Managing Director’s review

Hansel as a procurement partner

The year 2022 was quite exceptional. At the beginning of the year, the effects of the pandemic could still be seen in our activities, including the recommendation to continue working remotely. Greater turmoil from a business perspective started in February when Russia invaded Ukraine. For us, it resulted in plenty of new work phases in procurement. The drastic change in the state of world affairs has made us experts in restrictive measures and price increase pressures – we have done a great deal to ensure that contracts can remain in force, and our customers can also continue to handle their procurement smoothly in these changing circumstances.

As in previous years, the discussion on public procurement was extensive. We are determined to play our part in ensuring that procurement is carried out as efficiently and professionally as possible, in compliance with requirements and working towards our goals. We are strongly involved in the implementation of the national procurement strategy and the thematic groups of the Hankinta-Suomi (Procurement Finland) operational programme. Our common goal is to ensure that the effectiveness of public procurement is in line with expectations, whether the expectations are related to economic efficiency, environmental sustainability, social impact or innovation.

As a company, we are at an interesting stage: the time of the integration strategy has come to an end. Looking back, I can say that I am very pleased with the work done by all the employees of Hansel. Despite the changes in the operating environment over the last year, we have achieved the objectives set for the merger of Hansel Ltd and KL-Kuntahankinnat Oy, and the share of municipalities using joint procurement is already 30%. Heartfelt thanks to our customers for their trust!

At the beginning of 2023, we entered the growth strategy era. As a non-profit company, we do not see growth in quite the traditional sense. As a company, we are not looking for increased financial gain but for a greater impact through wider use of our services. Our vision is to be the preferred procurement partner of a larger number of public administration organisations. We can increase the productivity of public administration by supporting as many of our customers as possible with our service portfolio and procurement expertise. In July 2022, we welcomed a new customer group, the wellbeing services counties, with whom we have already enjoyed a very close dialogue on procurement needs.

The guidelines for the new strategy period are clear: everything we do must provide added value for our customers. We want to achieve a continuously improved understanding of our customers’ procurement needs, and we strive to develop our services to make them as easy to use as possible. I can promise that in the near future, this will already mean, among others, more support for the use of joint procurement, the development of the hansel.fi service and ever stronger work on sustainability.