The proportion of employees in low-wage countries to increase ‘- New Technology

     The trend of increasing staff in low-wage countries is extremely clear at Tieto. The percentage will increase further with Håkan Dahlström, former mobile manager who changed the industry. Photo: Helene Ahlbom
     

In the IT consulting company Tieto work 45 per cent of workers in low-wage countries. And the percentage will öka.Telia Sonera’s former mobile chief, Håkan Dahlström, is one of the new bosses who will implement the strategy.

Tieto has suffered through a number of tough years and reduced staff by almost a quarter since 2011. Last year’s savings program is almost completed. But if it was the last one is not clear. The news that management is left to the share of employees in these countries will increase, what the industry calls employees offshore.

Since April 1 this year Håkan Dahlström responsible for Tieto’s business public sector.

– Percentage off shore will increase even with me, says Håkan Dahlström, with 1300 employees, including over 900 works with product.

– But we also employ in Sweden. Here we are looking for expertise in the development of more advanced solutions, he says.

trend of a greater share of private developers in countries like China and India is strong in many Western IT consultants. At Tieto is the extremely clear.

In 2005, Tieto, then known as TietoEnator, 1200 of its total of 15 000 employees in low-wage countries. The proportion was only 8 percent.

Now it’s 45 percent, and the proportion will increase further.

– Some of our customers prioritizing low costs, and employees off shore is still cheaper, says Håkan Dahlström.

– But we also have customers that manage information about patients and nations’ security, preferring that we manage the business locally.

Håkan Dahlström could be 14 years at TeliaSonera, before the fall of 2012 had to leave the company. Then CEO Lars Nyberg explained that “the pace of change has not been high enough.”

– We had different opinions about how the business would conducted, says Håkan Dahlström today.

A highlight during the years at TeliaSonera was to become the world’s first commercial launch of 4g, December 2009.

– But the most fun was to be with and reverse the Swedish mobile store, to the growth and improved profit margins.

With a little distance to the mobile adventure is the enormous power that the development of mobile data had, once it took off, which surprised him most.

– And the huge impact with Iphone was something by far.

While mobile manager got Håkan Dahlström also endured harsh criticism from its customers. In particular, the spring of 2012 when Telia decided to not allow ip calls like Skype in all their mobile subscriptions.

– It may not was the smartest thing we did. But as a manager one must not be afraid of criticism. One must dare to try, says Håkan Dahlström.

– And that’s also what I think will be fun to work at Tieto. That we should dare. Dare to go before, and challenge ourselves and our clients.