Headquartered in Espoo Finland, BaseN is a globally recognized full stack Internet of Things (IoT) operator. The company offers new and innovative methods to capture, process, and control massive amounts of data – in real-time.
Since forming in 2001, the company has had a specified goal of helping businesses across different industries improve their operations. Initially, the company laid its focus on providing highly scalable and fault-tolerant network and service management systems for large MNCs and telecom operators. With time, the company has expanded its service offerings and positioned itself as one of the leading IoT operators.
Led by a former veteran of the Finnish Air Force, Pasi Hurri, BaseN has established a work culture that echoes productivity. An expert speaker and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Pasi boasts extensive experience in management and technology and has duly integrated the same at BaseN. His fascination about technology and vision has led to the inception of BaseN. In an exclusive interview, the Chief Executive Officer of BaseN shares the journey, the work culture, and future outlook of the company.
What prompted the inception of BaseN? What is the history behind the name of the company?
Already in High School I had the idea to establish a company and I was fascinated about technology, especially automation and robotics. Early in my childhood, I was fascinated by autonomous technologies and likewise frustrated that my friends had no appreciation of the coolness.
When I joined the military, I had the luxury to be part of the development team for the air defense system. This required a lot of data collection and distributed analysis and situational awareness. After creating one of the first internet service providers within the industrial group of Ahlstrom, I realized that by combining the expertise of distributed systems and networking technologies finally warranted establishing the company I had dreamed of.
The name of the company originally was BaseNetworks, as it was very fashionable back then to be “something” Networks. After the first choice of BaseNetworks was declined by the trade register, we stuck with BaseN. The Logo – the power to the n – is a mathematical symbol that reminds us of the required scalability.
How does BaseN emphasize on talent acquisition and retention?
I have inherited the traditional way of doing business, wherein employees are extremely well taken care of, one which stems from my history in both the military and Ahlstrom. On the contrary to current believes that many companies are fostering, we believe in long term careers within BaseN and we always support our people in their personal development goals – whether it is education or health or virtually anything that keeps people happy. This is why we already have many people working with us for more than 15 years and counting.
What has the journey been like for the company since incepting in 2001?
It has been really difficult because we decided not to take external investors, but the early mistakes and difficulties have taught us more than I could ever envision to learn at any University. One of our secrets is that we have kept the BaseN Platform strategy very clear and have not been swung by short lived trends in computing, which our customers appreciate a lot as they expect longevity and sustainability.
What measures does the company take in ensuring complete client satisfaction?
We started in 2001 offering only software as a service with regular quality meetings with customers. In 2001 this was a new thing to do and was difficult to explain to the customers. Once they took on our process they have been really satisfied and we have only recently seen others following the same path.
What makes a company the best place to work for? How has BaseN integrated the same thought into its workplace?
People are proud working for BaseN, so the instigation of pride is one factor. This is something we need to maintain at all times. When you do your job, the company will support you in every possible way. It is not only the company; it is also your colleagues. Even with rough wordings at time, you will never be alone. We got you covered.
How does the company ensure optimal employee productivity?
This is one of the biggest challenges for our company. We give a lot of freedom to our people, but we also expect a lot. Not everybody is able to handle this. We have the traditional development discussions, but at the same time we talk about and teach leadership to people every day.
Explain the benefits offered by the BaseN Platform? How does it stand out from its competition?
We fully own our stack from being a telco operator all the way to offering the cloud edge. We are self-sufficient and we can guarantee our services to our customers without relying on third parties. We are a real one-stop shot in the market.
What is the future roadmap for the company?
We see strong organic growth and we are taking on giants like IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google and we do it with our own technology and platform as a Finnish and European vendor.
About Pasi Hurri
With a background in the Finnish Air Force and management experience across some of the leading telecom operators, Pasi Hurri, the Founder, CEO, and President of BaseN, has induced the core features of BaseN platform: scalability, fault tolerance and inherently distributed architecture.
Pasi’s management style is strongly influenced by Clausewitz, which is all about situational awareness, creating a momentum and always looking for new opportunities. His technological bend of mind and vision has enabled him to shoulder his company towards success and attain customer satisfaction. In an exclusive interview, the Chief Executive Officer of BaseN shares the journey, the work culture, and future outlook of the company.
Website – https://www.basen.net
