Raisio is an international company specialized in healthy, responsibly produced food and ingredients. Raisio’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. In 2023, the Group’s comparable net sales for continuing operations was EUR 219.5 million. Raisio employs about 350 people and exports to over 40 countries.

“Raisio recently celebrated its 85th anniversary. The Group’s headquarters is in Raisio, Western Finland, where we have a big factory facility. Some of our well-known brands are Benecol, Härkis and Elovena,. Sustainability is important to us, our own production is 100% carbon neutral,” says Piia Lindroos, Raisio’s Head of Finance Development.

The old group accounting and consolidation solution did not meet Raisio’s needs

Raisio was looking for a partner to renew its group accounting and consolidation solution. The changed company structure and the technical solution of old system did no longer met today’s business requirements. Raisio reviewed and compared several consolidation solutions during 2022, but the alternatives were found to be both more expensive for their features and did not meet Raisio’s identified future group accounting needs.

“Raisio has had a Controller for as long as IFRS reporting has been in place. We were very happy with IBM Controller, but we wanted to go through what information we collect and report, whether everything is still relevant,” Piia Lindroos says, and Sirpa Virtanen, Head of Group Finance at Raisio adds, “The long-standing system was built to serve a more complex Raisio. Since then, the company has changed structurally. We wanted to simplify that old solution to better meet Raisio’s needs today and in the future.”

A knowledgeable IBM Controller partner to help you change

Raisio had discussions with Intito, the leading IBM Controller expert in the Nordic countries, and the discussions revealed a deep consolidation solution expertise and a customer-oriented partner. The discussions eventually led to a collaboration agreement where Raisio selected IBM Controller Cloud technology and the Intito team to help with a modernization project to move to a cloud-based platform all at once and work with Intito to modernize the consolidation solution for today.

The controller was also found to work well with Raisio’s SAP S/4HANA ERP solution, and the solutions had their own natural roles in the architecture. The cloud solution was also seen to ensure that the solution remains up-to-date, and the standard solution offers the possibility to buy expert services for development and support.

The renewal project was launched in Q1 2023 with the aim of making the first reporting round live in Q3 2023. In the end, this goal was achieved more easily than initially expected, due to the smooth cooperation with Intito’s Controller team. Intito played primarily an advisory role in the project, helping Raisio’s own finance team to implement the new consolidation solution and configure it to meet Raisio’s requirements.

“We had practiced the June half-yearly report first with the old system and then with the new one. At this stage, the accountants also had access to the solution and practiced reporting for their own companies. This meant that we were well prepared for the September reporting. Overall, the project went really well and the transition went smoothly,” Sirpa Virtanen says of the collaboration.

Renewed reporting process saves significant time for the finance team

During the renewal, the reporting process was redesigned, saving the finance team significant time and resulting in both faster and more straightforward reporting process. The measures taken were to cut unnecessary steps, automate things and focus on relevant content and items. The foundations of the new consolidation solution were set up to minimize the workload of changing structures in the future – so there was a significant increase in flexibility. Intito brought best practices and automation capabilities to the project, which enabled Raisio to successfully upgrade its consolidation solution on time and on budget.

“Our reporting process became much smoother and faster. We can now get to the finish line in one go. For example, we made ready-to-use presentation reports to support the group accountant. We also cut down on a large number of Excel files.” Sirpa Virtanen explains the results of the successful project.

The next steps for cooperation have already been decided

After the implementation of Controller Cloud, Raisio and Intito are focusing on the development of a cash flow statement, which is an excellent addition to the financial toolbox. In addition, the automation of SAP integration will be further developed and a completely new integration for internal reporting will be built.

“The renewal was surprisingly easy. We were able to cut out steps and reports that were unnecessary for us and automate manual parts of the process. We are now better able to focus on the essentials and content. Further development will be easier, and we will continue to use Intito’s expertise in the future.” Piia Lindroos says with a smile on her face.