Welcome to our latest meet the team blog

Today we introduce Miika Huuskonen who joined Bedford in 2021. Miika is a Professional Services Consultant in our Nordic team, based in Finland. In his spare time, Miika likes to play golf, run marathons, and go fishing. He is a big Manchester United fan and enjoys exploring his hometown of Helsinki.

What made you consider joining Bedford?

I had a couple of years of experience building EPM solutions with other tools and I wanted to take my career to the next level. I knew that Bedford would be an ideal place to achieve that. Also, the possibility to work in an EMEA-wide environment and helping customers across the region was fascinating.

What are you most proud of?

I am most proud to be a part of the Bedford team.

What’s your favourite part of working at Bedford?

Definitely the people. It is a pleasure to work alongside skilful and ambitious people. People come from different backgrounds, but everyone is sharing the same set of values. I believe that the diversity in the backgrounds helps us to be a successful team.

Describe Bedford in 3 words

I would say quality, teamwork, and innovation.

What’s the company like? How would you describe the team culture?

I would describe the team culture as supportive and collaborative. People at Bedford are really motivated and help each other to develop their skills.

How would you describe a typical day?

It depends on a lot, and I would say that there is no typical day. Workdays can be categorised into customer and non-customer-related days. Customer days are usually dedicated to a single customer where you perform different kinds of activities (model building, project management etc) which enable customer success using the Anaplan. When the days are not dedicated to customer work, you have the possibility to develop your skills or support others on projects.

What did you wish you knew before joining?

Nothing really. I had a consulting background, so I knew roughly what to expect and Bedford was open about all aspects of the position.

What’s the most important skill that someone will need to succeed as a consultant?

I would say that the most important skill someone needs to be successful as a consultant is to understand customer business needs and translate those into a technical solution. I would also highlight the importance of communication skills; you need to be able to have honest conversations with customers.

What is the biggest challenge that someone in this position would face?

One of the biggest challenges someone in this position would face is time management. Sometimes the schedule can be tight, and requirements can change very quickly.

What have you learned in the last six months?

During the last six months, I have been working on multiple projects which have gained my use case and industry-specific knowledge. Especially I have learned a lot about FP&A-related use cases. At the same time, I have learned a lot about Anaplan’s technical side and project work develops my Anaplan skillset on daily basis.

Why do you stay at Bedford?

Here I have the possibility to work on interesting projects with awesome colleagues. I can develop my skill set and learn something new every single day. I believe that Bedford will become even more successful in the future, and I want to be a part of that journey.

Stay tuned for our next meet the team blog.

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