Johan Ripe

Hello CEO: Johan Ripe, Visolit

Hello CEO vitecherupp
Our 1,350 members range from small start-ups with few employees to large multinational companies with thousands of employees around the world. Under the banner "Hello CEO", we gather their views on the past year, their thoughts on the future, but also lessons and experiences from a time unlike any other. Johan Ripe is CEO of Visolit Sweden AB since April 2020.

How would you sum up the pandemic year from your organization's perspective?

- Even before the coronavirus pandemic, we were already undergoing a strong structural transformation driven by digitalization and technological development. The year of the pandemic has accelerated that development and major digital leaps have been taken. The increased pace of digitization has led to a high demand for IT skills and advice. In particular, the move into the public cloud increased and Visolit sees that more customers are increasingly reviewing their opportunities to utilize the possibilities of the cloud. We see an increased demand among customers to find a strategic partner for the journey towards public cloud. In 2021, investments in the public cloud are expected to increase by 18.4 percent (Source: Gartner).

- The pandemic has made the benefits of the cloud clearer. The ability to use scalable models as needed to achieve cost efficiency and business continuity creates drivers for organizations to rapidly accelerate their digital transformation plans. The strengthening trends we see in the market confirm that Visolit's ambitions to be a strategic partner helping small and medium-sized enterprises with their cloud strategy are right on time.

- At the same time, we have learned a lot internally about new ways of working and collaborating. When I took over as CEO in April 2020, it was at the same time as society had to take measures that had a major impact on our customers, our employees and us as an employer. Visolit has competent employees who quickly switched to working remotely and we have managed to manage our strong customer relationships well despite the challenges of not being able to meet physically. Collaboration with customers is often the key to a successful partnership and a long and fruitful relationship. But of course, we miss the opportunities to meet and look very much forward to when it becomes possible again.

What lessons have you learned and what will you take away?

- The pandemic has escalated the strategic importance of IT. IT was important before but it has become even more important for the future development of businesses, whether commercial enterprises or public sector organizations. Many are looking to reduce risk, avoid up-front investment and have a more flexible and scalable IT solution that enables growth. This is further accelerating the move towards the public cloud. IT and cloud services have truly become part of the DNA of strategic business

- Businesses need good advisors to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by the cloud, as moving to the cloud is not straightforward: the changes create new security challenges, small price details can quickly add up to big costs, and a broad and deep specialization is needed to properly exploit the cloud's opportunities. Finding the right partner therefore becomes even more important. Especially for smaller and medium-sized companies that rarely have the opportunity to specialize in this.

- Before embarking on a change process, clients usually want advice and to discuss opportunities and risks. We have developed a flexible methodology for this and often hold workshops with our clients to develop a roadmap to strengthen the competitiveness of their business.

Looking ahead, how do you see the immediate future?

- At Visolit, we believe in the continued acceleration of innovation in the market and that IT and not least cloud services are increasing their strategic position for businesses. Innovation and new technology have always been forces that drive societal development forward, and digitization is one of the strongest change factors. The tech industry is enabling the development of other industries, taking the position as a necessary enabler and basis for sustainability, competitiveness, jobs and prosperity. I really share Åsa Zetterberg and IT&Telekomföretagen's assessment: Tech is Sweden's new basic industry.

- Going forward, I think the challenges for many companies will be the availability of skills needed to take the business forward. I share the concerns raised by IT&Telecom companies about the need for education, upskilling and reskilling. It is not just about meeting the tech industry's own skills needs of an additional 70,000 people with digital excellence by 2024, but the entire business community and society. This challenge will have a particular impact on small and medium-sized enterprises, which will not have the resources or ability to seize opportunities if they do not have access to expertise in innovation and further development.

- The digital structural transformation and increased data use are increasing global demand for processing power, data transmission and storage capacity. Here, Sweden has unique conditions to attract investments in the data center industry. We at Visolit Sweden are very positive about the major investments now being made by Microsoft and others in Sweden. The opening of Microsoft's data center in Sweden will enable customers to keep their data in Sweden and thus make it possible to use the public cloud without violating any regulations. I believe the availability of several data centers in Sweden will further increase the growth of public cloud solutions. Visolit is well equipped to help customers with that shift.

What benefits have you seen from membership of IT&Telecom during the crisis?

- I think that IT&Telekomföretagen does a very important job for us as member companies. By bringing us members together and discussing important issues, IT&Telekomföretagen can make the industry's important contribution to society more visible and more vigorously pursue important issues such as future skills needs and issues relating to the possibilities of achieving the sustainability goals of Agenda 2030.

- We at Visolit are grateful that IT&Telecom companies have also contributed to the work of developing the proposal for a digital structural transformation in Sweden. We support the proposal from Vinnova, the Swedish Agency for Digital Government (DIGG), the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and the Swedish Research Council (VR) proposal for an improved national capacity in Sweden to meet and lead in digital structural transformation for ecological, social and economic sustainability, which contributes to meeting the UN's global goals for sustainable development in Agenda 2030.

- The expertise and input of IT&Telecom companies will be important to ensure impact. In the further work of preparing and launching the gathering of forces, collaboration with actors from business, industry, the public sector and civil society is crucial. We at Visolit are happy to contribute both to the work of structural transformation and to the sustainability and competence work of IT & Telecom companies.