The vision behind restructuring OKQ8’s IT department

The transition from fossil fuels to electrification is shaking up a company like OKQ8 to its foundation. From a business that’s been stable and consistent for many years, it’s now in a position to review what the business model should look like in the future, and do what’s necessary to transition in order to remain not just relevant but competitive.

“It’s about a total company transformation, but the transition is going a little slower than we thought, with a reduced reduction obligation and fewer incentives for electric cars,” says CIO Clas Artvin. “But despite that, we have to find new ways to be profitable in the future.”

In addition to starting to build a network of fast chargers at its gas stations — 800 of them distributed at 750 gas stations in Sweden, and 250 in Denmark so far — the company has also become a player in solar energy technology, where it helps other companies in their transitions, and builds large solar parks so they can become electrically self-sufficient.

Putting new tactics into practice

The fact that conditions are changing adds complications to planning, and at what pace changes should take place and in what order so things can work optimally.

“It’s an incredibly exciting discussion to be part of, but also quite tricky from an IT perspective,” he says. “We’re undergoing change across many different business areas in both Sweden and Denmark, and at the same time, customers are becoming more digital, and we have to meet those demands.”

In order to maintain success, several large IT projects are currently underway. The first is that quick payment option at gas stations using cards and also by tapping.

“It’s a capability that’s in great demand, and will be rolled out at all our 1,000 stations,” says Artvin. “It’s very complex because these payment transactions are linked to business systems, which have to relate to regulations. There’s a lot that has to happen behind the scenes.”

In parallel with that, OKQ8 has also started an ERP system change using Microsoft Dynamics, and the networks at the stations will be fiber enabled.

Transforming IT operations

Adding to the tangible projects underway externally, Artvin is also working on transformation within the IT business. For a couple of years, IT has been in a division responsible for the customer loyalty club and sales revenue. But now it’s going back to a more traditional IT department.

“That’s my job, you could say,” says Artvin. “With the previous setup, it became a bit scattered with too little focus on IT and too little implementation power.” So in this transformation work, there are several moves that must be made. “We need to re-establish the IT architecture and get an architectural capability,” he adds. “It’s been too weak in recent years.” So IT architects need to get as close to business development as possible in order to shape the target architecture in line with the business plan.

Key concepts

Artvin explains there’s an often underestimated area of IT in that it’s not only about systems, but master data and concepts for processes and information flows. For instance, he mentions agreeing on the definition of what a customer actually is.

“Customer information is scattered across multiple systems with different definitions of what a customer is,” he says. “But if we’re able to do customer analysis, we must be able to have a common source. So concepts and definitions will be an important focus area going forward for us to become data-driven, and be able to benefit from AI.”

Another important move is about the overarching ways of working, where OKQ8 has already switched to working Agile, but Artvin is hesitant.

“My experience is it’s very difficult to make Agile work in traditional companies,” he says. “It’s admittedly fast-moving and customer-oriented, but sometimes classic or hybrid ways of working are also required where you actually have more dedicated resources to execute better. So I’m in the process of re-establishing a hybrid model where we mix classic with Agile.”

Another part is to implement a new sourcing strategy since OKQ8 has admittedly too many suppliers so it needs to consolidate and find a smarter way forward. The idea is to establish internal teams: one for the site and the app, and another for analytics. The ability to run complex projects must be strengthened as well and throughout the year, roles such as project managers, architects, contract managers, and license managers will be recruited.

“It’d be good to have a little more muscle in the IT department since there’s so much going on,” says Artvin. “Today, we have 100 employees in IT in Sweden and Denmark, but we’ll need more.”