“At Bitwise, people are very open to experimental ideas.”
Who? Harri Haapasalo – MSc (Tech) in Electrical Engineering and Executive MBA. Sales Director at Bitwise.
At Bitwise, even experimental ideas get an open-minded hearing
Harri Haapasalo has brought solid sales expertise to Bitwise. His path into sales went through project and product management roles, but his biggest driver has always been a genuine interest in helping customers: ”Besides sales skills, my strengths are a strong customer focus and long experience of working closely with customers”.
Harri became a Bitwiser in autumn 2023. What drew him in was the company's core expertise, especially Bitwise's years of experience in demanding industrial environments: “I was interested in what the company does and what it knows about industry. Bitwise came across as a company that builds solutions for demanding environments and takes a bold, open-minded approach to solving new problems”.
Just a few months in, Harri has found that his assumption about an open-minded company culture holds true: “At Bitwise, people are very open to experimental ideas. Even the ‘crazier’ suggestions aren't shot down straight away. Instead, we try to figure out whether we could turn them into something useful for the company”.
His colleagues' skills have impressed Harri too. He values the strong professionalism and work attitude of the people at Bitwise: ”Customer needs are often pretty challenging, and at Bitwise we do a lot of things that haven't been done before. Instead of hype and buzz, we do real, concrete things here”. As a working environment, the flat organisation and the chance to shape his own work suit Harri well: ”We're pretty free to plan our own days, and all unnecessary meetings have been cut to a minimum. For me, it's important that we focus on getting things done, but of course it's good to have a laugh now and then too”.
“You can't do everything yourself, and you don't have to, as long as you know reliable, skilled partners”
Succeeding in the software industry takes continuous learning and keeping up with the times. Harri says the same expectations apply to sales professionals as well as software developers: “Working in sales, I think it's important not only to know your own field and stay curious about new things, but also to have a broad general knowledge and keep up with what's going on in the world”.
Networking is key to building customer relationships and finding new business opportunities. Harri stresses that competition in the industry is tough, which is why a reliable partner network gives a company a competitive edge: “The competition is really tough and wide, so networking with other players is absolutely essential for smaller companies. You can't do everything yourself, and you don't have to, as long as you know skilled partners whose work you can trust”.