Helly Hansen: Effective services add ease to the daily operations
Helly Hansen expanded its operations to Finland a decade ago. Read how our flexible office space solution has supported the rapid growth of Helly Hansen’s Finnish operations.
Challenge
The Norwegian manufacturer of sportswear and workwear, Helly Hansen, expanded its operations in Finland approximately a decade ago. The rapid growth of the Finnish location required flexible office space to support it. They needed to also serve customers in the best possible way.
Solution
The adaptable business space provided by Technopolis have successfully met the growth needs of Helly Hansen over the years with agility. The basic services available at the campus help small companies with their daily operations and customer engagements. Office space selected and designed in a customer-oriented manner not only serve the customer, but they also reduce the travel of the company’s sales representatives all over the country.
With a long history in the Nordics, Helly Hansen also wanted to grow in Finland
The innovative manufacturer of sportswear and work clothing, Helly Hansen, has been on the scene already since 1877. The company with a long track record in the Nordics entered the Finnish market properly in 2008, when the company established its first location in the country in Vantaa.
The Finnish Country Manager Kai Kantanen has been with the company from the start.
– When we started operations in Finland, we started very small. At the time, we only needed 50 square meters of space. However, we needed to expand already within a few years and concluded that we needed a space that would be suitable for our business growth in a manner where we wouldn’t have to be constantly moving.
Although the company currently only has six employees in Finland, a basic office is not sufficient. Most of the space is for showrooms, which aim to demonstrate products to customers in the best possible way.
– This industry is accustomed to sales representatives traveling to customers to demonstrate products. In showrooms, however, we are able to demonstrate them better and we are able to show larger collections instead of individual racks. In our view, this serves customers the best, says Kantanen.
One showroom takes up to 40-50 m², so office space efficiency has been important to the company from the start. In addition to good expansion possibilities, the ability of the office space to best serve customers had to also be considered.
Flexible office space encouraged the investment into office space
A suitable solution was quickly identified at the Vantaa Aviapolis Technopolis campus. Kantanen says that the selection process was surprisingly easy.
– Pretty soon after the visit to Technopolis we made the decision that we want to move there. Not only was the location ideal for us, we knew that increasing the space at Technopolis would be easy.
Helly Hansen has had several expansions during the ten years:
– Our first office space at Technopolis was 60 square meters. A little bit later, we moved to a bit over 100 square meter space, which has also been expanded a few times since then, Kantanen reflects.
Currently, the Helly Hansen office consists of a four-person work area and two showrooms, which were built to present sportswear and work clothing in the best possible manner. However, the company is facing another expansion in the fall, when a new product group is introduced to the market and it will require its own showroom.
Helly Hansen's visual look is evident especially in the showrooms
Kantanen is grateful for the solution-oriented approach Technopolis applies also when facing needs requiring quick changes.
– We do not want to move, as we have invested in our current office space a lot. Therefore, expansion is the best and easiest option for us. Luckily, Technopolis has been able to meet these needs really well. They have been very solution-oriented when facing our challenges.
The Helly Hansen look is evident in the space especially in the form of showrooms. In addition, a variety of mood-creating pictures have been custom-made for the walls and can be alternated based on the time of year.
Diverse services help manage daily operations
In addition to flexible office space, Kantanen highlights the services available at the campus as one of the most important benefits.
Technopolis acknowledges that in addition to office space, every company needs services to support them. Some of them, such as the reception services in the lobby and the cleaning service are always included with the office space. In addition, the company can acquire various additional services such as meeting and well-being services as necessary.
– For us, the basic services are sufficient, but they are extremely important for the operations of a small company. Our business simply would not run as well if we had to use our own resources to handle these functions that we now obtain from Technopolis, says Kantanen.
He especially highlights the reception services in the lobby, which has significantly improved the daily operations at Helly Hansen.
– A lot of our customers visit us to shop and we also receive a large variety of deliveries to our door due to our seasonal products. The lobby services have been irreplaceable to us in this regard, as they help us with both our customers and receiving deliveries.
Over the years, the services offered at the campus have also developed. According to Kantanen, this was a pleasant surprise.
– Technopolis has changed rather significantly since when we first moved here. Now there is a hairdresser salon, a gym, a doctor office and a lot more. In practice, there is no need to go anywhere from here and this a great development from a time management perspective.
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