Eltel Networks is a leading company in building and maintaining electricity and telecommunications networks across Northern Europe. With an expansive array of services including innovative 5G and FTTH implementations, Eltel serves as a pivotal connector between Operators and Network Owners in both B2C and B2B sectors. The company ensures 24/7 smooth access to essential utilities, fostering reliability and consumer trust.
In 2007, recognizing a growing need for advanced integration, Eltel partnered with Frends Technology to achieve strategic goals and bring systematic efficiency to its operations. The company aimed to achieve several key goals with Frends, including managing information reliably, reducing onboarding time, enabling transparent change processes, cost-effective support, improving service reliability, automating invoicing, and enabling proactive maintenance.
"The cooperation with Frends allows us to bring added value to our external and internal customers and introduce the harmonious service concept to all our markets in an efficient and agile way."
Tea Kaivoluoto, CIO at Eltel Networks
Eltel was facing challenges with their previous setup, which included multiple legacy integration tools. It lacked the flexibility and cost efficiency needed. This setup made it challenging to roll out updates, consolidate tools, standardize data processes, transition to cloud systems, maintain clear visibility, and monitor operations effectively.
The resolution to these challenges was found in forming a close strategic IT partnership with Frends, which promised the needed adaptability and a harmonized integration landscape.
Since 2007, Frends has been instrumental in helping Eltel develop and maintain a comprehensive, modernized IT architecture across multiple departments and locations. Frends enabled Eltel to implement standardized layered architecture towards their customers and partners, providing improved reusability, security, and enabling management and monitoring from a single user interface.
The integration of Frends API services and process automation has optimized internal workflows and messaging between Eltel’s customers, systems, and other platforms like ERP and workforce management systems.
This unification and automation have allowed Eltel to efficiently manage services and track assets across their entire environment, including Nordic, Baltic, Poland, and German organizations.
“In recent years, we have harmonized our information systems and established a shared procedure for handling customers in different countries. The cooperation with Frends allows us to bring added value to our external and internal customers and introduce the harmonious service concept to all our markets in an efficient and agile way," says Tea Kaivoluoto, CIO at Eltel Networks.
Over the years, cooperation has expanded to include Frends Professional Services, covering Architecture, Development, Support, and Maintenance. With Frends' assistance, Eltel IT has systematically planned their future integration roadmap, outlining the business needs, requirements, and capabilities to better serve Eltel's business, partners, external stakeholders, and customers.
As a result of continuous operational improvements and streamlined access to Eltel’s services via APIs, Eltel has seen a 35% reduction in IT integration maintenance costs and a 30% decrease in development costs, and internally the engagement index of Eltel's IT application team has risen to 4.1 on a scale of 1-5.