Major strategic changes crystallized during the year

The year 2023 was a challenging year for Oscar Software, and there were a lot changes over the year, especially within the company. In March, Oscar was targeted by a major data breach, which was also covered in the media. Fortunately, the company handled the situation well thanks to solid preparations, but it will take time to recuperate. Many lessons for the future were learned from the cyberattack, but what transpired also impacted Oscar’s result for the financial period. The second major event of the year was the changing of the CEO, when Mika Yletyinen left the position in September. Markku Virtanen has served as the interim CEO for the remainder of the year.

From projects to a more product-oriented model

The profit/loss for the 2023 financial period improved from the previous year, but the net sales remained at the same level.

Oscar’s basic business and selected strategy progressed at an even rate during the year. Late in the year, however, the poor economic situation began to manifest itself as investment-related caution and delayed decisions among new customers. Over the course of the year, resources have been diverted from new sizeable deployments toward existing customers to find new development projects. The slow decisions among new customers are expected to continue for some time. Oscar’s competitive situation has not weakened, because other operators in the field are wrestling with the same challenges.

The share of direct project work is decreasing as Oscar is steering its operations increasingly toward a more product-oriented model. This transition has been in the works for a couple of years, and it began to approach completion in the past financial year. Massive growth was achieved in the order book. Other successes of the year were related to internal development, in relation to which breakthroughs were achieved in projects related to background infrastructure and the SaaS transition, for example. The changes are invisible to customers but some emerge as more stable, achievable and efficient services.

The ERP campaign sparked wide-spread interest

Over the course of the year, the company also launched an ERP campaign, promising to donate its product, the Oscar business platform (ERP), to two companies in the production industry or wholesale and retail sector. The campaign sparked a lot of interest and drew in applications. The campaign also had a direct impact on Oscar’s sales, even though the market situation was otherwise stagnant.

Panostaja assisted Oscar through the year with updating background funding and insurance solutions, for example. With Panostaja’s assistance, Oscar has done things more boldly and strongly in alignment with its strategy: for example, owner and board efforts have supported the transition to more product-oriented operations. Oscar has also received expert support through Panostaja’s network.

Positive outlook for the coming years

In the past year, Oscar has also made even more investments than before into responsibility. The company has begun to work on responsibility themes with regard to its own footprint (e.g., server choices and data security) and handprint (e.g., more efficient resource usage and transparency). These efforts will continue in 2024. During the new year, the company also expects the investment levee to break and intends to continue its strategic transition. Oscar believes that in 2024, customers will more concretely see what the ERP platform of the future will be like. Over the course of the next two years, the results are expected to be more widely apparent among the customer base: Oscar’s modern ERP platform differs from its traditional counterparts and will begin to yield benefits in the near future.

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