Telrock Technologies, an international software development company specializing in mobile-centric customer service, is setting foot in Helsinki and Oulu. The company will focus the development of its cloud-based platform in Finland and plans to employ 50 people already at an early stage.
Telrock provides automated self-serve customer service applications for mobile devices. Although only four years old, the company’s customers include some of the world’s largest financial institutions and other corporations. Telrock’s solution hands over control of various services to customers, diminishing the need for traditional call center agents. Letting consumers decide how to use services increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.
— Our platform gives for example bank customers total control of managing their loans with their mobile device – they can change the amount and date of payments every month if they wish to. Consumers can now manage services that previously required customer service personnel, said Roy Gunter, the Executive Chairman at Telrock.
Furthermore, Telrock wants to create a mobile customer service innovation ecosystem in Finland as well as offer Finnish start-ups an open application programming interface and a chance to bring their products to the international market through Telrock’s platform. The platform provides access to over two billion consumers, 10 000 companies and 300 mobile operators.
High speed to Finland
Telrock is growing rapidly and has offices in the UK and the US and is building sales and support organizations in Canada and South Africa. At the end of last year the company was also looking for a new location in Europe.
Thanks to Finnish investment organizations Invest in Finland, Greater Helsinki Promotion, Otaniemi Marketing and particularly KAATO network, Telrock decided to choose Finland.
— Last November, we participated in the Slush start-up event in Finland. We met people from the KAATO network. They set the wheels in motion, and only a couple of weeks later we had found our first Finnish employees, said Gunter.
KAATO is a Finnish non-profit business community network that consists of experienced hi-tech business leaders. It helps international companies establish their operations quickly and efficiently in Finland. KAATO was founded in 2013 and has already helped three international companies set up operations here.
KAATO currently brings together ca. 250 business leaders who are very well connected internationally. Most of them work on a voluntary basis and most of them have a work history with Nokia. KAATO organizes events and works with other investment organizations to find international companies that might be interested in expanding to Finland.
— We are currently helping several international ICT companies launch their operations here, said Kimmo Ojuva, Partner at KAATO.
— There is so much know-how in post-Nokia Finland and at the same time, there are so many international companies that need experts. It’s better to bring the international companies to Finland than to let the Finnish experts move away, said Ojuva.
KAATO helps the prospective companies understand why Finland is a good place for business and then helps them connect and find what they need to set up operations.
— The support from KAATO has exceeded all our expectations. We’ve been utterly impressed with the speed, attitude and the talent pool that KAATO has been able to connect us to. Without it, we wouldn’t be in Finland right now, commented Roy Gunter.
Wanted: Ninjas
Telrock plans to focus the development of its platform in Finland and make Finland a regional sales center serving the non-English-speaking Europe. The Oulu office will concentrate mainly on product development, while the Helsinki office will focus more on sales.
— We were looking for a country with mobile talent, great work ethic and entrepreneurial zeal, and have found these in Finland. Now we want to employ what we call ninjas, that is people who understand the opportunities and want to change the world, said Gunter.
Telrock plans to employ ca. 50 people in Finland already at an early stage but does not plan to stop growth and recruiting at that. The company’s plans also include developing new technologies, like advanced natural language processing, machine learning as well as voice and facial recognition, and incorporating them into its platform. The next version of Telrock’s platform will be launched by the end of the year.
Article published in cooperation with Good News from Finland.
