Ismo Aro

I am Ismo Aro and my title is Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and I work as a partner for the parent company. Despite the title I am spending a lot of my time with Business Development & Administration and Sales & Marketing.

What is NorthCode doing?

We do everything related to DevSecOps. Delivery Pipelines, Test Automation, Security, Environments and Mindset. We have a distributive model because we see the company as a community. 

What is NorthCode’s Business Model?

We are a company owned by our employees and our cornerstones are fairness and transparency. In practice the employees own 80% of the shares of their subsidiary. The rest of the shares (20%) are owned by the parent company. When a subsidiary sells their services, 80% of the net sales are paid directly to that subsidiary. All operational expenses are paid by the parent company, this includes sales & marketing, HR, recruitment, office supplies and expenses, accounting, recreational costs and so forth.

Why did we choose joint ownership business model?

Toni and I have previously gained experience in working for a traditional business model and wanted to steer away from it. We wanted to avoid a model where owners inhabit the top and everything below them caters to their own needs and goals. For us it was clear that we need a business model that is first and foremost fair for employees, and, of course, profitable as well.

When we were considering of establishing a new kind of consulting business, we wanted to produce the best customer experience and be fair for our employees yet still leading a solid business. We also wanted a model that combines the benefits of self-employment and a larger organization. It was quickly clear that joint ownership was our choice.

How does the future of NorthCode look like?

Our main target is to establish our first subsidiary and grow in Finland and abroad but we want to do it profitably. We are not in a rush to grow the company size but we also don´t have anything against it. We are also interested in growing our international business and we would love to offer our employees more mobility and give them a chance to work from abroad if they are willing to do so.

Business wise it looks like we will continue providing consultation services around with DevSecOps and consultancy business, but time will tell what all we will achieve. We like to keep all options open.