Kempower scaled 10x with Frends powering 70+ integrations across CRM, PLM, ERP and finance, connecting sales to delivery on a flexible, secure platform.
When DC fast-charging solutions manufacturer Kempower was established and soon became a publicly listed business, its IT team faced a challenge: build the company's technology foundation from scratch and make it scalable as the business grew at extraordinary speed.
In just a few years, Kempower went from a small team building EV charging technology to a rapidly scaling global company with 800 employees and 10x revenue. Its IT environment had to support that growth without relying on the parent company’s infrastructure.
According to Mikko Lehtinen, Chief Information Officer (Interim) at Kempower, the mission was clear from the start:
“We had made a commitment that Kempower would establish its own independent IT environment.”
That commitment meant building a fully independent IT environment, including the integration platform that now connects Kempower’s entire business process from sales opportunity to product delivery.
Building a greenfield IT architecture
When Lehtinen joined Kempower four years ago, the company’s IT function was just getting started.
At the time, Kempower had just separated from its parent company and needed to establish its own technology foundation as part of a massive transformation project.
“We had to take 17 different IT applications and separate them from the old mother company and have everything set up around them: network, servers, cloud environment and integrations.”
Unlike many companies modernizing legacy environments, Kempower took a greenfield approach. The team built its IT architecture from scratch, designing cloud-based infrastructure and integrations to support the fast-growing business.
Why Kempower chose Frends as their integration partner
From the beginning, Kempower wanted to avoid fragile point-to-point integrations. Instead of connecting systems individually and losing visibility over processes, the IT team wanted a centralized integration layer where everything could be monitored and controlled.
Another key priority was security. Previous approaches relied on direct database connections to core systems, which the team wanted to eliminate. By using APIs and an integration platform, Kempower could enforce a safer and more controlled architecture.
“The integration approach was designed to avoid direct database connections and file-based integrations.” says Mikko Lehtinen, Chief Information Officer at Kempower
As a result, Kempower standardized on REST APIs as the preferred integration approach and implemented Frends as the orchestration layer connecting its systems.
A flexible platform for a fast-growing company
Kempower selected Frends after evaluating several alternatives. The decision ultimately came down to flexibility, cost efficiency and the ability to scale development resources quickly.
One important factor was the freedom to decide who develops integrations. The company did not want to be locked into a single delivery model.
“We value the openness of the Frends platform, which allows development to be carried out by the Frends team, our own developers, or third-party specialists.”
As revenue jumped from roughly €25+ million to €250+ million and headcount expanded from around 130 employees to nearly 800, IT priorities changed constantly and systems had to adapt quickly.
Frends made it possible to increase development capacity almost immediately.
During periods of intense growth, the company needed new integrations built quickly to support new applications and processes, going from one developer to six in just a week.
This flexibility allowed Kempower to respond to business needs without waiting months to recruit and onboard internal specialists.
“That’s something that we couldn't do if we would be developing things ourselves."
— Mikko Lehtinen, Chief Information Officer at Kempower
Integrating the entire business process
Today, Frends connects most of Kempower’s business systems, forming the backbone of its IT architecture with 35 different solutions that sum more than 70 integrations. Core applications such as CRM, PLM, ERP, and several finance processes are integrated through the platform.
This integration layer enables data to flow across the organization as products move from sales opportunity to manufacturing and delivery.
For example, once a sales opportunity is confirmed in the CRM system, the information flows through the platform into product design systems, manufacturing processes, and financial workflows. This ensures that each step in the process is connected and automated.
“From sales opportunity through design, manufacturing, dispatch, and invoicing, the data flows through Frends.” says Mikko.
A partnership that scales with the business
Since implementing Frends, Kempower has relied primarily on Frends developers to build integrations across its systems.
The collaboration model has allowed Kempower to focus on defining business requirements while leveraging integration expertise from the Frends team. Even as priorities changed quickly during periods of rapid growth, the partnership remained smooth and reliable.
“The smooth collaboration with Frends has been one of the key factors for us. We truly appreciate it. Their developers have been working with us from the very beginning, and the cooperation has been excellent,” explains Mikko.
He notes that Kempower’s growth could have made collaboration difficult for vendors.
“We’re probably not the easiest customer for vendors, because our plans and priorities evolve constantly and we need partners who can adapt to ongoing change.”
Despite this uncertainty, the cooperation has worked extremely well.
Preparing for the next phase of integration with AI
As Kempower continues to grow globally, its IT landscape will continue evolving. The company is exploring how the integration platform could enable AI agents to securely interact with enterprise systems.
For now, however, the integration platform continues to deliver exactly what Kempower needed when it was first selected: a reliable and flexible foundation for connecting systems.
“The Frends solution is incredibly stable and reliable.”