Visma Sirius Oy (formerly Visma Real Estate) is a Finnish software company that provides solutions for real estate, property management, industry and intelligent automation. The organisation’s software solutions Tampuuri, Hausvise, Visma L7 and IA5 facilitate and enhance the processes of more than 1,000 customers. 41MEUR organisation employs more than 160 experts around Finland.
Pekka Hyvönen has been named Visma Sirius’ new CFO and member of the Executive Team. Hyvönen has taken up the position in May 2024 and will be responsible for the company’s financial management and planning. Hyvönen has been CFO for more than 12 years and has more than 15 years of experience in technology consulting and software companies.
“Visma has always been an interesting player for me, with a different concept and innovative operating models. So I am very pleased to have been contacted by Avila for the CFO position – it was a combination of several different factors that made a motivating and interesting combination that caught my interest,” says Hyvönen.
Mikko Savusalo from Avila, who acted as project manager for the recruitment of the CFO, commented:
“In cooperation with Visma, we were looking for a CFO with a broad understanding of the SaaS industry and its business models, as well as the ability to support the organisation’s continued growth and development. With the internal business restructuring within the organisation, the need for a strong CFO capable of driving the company towards its goals in the current operating environment became one of the key drivers.”
Trust and industry knowledge behind partner selection
Avila and Visma Sirius have been cooperating in recruitment since 2021. Salla Arvonen, People & Culture Director at Visma Sirius, explains how a partner was chosen for the recruitment of the CFO based on trust and the organisation’s industry knowledge. The recruitment was carried out as a silent executive search, without public visibility.
“Working with Avila, we were able to have strong confidence that the entire recruitment process would be carried out from start to finish in a confidential manner and in line with our values. An essential factor in our choice of partner was an understanding of our industry and a knowledge of our organisation’s culture and practices,” says Arvonen.
Recruiting an executive requires strategic analysis, careful planning and objective judgement from the organisation. As the objectives and criteria for recruiting a CFO were clear from the start of the search, the direct search was able to move forward quickly.
“We were able to move the recruitment process forward very quickly because Avila enabled us to have ready solutions for every stage of the recruitment process. From the ready-made package, it was easy for us to take the process forward from our end,” says Arvonen.
Hyvönen also thanks Avila for the positive recruitment process. The straightforwardness of the process and the precise communication made the whole process a success from the candidate’s point of view as well.
“I am very satisfied with how the whole recruitment process was carried out. I found Avila’s description of the organisation, its strategy and role very precise and interesting. I particularly appreciated the active communication from the recruitment consultant, especially at the beginning of the process – he was in frequent contact and explored my interest in the role,” says Hyvönen.
Executive-level suitability assessment to support decision-making
In the recruitment of the CFO, interviews were also supported by executive-level psychological aptitude assessments. These assessments look in particular at the candidate’s strategic ability, decision-making, motivation and leadership skills.
According to Arvonen, the assessment provided clear added value to support recruitment decision-making. The assessment report complemented the information obtained from the interviews and helped to ensure that the candidate’s qualities and skills met the criteria set by the organisation.
“In my opinion, the psychological aptitude assessments brought clear added value to the overall recruitment process. The findings of the report confirmed the impressions we had already formed during the interviews, and it also allowed us to clarify some of the qualities and some of the open questions remaining from the interviews in order to make the right recruitment decision,” comments Arvonen.
Avila congratulates Pekka Hyvönen and Visma Sirius and wishes them success for the future!
Keywords
- executive search, Reference
Published
Contact us
Matias Saarni
040 359 0156
matias.saarni[at]avila.fi