New CEO's reflections and insights on Softera — after the first two months

When I started in my role on January 5th, 2026, I knew I was stepping into a company with deep roots in Finland's telecommunications, billing, and digital services landscape. Softera has long been a critical partner to its customers — a provider whose solutions are relied upon at the very core of their daily operations.

The first two months have offered an excellent opportunity to gain a deep understanding of our business, our people, and our customers. I would like to share my reflections on where we stand today and where we are heading together.

Strong expertise and a committed team

My first and strongest impression is the deep professionalism and expertise within Softera. Our teams have a clear drive to succeed and to deliver solutions that genuinely impact our customers' businesses.

Our people's ability to work independently, take ownership, and proactively develop solutions is a true competitive advantage — one I intend to preserve and strengthen. Discussions with employees have shown a direct, open, and constructive communication culture, combined with excitement about how our new organizational structure opens the door to more modern and streamlined collaboration.

Positive customer experiences and growing value

Customer meetings have been one of the most rewarding parts of the early year. Softera is known among our customers as an approachable, reliable, and highly skilled partner. Many customers have highlighted two recurring themes:

• Clear added value, created by the stability, flexibility, and efficiency of our BSS services.
• Trust-based partnerships, where collaboration feels like a shared development journey.

Our BSS expertise has traditionally been strongest in the telco sector, but it is clear that our value proposition scales well into other industries, such as waste management and energy. This opens new growth opportunities for the coming years.

A customer landscape in transformation

The operating environment for telecom and infrastructure services is changing rapidly. Accelerating digitalization, network development, intensifying competition, and rising customer expectations require us to evolve continuously.

Our customers increasingly expect us to develop our speed, flexibility, data-driven decision making as well as our proactive development in our product and service offerings. This shift is also a significant opportunity — challenging us to sharpen our offering and strengthen our position as a long-term strategic partner for our customers.

The need to focus and prioritize

Softera has a rich service history and a broad product portfolio. To continue strong and profitable growth, we must focus clearly on the areas where we create the most value. This means making strategic choices, aligning our sales and product development efforts, and directing resources where they have the greatest impact.

In this work, I draw on more than 20 years of experience in the SaaS industry, sales leadership, and data-driven business development across Finland and Central Europe.

The growing role of data and analytics

Throughout my career, I have seen how data can fundamentally reshape decision making and business management. The same potential exists here at Softera: we can strengthen both service quality and responsiveness by using data more systematically — internally and in customer facing processes.

The shift toward data-driven operations is already underway and will be one of our strategic development focuses.

Strategy 2026–2029: market-aligned growth and must-win battles

Work on our three-year growth strategy is in full motion. Our ambition is to grow alongside the market — in a controlled and high quality manner. We have identified several must-win battles that guide our actions:

• Strengthening and scaling our sales
• Modernizing and systematizing sales processes
• Leveraging our BSS expertise in new industries
• Clarifying and focusing our service offering

These choices support our next phase of growth and ensure we are prioritizing the right initiatives in the right order.

Artificial intelligence: building a competitive edge

AI already plays an important role in Softera's daily operations — and its importance will continue to grow. We are leveraging AI in internal processes, product development, and in our sales and marketing efforts. Our next steps follow two paths:

• Deepening AI capabilities in our products, especially in billing, provisioning, and other core processes.
• Strengthening AI competence, investing in recruitment and expanding our partner ecosystem.

Our aim is not to build isolated AI experiments, but to integrate artificial intelligence meaningfully into the core of our business and services.

Strong support from our owner, Banyan

Banyan's commitment to Softera has been clear and tangible. Their support is visible especially in:

• benchmarking and sharing best practices
• strategic projects such as implementing our new CRM and marketing automation tools
• a long-term mindset reflected in their "buy and hold for life" strategy

This provides us with a stable foundation and the backing needed to grow sustainably without short-sighted compromises.

Looking ahead — together toward the next phase of growth

After two months, it is clear that Softera is a company with exceptional potential for its next growth leap. We have:

• a skilled and motivated team
• a strong customer base and positive feedback culture
• a mature and evolving product portfolio
• an owner committed to long-term development

I want to extend my warm thanks to our team, customers, and board for the collaboration, openness, and trust. Together, we will build Softera into an even stronger, smarter, and more customer centric partner — a company that confidently moves into its next chapter of growth.