Case Vierumäki: digital service suite

Vierumäki Sports Institute is perhaps Finland's most renowned provider of accommodation, sports, education, and courses, with nearly a century of history as an advocate for Finnish sports and a trainer of new professionals in the field. The institute serves B2C and B2B customers, students, sports federations, and clubs.

“We have transitioned from purely physical environments to digital services. When we set out to take Vierumäki to the next level according to the new business strategy, modernizing the digital customer experience and services was a top priority. The gap we had to cover was quite significant,” explains Vierumäki's COO Marko Hiltunen.

“We initially needed HiQ to define the customer experience, assess our current state, and set our goals, leading to the design of the concrete online service.”

Vierumäki chose HiQ as its partner for digital service development in 2020. As part of a comprehensive collaboration, HiQ developed a new website for Vierumäki that integrates accommodation services and activity bookings. The login and registration process was streamlined, and the Homeowner timeshare service was incorporated into the digital sales channel. The ongoing collaboration also includes the implementation of a long-term digital roadmap.

Goal: Seamless customer experience and continuous improvement

Vierumäki wanted to revamp its website to consolidate accommodation services, sports and wellness courses, and other activity bookings. The goal was a more seamless customer experience for different target groups (businesses, consumers, sports federations, and students) and improved efficiency. When customer service is able to reduce the time spent on phone reservations and cash operations, they can focus on serving customers in other ways.

With successful business operations, Vierumäki can better serve Finnish sports and further develop its activities.

“I value partners who truly understand why we’re doing what we do. Vierumäki's mission is to continually evolve and reclaim its place at the forefront of Finnish sports and physical activity. When the business is profitable, it directly benefits Finnish sports. This is something we can genuinely be proud of,” Hiltunen says.

Digital development has streamlined Vierumäki’s internal operations and significantly improved the customer experience.

COO, Vierumäki

Marko Hiltunen

Solution: Service design for a more streamlined customer experience

The digital development work began with a service design phase, which identified the unique purchasing behaviors of different customer segments. This information was gathered by interviewing representatives from these segments.

One of the key focus areas was the customer experience online before the physical visit. The goal was to make inspiring information about the area's various possibilities more accessible and to enable booking activities before arrival. From the students' perspective, the aim was to improve the application process for courses and study programs.

The website design leveraged the visual identity and tone of voice created for Vierumäki by a branding agency. The content was clarified to better address target groups and remove identified barriers to purchasing. A clickable prototype of the new site was created to concretize the development suggestions.

A new online booking system was built into the site, integrating accommodation and various activity reservations. Accommodation booking was kept straightforward, emphasizing date selection, typically the first step in travel bookings. Travel searches can also be filtered by amenities. The product page was designed to be simple and easy to scan, with symbols highlighting key information such as check-in and check-out times. All holiday packages were listed on their own page for easy comparison.

Solution: Speed and flexibility with customized solutions and Headless architecture

The site’s speed and flexibility were improved with technological choices. The Headless architecture solution was customized for Vierumäki using the latest, easily maintainable technologies. Contentful's content management system allows for content scheduling and future sharing across different channels.

The solution is supported by an integration platform that provides transparency and control over integrations. A modern microservices approach implemented with the NestJS framework allows for the frictionless exchange of different technologies without slowing down development or causing changes in surrounding systems.

Solution: New services and customer authentication integrated into E-commerce

For a long time, Vierumäki’s digital business was centered around the Cenium property management system, where orders, customers, and product listings were managed. This was replaced with a new Hotellinx system, for which HiQ built new e-commerce integrations and optimized identified bottlenecks.

Cenium had an external web application connected to manage Vierumäki’s Homeowner timeshare service, through which timeshare owners could make reservations. When moving to the new system, the service was integrated into the e-commerce platform, and HiQ was responsible for the design, implementation, and integration of the solution.

The digital sales channel was further improved by overhauling the login and registration process. Going forward, customer authentication will be handled using Google Identity Platform. The login and registration flow was built to interact with both this and the Hotellinx system. Additionally, the option for non-logged-in customers to make purchases from the online store was added.

Results: Streamlined operations and significant improvement in customer experience

Digital development has streamlined Vierumäki’s internal operations and significantly improved the customer experience. Accepting and making reservations is now more straightforward, and it’s easy to explore the area’s diverse offerings before arriving.

Traffic to the Vierumäki.fi website has increased, and online purchases have risen as a result of organic change and Vierumäki’s advertising efforts. The microservices-based solution scales flexibly to meet changing needs, making future development agile and cost-effective.

Vierumäki is pleased with its collaboration with HiQ, whose strengths, in addition to service design and technical implementation, include professional project management with a coaching approach.

“It’s important to coach the client, and working with HiQ has been successful and enjoyable in this regard. We’ve genuinely spent time considering how roles in different projects are allocated and who is responsible for what. I’m grateful for that, and it’s a good foundation for continuing our digital partnership,” says Marko Hiltunen.

The cooperation in a nutshell:  

• Long-term digital roadmap

• Service design, including defining the customer experience, assessing the current state, defining the vision, and identifying the unique purchasing behaviors of customer segments

• Design and implementation of a new website

• Customized technological solutions, including Contentful, NestJS

• Streamlined login and registration process (Google Identity Platform)

• Integration of the Homeowner timeshare service into the digital sales channel

• Migration to the Hotellinx system, including new integrations and optimization of identified bottlenecks