Vaisala creates a more sustainable future—one accurate measurement at a time

Wherever you are in the world, Vaisala sensors are looking out for you. They anticipate extreme weather for hundreds of meteorological institutes, warn of hazards before they turn into tragedies, and monitor everything from the environment on Mars to a premature baby’s incubator.

They’re also helping clean energy producers save millions of euros with highly accurate predictions of weather conditions. Optimising production lines in factories to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. And providing intelligent buildings with data for energy-saving measures.

Whatever the problem, there’s a Vaisala sensor to predict, alert, and measure. Today, this 85-year-old Finnish company has customers in more than 150 countries, and a well-deserved reputation for producing the world’s most accurate and reliable sensors. “Customers are at the heart of our global impact on sustainability,” said Bodil Forss, CIO of Vaisala. “Salesforce gives us the 360-degree view of our customers that we need to fulfil our mission of observations for a better world.”

Vaisala’s weather and environment measuring systems have a unique sales funnel. One of their key customer groups are the 250 or so meteorological institutes around the world, and each opportunity can be worth millions of euros. Given the complexity of government procurement processes, a sale can take four years or more. 

This very limited pool of customers has to be carefully nurtured and supported through intricate government procurement processes—processes that Vaisala has developed considerable expertise in over the years. A big part of the challenge lies in ensuring that the right activity takes place at just the right time. There’s no point creating a quote when a prospect is building the specifications for tender, or trying to upsell when a tender is already out. “Keeping track of all this complexity would be impossible without Salesforce,” said Kenneth Hörhammer, Vice President of Vaisala’s Weather and Environment business. “Losing even one of our customers isn’t an option. Salesforce helps us keep opportunities warm so we can activate them when the time is right.”

Unlike the sales in Vaisala’s Weather and Environment business, its Industrial Measurements business consists of tens of thousands of customers with a comparatively small order value and fast sales cycles— typically anything from a day to a few months. The challenge here lies in the sheer number and diversity of customers and their specific measurement needs. This complexity is magnified by the large number of channel partners that Vaisala works with.

“We have many product lines and a huge number of verticals. Managing all this takes a very efficient sales machine. Sales Cloud has helped our sales teams become faster and more efficient,” said Raine Pulkkinen, Head of EMEA Subregion Sales for Industrial Measurements. Teamwork is a key part of managing this complexity, so another advantage of Sales Cloud is the way sales activities can be passed from one salesperson to another. Sari Matero, Business Solution Manager of Sales & Collaboration, has noticed a huge difference before and after Sales Cloud: “Now we have a platform that really supports teamwork and enables seamless handovers between salespeople. Salesforce is invaluable in this respect.”

Competitive intelligence is critical in long sales cycles, and the Weather and Environment team have been using Sales Cloud to capture vital information about who they’re up against, where those competitors have been active, and the concepts and pricing they’re using. “Everything we need to know about the competitive landscape is there with our opportunities. Having this clarity is a huge help in crafting effective sales strategies,” said Suzette Patricio-Ahonen, Head of Sales Operations.

The Industrial Measurements team, on the other hand, are using Sales Cloud to support product innovation. The variety of sensor applications means that customers are constantly approaching Vaisala with new challenges. “We channel product development ideas to our product managers through Sales Cloud. They in turn use Sales Cloud to float ideas for new product features to our global sales team,” said Elfia Malmberg, Sales Process Manager.

The precision instruments Vaisala sells need regular calibration, and a large proportion of the orders on its e-commerce site are for after-sales service. Service requests are fully integrated into its e-commerce channel to ensure that all the relevant customer information is in one place. “We’re now able to provide faster, more effective support. When customers get in touch, service cases are automatically channelled to the right teams globally,” said Matero.

Next in the pipeline is a partner portal that will give distribution partners visibility into service cases and support them with information about quotes and payment terms. “We want to make sure our partners have visibility into our installed base and any relevant customer history. Speed, efficiency, and transparency are key to keeping our customers happy and the new Experience Cloud portal will enable that,” said Pulkkinen.