Our way to a better world: Interview with the Lumoa Team

At Lumoa, we are big believers in sharing a common goal and helping others around us succeed. Our team is the engine driving us forward.

I am Anna and I have recently started working for Lumoa as a digital marketing assistant. What I have admired in Lumoa since the very beginning is a clear business vision and an absolute customer-oriented approach.

We talked with the current team: Carlos, Suvi, Johanna and Teppo, experienced experts in customer experience, about how Lumoa had been developing since the launch.

How was the idea of Lumoa born?

Suvi, Carlos and Johanna met at work at Nokia, before it was acquired by Microsoft. Together, Carlos, Suvi and Johanna have more than 40 years of experience in driving business impact with customer experience management and data.

Suvi mentioned that the team shared a strong passion for customer experience. They also saw a lot of new technologies that could be used more effectively in the context of customer experience management. In addition, the team had learned something unique in the big corporations like Nokia and Microsoft. They realized that what they had learned could be productized to help other companies.

Lumoa is about getting things done

Teppo, the newest team member with a background in software development, joined Lumoa in January. “I’ve always been working with small companies. When I started to look for a new job and discuss with various companies, the Lumoa team was the first one, who actually knew what they were going to do and why,” says Teppo. “Startups are always like “yeah, we have this idea…” But Lumoa was special in a way that they clearly understood what they wanted to do. From the very first interview, it was different, compared to many other early-stage startups.”
“We have a great team in a way that we are very different but at the same time everybody shares the need and willingness to get things done and a strong drive to make things better and to succeed,” adds Johanna. “Although most of the time we don’t think too much alike, we even have our arguments, and different views, we still push to the same direction, which is very healthy. It also gives me confidence that this team can really achieve great results.”

The common goal is what drives Lumoa

A dream of Lumoa is that it becomes the world reference in terms of customer experience management. How do they get there? “Our product may change, people may change but it would be great that if in 5 years you go to the US and you meet someone saying, “Oh you’re from Lumoa, that’s cool!” Carlos says. Johanna adds: “My dream for Lumoa is that we have achieved something with this company, that Lumoa has impacted the world in a positive way, and we were part of it and made a difference.” Carlos continues: “We are very open to change and to receiving feedback. We have already changed a lot. We can rethink things if needed. We don’t stick to one thing.”

Apart from the common goal, all the team members have different motivators. “Typically,” Johanna says, “when you build a career in a big corporation, you end up progressing in a field where you are good at. You can learn, of course, but it’s never like in a startup, where you also must do things you’re not so good at. One of the big motivators for me is that I do something different than in the past. I learn new skills doing things I am not so skillful at and I am happy just to be building something I believe in.” It is more of a game for Carlos, focusing on a challenge together with fun. Suvi is happy, that now she actually can help fulfilling the needs and solving problems of the companies that Lumoa is working with.

Results?

“Looking at the calendar, we’re really really happy because within the last few months we have achieved a lot. However, we are never satisfied. We would like to achieve even more,” states Suvi. “That’s what unites all of us: we are super happy, but at the same time supercritical. Our situation is really good but never good enough”, adds Carlos.
Suvi continues “Our greatest achievement, for now, is to have three large corporations as our customers. Second, with the feedback which we are getting from these customers, our machine will be analyzing millions of feedbacks in a year. It’s a large amount of feedback and it is great to see the customers relying on our service. We get a lot of pressure but in a positive way. Most important, our customers need and want to use our product! They also want to arrange training sessions with management teams. I believe we are on the right track.”