The benefits of the Swedish approach to Big Data
Sweden, apart from its unusual approach to fighting COVID-19 in 2020, doesn’t arouse much interest in the world. Few people also might have noticed that in the last few years, this country has become a giant in the category of commercial exploitation of opportunities offered by technological innovations such as data analytics and cloud computing, or Big Data in general.
A friend of mine, living in Switzerland, noticed one day that Sweden is one of the few countries where it is easy to mention both world-famous companies, music bands, and personalities from the world of science. Just think about IKEA, ABBA, and of course Alfred Nobel. This is a bit surprising, since this country has only 10 million inhabitants, and at the beginning of the 20th century it was one of the poorest in Europe, focused mainly on agriculture.
Currently, there are dozens of companies in Sweden that successfully use the latest Big Data technologies to improve their products and services. One of the most interesting examples is Spotify, where we (GetInData founders) had the opportunity to work for several years, first as employees and then as consultants in the field of Big Data. The readiness to make difficult decisions, both in organizational and technological matters is characteristic of this company. It is thanks to this that Spotify became one of the first companies in the world to start using the Google Cloud environment. Moreover, they managed to build coherent tools for automated work on increasingly advanced Machine Learning (ML), and thanks to this, algorithms that match songs and podcasts to the listeners’ preferences were created.
As a result, it has been increasing the number of its (satisfied) users for years, the accuracy of subsequent business decisions (based on actual data), and the stock market valuation. Spotify has for years been and is for today, an inspiration for other Swedish technology companies with billions in valuations, such as King, Klarna, Acast, Truecaller, iZettle, Tink, Kry, as well as large corporations undergoing a digital transformation, e.g. H&M, Volvo, Ericsson, Electrolux or Telia.
However, the boldness to use modern technologies and taking hard but necessary decisions is not enough to successfully implement Big Data solutions that will help the company grow. The second and more important aspect is productivity. Using Big Data technology still requires a lot of expenditure, ranging from recruiting high-class specialists, through hardware infrastructure, to daily work on complex software. Only after some time will the spectacular effects appear. In this particular case, the culture of Swedish work helps — focused on the most important goals, avoiding bureaucracy and micro-management, with high trust in the employee, as well as the appropriate matching of tasks to teams. In one sentence — work marked by productivity and agility.
The Swedish approach to working with Big Data can also be transferred to other countries, especially to our Polish soil. We know this very well because we have implemented many of these solutions that worked for our Swedish colleagues. Thanks to this, GetInData not only develops very quickly but also perfectly fits into the specific Big Data environment. Our collective experience gives us the knowledge on how to optimize the work and process of cooperation with a business client, thanks to which we can effectively implement selected Big Data solutions.
Working similarly as we worked at Spotify ourselves, we were able to implement advanced Big Data projects, like in Play, Freshmail, SEAT, Veolia, or Synerise. Not to mention foreign projects for Dutch ING, Kazakh Kcell, Norwegian Gelato, or the American Integral AdScience. It all confirms that with the right approach to technology and work, various companies can successfully implement strategic Big Data projects — alone or with the support of a technological partner with the necessary competencies and experience.
If you would like to learn more about the business processes we carry out, find out how the projects we create can help your organization. or you just know that you need Big Data solutions, but do not know how to start — write to us. With GetInData you’ll find the most optimal solution.
Adam Kawa, CEO of GetInData
