Bluugo 10 years – a Decade of Digital Business Sense

It's hard to believe that a decade has already passed.

Exactly 10 years ago, on October 27, 2014, Bluugo Oy was registered in the Finnish Trade Register, and our company’s story officially began. Today, we are celebrating Bluugo's first round-number anniversary.

Bluugo was born out of over twenty years of experience with large scale ERP projects and the frustration that often accompanied them. Despite millions invested and implementations carried out by skilled professionals, many of these projects failed to produce significant competitive advantages or tangible benefits. Original budgets were practically always thrown out the window, as clients paid first for expensive software licenses and then for even pricier consulting work, including a lot of change management. On top of this, companies often had to engage their key businesspeople – “The heroes of the workplace” – who had to juggle these IT projects alongside their regular duties. This led (and still often leads) to decreased productivity, frustration, and burnouts.

This was something we wanted to change. Our vision was clear: to offer companies solutions that genuinely enhance competitiveness, create new revenue streams quickly and safely, and truly support the business – rather than relying on the business to support the IT.

Our first decade has included numerous twists, adventures, successes, and failures. From our original 11-square-meter office, we have expanded through multiple moves to two beautiful offices, one on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki and another on Valtakatu in Pori. Our team has multiplied in size, and over the years, we've had the pleasure of working with dozens upon dozens of incredible colleagues—warm regards to both our current and former Bluugo team members!

Speaking of colleagues, it was clear to us from the start that talented people are the heart of our success. Early on, we decided against outsourcing pivotal functions like sales, appointment booking, and marketing, wanting to ensure that our message is always clear and that we can listen to our customers without any intermediaries. This has enabled us to quickly adjust to changes and disruptions, even in turbulent times on the global markets. The same principle applies to our software development – the core of our business. This approach has allowed our entire team to see, understand, and develop our operations and services comprehensively. I believe this understanding and the team's genuine desire to evolve and innovate is one of the secrets of our success. It's a pleasure to work here, and every day includes challenging and interesting – but not overwhelming – tasks. In honor of our ten-year journey, our entire team will also get the opportunity to become company shareholders, which feels particularly rewarding to me!

In financial terms, too, our first decade has been a story of growth – we surpassed the one-million-euro revenue milestone for the first time in 2019. While our growth trajectory might not look like the famous “hockey stick”, we've never been bothered by that. Bluugo's growth has been organic, steady, and profitable – achieved through hard work and without external investors. There have, of course, been more challenging times also, like the Covid pandemic that temporarily halted business investments worldwide. However, with our stable foundation, we have always been able to successfully navigate these challenges with resilience. As a testament to our financial stability, Bluugo has received Strongest in Finland Platinum certificate (based on the Rating Alfa credit rating) for nine consecutive years now.

Since the beginning, the engine of our growth has been our unique product, Tracking Cloud®. Over the years, we've poured countless hours into developing our unique platform, and the results speak for themselves. In 2018, the Tracking Cloud® solution we developed for Swissport won an international innovation award among over 100 competitors. This was a significant achievement for Bluugo, but even more valuable has been the feedback from our product’s users. Many seasoned professionals, who have been accustomed to the traditional and exhausting IT projects have been truly surprised when they have seen Tracking Cloud® in action – wondering if business digitalization can really be this easy with the right approach and tools. And yes, it can be.

Of course, growth doesn’t happen with a product alone – we also need customers. Since the beginning, our customer base has been diverse, ranging from mid-sized Finnish companies to billion-dollar international publicly traded firms, including several industry leaders in their respective fields. In the last four years, we've also focused heavily on international markets, especially in the DACH region. Our efforts are paying off, as today, Tracking Cloud® is used in over 25 countries!

While much has changed in ten years, some things remain the same year after year. From day one, Bluugo has been driven by a desire to do things in the best way possible – not just following how others do it or relying on established methods. The world changes rapidly, and established conventions become outdated unless constantly challenged to meet evolving circumstances. Another hard coded feature in Bluugo’s operations has been the pride in our work – we deliver only top-quality solutions without compromises. We don’t use subcontractors, and it is a matter of honor for us to ensure our solutions are always delivered on schedule, without exceptions. When we agree to something, we follow through. This is how we plan to proceed for the next ten years also.

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been part of making Bluugo's ten-year journey possible – our clients, partners, employees, mentors, friends, and family. Our business today stands on a stronger foundation than ever, and we look forward to the adventures that the next decade will bring!

Warm Regards,

Rami Juhela,
CEO
Bluugo Oy