The appointment strengthens HiQ’s position as a partner to organisations looking to turn AI into measurable business value, not least through advanced AI solutions and AI-assisted software development. 

– Many companies have tested AI, but the next step is to make the technology work in real systems and organisations. AI initiatives rarely fail because of the model itself, but because data, architecture, security, accountability and change management are not aligned. This is where we at HiQ can make a real difference, says Anders Kullenberg, Head of AI at HiQ. 

In his role as Head of AI, Anders will have overall responsibility for further developing HiQ’s AI offering and strengthening the company’s ability to meet customers’ growing needs within AI. The focus will be on translating business needs into technical solutions that can be integrated and scaled within customers’ operations. 

A central part of the initiative is AI-assisted software development, where HiQ helps customers use AI to increase development speed, improve quality and create more efficient ways of working throughout the entire development lifecycle. 

Anders Kullenberg joins the role from his most recent position as AI Lead in HiQ’s Mälardalen region. He has also previously held senior technical roles at companies including Volvo Group, Scania, Veoneer and Arriver. 

– Anders brings both deep technical expertise and a clear business perspective. With him, we are strengthening our ability to help customers turn AI into measurable business value and create solutions that work and can be scaled in real-world environments. His experience will also be important in our continued focus on AI-assisted software development, an area where we see significant potential to create tangible value for our customers, says Peter Arrhenius, Group CEO at HiQ. 

Anders Kullenberg took up his new role on 17 August. 

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Matti Vahtera

At the beginning of his career, Matti designed advertisements. Then websites. Eventually, he became interested in what needs to happen behind the scenes before it even makes sense to build a user interface, and what needs to be going on in a person’s mind before they are truly ready to buy.

That path led him to the heart of ecommerce, and there have been surprisingly many stops along the way. Vahtera has been involved in building the online store of one of Finland’s largest specialty retail chains, and over the years he has met hundreds of Finnish online retailers, from one-person boutiques to the digital teams of large chains. He has also trained and lectured on the same stages as Finland’s leading ecommerce operators, and has partnered with the Digital Commerce Finland community for years, which brings together Finnish online stores and industry players.

A successful online store is the sum of many things

– For the customer, an online store should be as straightforward as possible. They find the product, understand its value, trust it and complete the purchase. Maybe they pick up something else along the way if they happen to become interested in the brand. But it takes a lot to get there. On the company side, the same simple thing may require thirteen different systems, six committee decisions and that one very essential Excel file whose existence no one really wants to talk about, Vaster says.

According to Vahtera, this is exactly why an online store can never be developed as a purely technical project. You need to understand the customer, the business and the technology, and accept the fact that all three are equally decisive for the end result. Buying is never just a technical transaction.

– As the saying goes, people buy with emotion but pay with reason. That is why the most important thing is to first identify the clear reason why customers would buy from our online store in the first place, and only then build the service and technology to fully support those reasons.

Emotion and design supporting technology

Vahtera’s background combines commercial design, service design and an understanding of hard data. He has experience in both consumer and B2B ecommerce, and in that unforgiving moment when a digital service meets the real world.

Vahtera is also known in the industry from the other side of the microphone: he hosts and produces the Asiakaskokemusklubi podcast, which has featured, for example, the customer experience directors of VR and Elisa, as well as a number of leading names in the Finnish brand and ecommerce field. Through the podcast, he has been able to look at customer experience work from very different perspectives and has noticed that the same challenges repeat themselves regardless of industry. Metrics and data are not enough if they are not actually used in decision-making, and good customer experience always requires commitment from management. It does not emerge solely as a customer service or marketing initiative, nor as a technical project.

Even the fastest and most beautiful online store in the world is almost worthless if no one actually buys anything from it, Vahtera points out.

That is the core of Vahtera’s work. He loves it when good design leads to real action. Less friction for the customer, more sales for the company. Good sales is good service.

At HiQ, Vahtera wants to apply this thinking to the development of online stores and digital business as part of HiQ’s Digital Commerce services, which cover ecommerce and customer experience projects from idea to implementation and further development. The same company that builds safety-critical solutions for defence industry brings the same precision to the development of ecommerce and customer experience. It sounds like a small and simple goal. Often, however, it is not.

What about your online store?

If you do not want your company’s online store to be technically functional but mostly a place where customers go to just to look around, Matti is the right person to sit down at the same table with you. He is at his best at the intersection where customer experience, technology and business collide at speed. He enjoys removing friction and improving conversion.

Over the years, Vahtera has seen the same phenomenon repeat itself in countless online stores: the product or technology are rarely the things that separate winners from losers, because in the end they are almost always copyable. What is much harder to copy is how buying feels from the customer’s perspective. That is why Vahtera sums up his life lesson like this: Excellent customer experience is a company’s only sustainable competitive advantage in a world where products and technologies can be copied quickly.

That applies at least as long as people make purchasing decisions.

Welcome to HiQ, Matti. If your company’s buying journeys need straightening out and you need measurable growth on the bottom line, explore HiQ’s Digital Commerce services, connect with Matti on LinkedIn or give him a nudge.

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Ida Malmqvist will be tasked with strengthening HiQ’s work in people, culture and leadership, as well as further developing the company’s ability to attract, develop and retain the right talent. The appointment marks an important step in HiQ’s continued development as a tech consultancy, where people and culture are central to creating value together with clients. 

– HiQ is built on people’s knowledge, creativity and ability to solve complex challenges. Ida combines experience of developing organisations in the tech and consulting industries with a clear understanding of the business. I am very pleased to welcome her to HiQ, says Peter Arrhenius, CEO of HiQ. 

As Chief People Officer, Ida Malmqvist will have overall responsibility for HiQ’s people agenda. The role includes leadership, recruitment, employer brand, learning and engagement, with a focus on creating the right conditions for employees and teams to grow and perform. 

Ida Malmqvist joins HiQ from Inera, where she is Head of HR and a member of the company’s management team. She also has extensive experience from the consulting industry from her previous role at Netlight, as well as experience in developing growing organisations, with a focus on culture, leadership and talent supply. 

– I am really looking forward to becoming part of HiQ and the journey the company is on. HiQ combines cutting-edge technical expertise, an entrepreneurial spirit and high ambitions – an environment that strongly appeals to me. I am passionate about building organisations where people can perform at their best, and where strong leadership and culture create the conditions for both people and business to grow, says Ida Malmqvist, incoming Chief People Officer at HiQ. 

Ida Malmqvist will take up the role on 19 October. 

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Anders Spalding has a background as an intelligence officer in the Swedish Armed Forces and brings over 15 years of experience in intelligence operations and military security and counterintelligence. He has subsequently worked in protective security, both as a consultant and in a role responsible for personnel security at Bankgirot. 

– Requirements for protective security are increasing rapidly, while many organisations lack the experience and structure needed to meet them. With Anders, we are strengthening our ability to support clients in managing these demands, both operationally and strategically, says Pernilla Rönn, Head of Cybersecurity at HiQ. 

This initiative also reflects growing demand from existing clients, where security has become a more central part of operations. 

– Protective security is an area where many organisations are undergoing a shift. It is not enough to comply with regulations. Organisations also need to understand how threats emerge in practice. I look forward to contributing that perspective, says Anders Spalding. 

HiQ strengthens its position across the full security spectrum 

As total defence considerations become more prominent, an increasing number of organisations are subject to protective security legislation. This places greater demands on everything from security vetting and background checks to long-term efforts to identify and mitigate insider-related risks. 

With this appointment, HiQ strengthens its position across the full security spectrum, from cybersecurity to protective security and national security. 

– Security needs to be managed as a whole. With this initiative, we can support our clients across all areas, from information security to personnel security and physical security, says Pernilla Rönn. 

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