Hamina's digital leap is of interest to Sweden as well - a group of experts visited to learn about the Google transition
The mayor at Hamina Town Hall Ilari Soosalu, chairman of the city council Titta Erkkilä and Chief Information Officer Niko Palmu received twelve visitors from Sweden and Finland, representing, among others, the Tax Agency and Kela. The visitors' day had started with a visit to the Google data center, and from there they arrived to meet the people of the city of Hamina. The purpose of the visit was to get to know the city of Hamina's Google transition.
At the beginning of the visit, Ilari Soosalu told a little about the city of Hamina and Google's arrival in Hamina, in the former Summa paper mill premises. The visitors were particularly interested in making a change in the city and what kind of challenges and benefits the change has brought.
In today's IT projects, the biggest challenge is not the technology itself or the new programs, but the management of change and the organization's ability to change. When work is separated from the traditional device-based approach, change often moves into a person's personal space - and that can feel scary. Above all, it is about supporting people in this transformation,
Niko Palmu talked about implementing the change.Hamina's experiences are of great importance on a Finnish scale: the city's Google transition has been one of the compelling reasons for the formation of the architecture working group for the Lyhty project, a collaborative network for licensing management in public administration, led by Valtori. The group is rightfully led by Hamina's IT manager Niko Palmu. About the visitors Juha Tukiainen From Istekki Oy, Katja Muhonen From the reel and Tuomo Kouhia The State Information and Communications Technology Centre Valtoritta is also involved in the Lyhty project.
The discussion asked about the attitude of the city's residents and the general atmosphere towards Google. Titta Erkkilä told about the early stages, when Google's activities often seemed secretive to people, but now it has become a part of Hamina life.
The use of artificial intelligence also came up in the discussion and Niko stated that we are now moving towards the use of artificial intelligence. In general, the transition and the introduction of new systems require careful consideration. It is necessary to select which tools will bring genuine benefits to the work. Employees play a crucial role in producing expert knowledge about what kind of needs emerge from their work.
One of the topics of discussion was the use of Chromebooks and Google tools in schools, where Hamina, like other transitions, has been a pioneer. First, there were pilot schools in Hamina, but now we are in a situation where every comprehensive school student has their own Chromebook. A development project is currently underway, with the aim of also moving upper secondary school students to the same environment.