.

Mostly, I work with modern work adoption though. For example, we recently did a project with Fortum where we trained almost nine thousand people to use their digital tools in a more efficient way.

What did you want to be when you were 10?

I most likely dreamed of being a pro skateboarder, snowboarder or ice hockey player. Being an IT consultant definitely wasn’t on the cards!

Where will you be in 10 years’ time?

Well, I’ve given up on becoming a professional athlete. So probably not that. Honestly, I don’t have any other goals other than being happy. In 10 years, I’d still like to be hanging out with my close friends, spending time with family, doing lots of different sports, and working for a company that allows me to grow and challenge myself. Sulava fits the bill there.

Excellent answer! Here’s a tricky one. Who from history would you most like to work with?

This could go in a thousand different directions, so I’ll choose an unconventional path! I’ll pick David Stirling. He founded the SAS during WWII and I deeply admire the whole group’s courage, tenacity and ingenuity. He’d probably be a nightmare to collaborate with, but I feel like he’s the type of person you can just point in the right direction and he’ll make lemonade out of lemons – no matter the task.

Strong choice. Finally, we’re looking to increase knowledge sharing in our neighborhood. What can you teach people?

Great idea. I’m more than happy to share what I know about modern work adoption – and what the key issues to recognize are.

I’d also love to hear from people in the Neighborhood, particularly on how we can complement each other’s skills on different projects. Just shoot me an email or chat to otso.kasanen@sulava.com.