2023-12-20
Oatly: From Oat Uprising to Digital Heights – An Innovative Journey Towards Sustainable Global Growth
They have been described as a movement, won awards for their innovative, aggressive, and bold marketing, driven change, and grown into a multinational company. Oatly's last decade has been quite remarkable.
– There wasn’t a cohesive IT function when I stepped in three and a half years ago. It’s not unusual – Oatly was a much smaller company, and as this growth happened so quickly, it was an area we hadn’t focused on much. That’s largely why I joined the company, says Fredrik Frimodig, CIO at Oatly, in the Consid’s Digital Influencer Podcast.
Few Swedish companies have as clear a label of sustainability as Oatly. Through its products and marketing, the company has both given itself and received a label of being the sustainable choice for dairy alternatives.
For consumers, choosing Oatly has become a symbol of environmental consciousness.
– We know through our presence on social media and the data we collect that consumers find this very important today. Of course, we also see changed consumer behaviors in response to various global events; we now have significant cost pressure driven by inflation, creating a tougher climate out there.
How important is sustainability for you?
– It’s absolutely crucial… I think the important thing is to have this larger purpose. That’s what unites us – a clear purpose – when we go to work, we make a difference.
In his role as CIO, Fredrik Frimodig plays a key role in Oatly’s digital transformation.
“One aspect is to ensure that we can support the daily business operations, including IT service management, support, incident management, security operations. It’s a hygiene factor, the foundation of the triangle. Additionally, we ensure that we can enable process and business development – how we can operate smarter, more efficiently, cost-effectively, and sustainably. Then we have the transformative aspect, which is more about potential new business models and channels based on technological innovation.”
What have been the challenges?
– The speed itself has been challenging. In 2021, for example, we faced the public listing of the company; we had an IPO – an initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. So, there were a lot of compliance issues and ensuring that we have control over internal processes.
What’s in the pipeline?
– There are exciting things coming in terms of our product innovation; I’m completely convinced of that. We also have a good sense of humor and a site dedicated to what everyone thinks of us. It’s called FCK Oatly. It can be fun to check it out, says Fredrik Frimodig.
The Digital Influencer Podcast is released on Thursdays and is available wherever podcasts are found.
