Aidon

Aidon is based in Jyväskylä, Central Finland, and it delivers smart electricity measuring solutions for Nordic electricity distribution companies. Its main products are remote readers and smart networks.

Aidon has now been collaborating with Devecto for several years to develop a solution for metering electricity, district heating, and water in Norway. Devecto have provided Aidon with the embedded software they need not only for metering but also for testing – among other things – automation and tools.

Ilkka Hokkanen, the architect behind Aidon’s embedded systems, has been the day-to-day contact person for Devecto. With a team, made up of experts from both companies, the focus has been on software design and testing.

“We started working together as we had mutual connections”, Hokkanen explains, “but mostly because we knew Devecto’s CEO. From the beginning, things went smoothly as Devecto were recruiting people we knew to be competent elsewhere. After that our collaboration quickly evolved; we began a large development project together and had to expand the development team from a couple of people to ten.”

“To begin with,” continues Hokkanen, “the focus was on embedded system development, and later there was testing and automation testing. The result was a pretty good project completed within the planned timetable. Because it went so well with Devecto, we started to think we should expand our collaboration further.”

A couple of years ago Aidon developed a testing automation platform together with Devecto, and it proved to be an important and successful investment. “Devecto brought critical expertise to the project, and we have now really begun to enjoy the fruit of this work – the testing platform projects stay on schedule and quality remains high” a satisfied Hokkanen notes. “Devecto’s ability to focus on the solution also meant they brought in the ideas we needed to carry out the project with maximum cost-efficiency.”

“It has been easy working with Devecto,” Hokkanen adds, with no lack of praise. “Their expertise – and particularly their technical skills – have been of the top notch. In most cases they’ve been able to offer the skill profiles our teams have needed. Jyväskylä is a small place, and people know each other well in this field. Devecto’s ability to find the right people has been great – managing to find us some new talent as well as our familiar favourites.”

“Of course, sometimes the appointments might not have always been a bullseye”, Hokkanen admits, “but in those cases, I’ve really appreciated Devecto’s ability to proactively come up with a solution. If some team combination has not worked, Devecto has been quick to change the line-up. I have never some across a similar self-critical approach anywhere else. As the customer I have been very satisfied with this, because Devecto has most often reacted to the situation before we have”.

“On a more general level, I’m happy to say there is genuinely open dialogue on both sides” Hokkanen maintains. “Devecto has some good people, who are not afraid to question or challenge the way Aidon works. I think that is a good thing, because surely the starting point has to be that the supplier of expertise has stronger knowledge of their field of expertise than us the client”.

He underlines how important it has been to trust one another in the team. “We have really learned to trust the Devecto experts and we don’t need to think about the fact that they are not directly employed by Aidon. This means, for example, that when I myself have not been able to attend a meeting with a client, without hesitation, I can send a developer from Devecto in my place.”

Would you recommend Devecto for businesses working on product development?

“Absolutely. There’s no one particular reason for this, it is the bigger picture more than anything else. I also like the open culture, their reliability, and their ability to carry out tasks on time.”

Ilkka Hokkanen

Embedded Systems Architect
Aidon