Interview: Eficode acquires Riada - the CEOs' perspectives

You can find out more in the press release by Eficode or in our page about Atlassian services.

Lauri (00:07):

Hello, and welcome to DevOps Sauna. My name is Lauri, and I am the Chief Marketing Officer of Eficode. We have an exciting piece of news today. We have online Ilari Nurmi who is the Chief Executive Officer of Eficode, and Christian Johansson, the Chief Executive Officer of Riada. I won't spill the beans. So let's cut right to it. Thank you for taking time out, Ilari and Christian, to join me for this conversation.

Ilari (00:36):

Thank you.

Christian (00:36):

Thank you.

Lauri (00:37):

We are going to talk about the announcement we have just made.

Ilari (00:39):

Yeah, we definitely shared some exciting news today. We announced that Eficode has acquired Riada AB, which is a market leader in Sweden in Atlassian consulting and managed services.

Lauri (00:53):

And maybe you could open a little bit about the background. What's behind this acquisition, and why did Eficode acquire Riada?

Ilari (01:00):

Sure. We see that the Atlassian market is growing very rapidly, and it will be further stimulated by Atlassian's transition to the cloud. We in Eficode have established over the years very, very solid credentials in the Atlassian market, and we want to cement that role as the preferred Atlassian partner in all of our markets. We see that, with this acquisition, Eficode continuously expand the market share inside the Atlassian partner community and further accelerate Atlassian sales.

Lauri (01:37):

Wonderful. Christian, how do you feel about this acquisition?

Christian (01:41):

Yeah. As Riada the Atlassian market here in Sweden, and when Riada joined forces with Eficode, we gained benefits in two ways. Firstly, the shared customer base opens opportunities for strong teams, both in Atlassian and also in DevOps and ITS market to work together with tougher problems, broader scope, with more talent than before. And, secondly, both Eficode and Riada has had a managed service offering. by combining Riada cloud and the Eficode route we can together offer a managed service portfolio that frees up our customer's IT team for doing more value-added work.

Lauri (02:34):

Interesting. Managed services is clearly a rising thing, and there's this term that I recently saw, which was. "SaaSOps." So it's not only that tools are going SaaS. It's also that companies need help in managing those SaaS-based applications for them. So Riada is very Atlassian focused.

Christian (02:55):

Yeah. Yeah. That's correct.

Lauri (02:57):

So what does that mean for Eficode? Ilari, is Eficode now an Atlassian-focused company?

Ilari (03:03):

As a result of the acquisition of Riada, Atlassian services definitely represent now a larger portion of our total revenues. Riada comes with the broad Atlassian skillset that we have an opportunity to utilize not only in Sweden, but also broader outside Sweden. This being said, we definitely want to remain a vendor-independent company and a company that puts the customer needs first, and we want to continue and will continue to work with all the existing and potentially new technology partners. You know, companies like AWS, Microsoft, Github, Gitlab, Sonatype, JFrog, and many more that we work already today with.

Lauri (03:52):

Cool. Christian, a lot of names that are familiar to Eficode. So what does that mean to you folks?

Christian (04:01):

Yeah, for 15 years, Riada has focused on helping organizations become more successful in their everyday business and joining forces with Eficode give us a possibility to strengthen and broaden our offering to our current and future customers. So this acquisition offers Riada immediate access to hire cloud talent, to develop a managed service and also offering for Atlassian software. So absolutely, we broadened our scope to our customer.

Lauri (04:41):

So broader scope, more services, more talent. How would you characterize brought more broadly about the impact to the customer? What changes will their customer see as a result of this?

Ilari (04:55):

As a result of this change, Eficode and Riada really can address a broader set of needs. Eficode has hundreds of people that specialize in all aspects of software development, DevOps, cloud computing, and with Eficode's and Riada's customers, all of these will benefit from this broad availability of talented teams in more countries and take advantage of the managed services offering, for example, that includes, then, variety of different technology components from vendors like AWS and Microsoft and Github, Gitlab, and more.

Lauri (05:38):

What about the day-to-day, especially for Riada customers? How will this be seen tomorrow?

Christian (05:48):

Yeah. Regarding the current services that Riada is offering to its customer, the customers are not expected to see an immediate change. The same people from Riada will continue to be signed in the current project as before.

Lauri (06:05):

But, obviously, there is a plan to integrate the teams and make them serve customers sooner rather than later.

Christian (06:12):

Yeah, absolutely. Because we would like to help our customers with more things.

Ilari (06:17):

Yeah. So, naturally, Eficode and Riada will start working together right away to better understand these underlying unserved needs that the Riada customer base has sent and building a shared plan on how we further can make them succeed around Atlassian, around DevOps, and all the other kind of like elements of software development. What we hope that the customers will see through this integration is increased devotion and really our ability to address their needs in a more broad way.

Lauri (06:57):

And there is one area where Riada has clearly strong legacy or heritage credentials, which is the ITSM.

Christian (07:08):

Just like Eficode has been Atlassian partner of the year in DevOps, Riada is also the Atlassian partner of the year in the ITSM area. This talent is something that Riada is keen to offer to Eficode's customers, but looking at it from Riada customer base, in the short term, there will be no changes. Customers will continue to work with the people that they know and the closest contact at Riada and Eficode keeps them abreast of practical changes.

Ilari (07:47):

Yeah. I mean, I believe that this is a very positive change for everybody. When Riada becomes part of Eficode, we can invest more in our customers' growth. We can help them with increased number of needs. Eficode is a longtime Atlassian partner and awarded with Atlassian partner of the year in DevOps for two years in a row, and us operating in number of countries in Europe, Eficode and Riada really can help the customers in more countries than before.

Lauri (08:23):

Cool. Especially when you look at tools extending beyond Atlassian, there's a very strong sort of community and the culture of contribution. How do you see the Eficode and Riada's participation to communities going forward?

Ilari (08:41):

Eficode has a very strong culture of community participation. We regularly organize meetups, community webinars, and we're part of Cloud Native Computed Foundation or a Scaled Agile Partner Network and participate in a number of different open source projects. We also run DevOps conference series or have run a DevOps conference series for multiple years, and the next one is actually about to come in less than two months time. And these events really welcome practitioners, management from all corners of software development.

Lauri (09:22):

Interesting you say that because, as it happens, Atlassian is the main partner of the upcoming The DevOps Conference. So there's a very nice match there. What do you say, Christian, about the community participation?

Christian (09:35):

Yeah, I believe that people at Riada has a lot to contribute to the communities together with Eficode, and Riada has been hosting and attending in different communities here in Sweden, and we will continue to do so further on.

Lauri (09:54):

And I'm very sure that Eficode people will gladly welcome your participation, too. Also the community contribution that is already in place outside Sweden, where your talent is clearly appreciated. There is probably one of the most quoted business strategy quotes coming from Peter Drucker, who says "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," which basically means that in order for change to happen, it's not only the strategy, but also embracing people and getting them to adopt the culture, which then makes the outcome. How does Eficode's and Riada's cultures compare, and how do you expect this cultural integration to unfold? Maybe we first start with the Ilari, and go with Christian.

Ilari (10:43):

Yeah. Cultural fit, overall ... Cultural fit between the companies was one of the most important things we studied when we analyzed that Riada. And what we see is amazing about the similarities between the company cultures. This being said, always, when two companies become one, we aim to help each other to become better versions of ourselves. Eficode has a very distinct and strong culture that joins its people, and we believe that this is also very much true for Riada. And we are currently, obviously, curious. We're open-minded to work with the people at Riada to really build a great workplace for all of us. Our culture within Eficode is maybe best characterized by the values that we have. You know, we want to change the world.

Ilari (11:42):

We believe in a world or in change through software, and we share actively our knowledge to really make an impact in the world around us. We take pride in results. Our experience, and our expertise really spins the customers forward, and, by helping customers to deliver value, we really build a long lasting relationship with our customer base. We learn every day. Continuous learning is really at the heart of a heart of Eficode, and we face the world and the customer problems with curiosity and apply then new practices, new technologies, to really push us forward.

Ilari (12:27):

And, maybe, as the last item, then is our fourth value, where what we say is that we complete each other. In Eficode, we believe in being who we are, and there's over 30 nationalities within Eficode, and, in a world that is very, very diverse and complex, we believe that these differences that we have can really be a differentiator for us. And, by working within Eficode together, we can really amplify the strengths that we have.

Lauri (13:06):

Yeah. You said differences become differentiators. And it's a strong statement, and especially in a country that Riada has a differentiator in Atlassian side, which is going to make every one of us better in that. Christian, what do you say about culture?

Christian (13:25):

Yeah. Culture is really important, and, today, Riada is a certified Great Place To Work company, and we're proud of our culture. And, just like Ilari mentioned, the culture fit is important also from a Riada perspective.

Lauri (13:46):

Yeah. And we make culture; as we bring people together, and they start to work together, then that's when people begins to shape their culture.

Christian (13:57):

Yeah.

Lauri (13:59):

We have now been speaking about two company names, Riada AB and then Eficode. What will the new company be called? Let's get that out of the way.

Christian (14:10):

Yeah. I can start. We become a part of Eficode group. And, in the future, Riada will be operating with the Eficode name. However, both Riada and Eficode are companies, continues to exist during this transition, and the change will happen gradually and according to the mutually defined integration plan.

Ilari (14:39):

Yeah. I think it's fair to say that the Riada team has done a fantastic job in Sweden, and it is the de facto leader in the Atlassian community in the Swedish market and that, within Eficode, we really appreciate that expertise and the strong market position that Riada has built, and we fully intend to leverage that during the transition period, before Riada then operates completely underneath the Eficode brand.

Lauri (15:13):

Splendid. We have basically come to the end of the conversation, so I just want to give you one more chance to give any parting words. Ilari first and then Christian.

Ilari (15:24):

Well, first and foremost, I would obviously welcome all of the Riada employees one more time into the Eficode family. I am absolutely thrilled to have you all as part of the Eficode team.

Christian (15:42):

Yeah. And we are thrilled to join Eficode. I'm Excited about the fact that, together, Eficode and Riada can help the customers to be more successful.

Lauri (15:56):

Which goes very much in the name of one of the values we take pride in, in results and delivering value and creating long-lasting, successful relationships. I'm not going to let you loose. I have one more question in my back pocket, and it's too intriguing, which is also related to the Atlassian partner of the year award. Now, it's the time of the year when all the partners are submitting and leaving submissions for Atlassian's partner of the year. Are you guys going to write the application together or separately?

Ilari (16:30):

Oh, well, I think first and foremost, we'll go for the hat trick, the Atlassian partner of the year award in DevOps. We've gotten it twice, and, now, I think we're in a better position than ever before. And that's a good place to start.

Lauri (16:52):

What do you say, Christian?

Christian (16:54):

Yeah. Yeah. We go and get another one for the Eficode family. Riada has won three awards earlier, and the latest is the ITSM partner of the year, and wouldn't be great if we can get two this year?

Ilari (17:11):

Yeah. Or maybe three?

Christian (17:16):

Yeah, that's correct, Ilari.

Lauri (17:18):

Well, with that, thank you for your time. And I wish you a wonderful day.

Ilari (17:22):

Perfect. Thank you so much.

Christian (17:23):

Thank you.