Hello, Okta: Taking Advantage of the Nordic Opportunity

Did you know that in the early 2000s, oil production was one of the strongest drivers of economic growth across the Nordics? But lower oil prices in other regions resulted in a need to change focus and technology started to lead the way.

This shift has been driven by innovations in cloud technologies, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been there from the beginning, driving sales for various innovative technology companies within the Nordics and wider European market. This has given me great insight into both the opportunities and challenges organizations face when acclimatizing to the cloud, and how to sustain a healthy business amidst this change.

The Nordics, in particular, have come a long way in this time, transitioning from the old to the new ways of working. Much like Silicon Valley, the region has a flourishing start-up culture with Nordic countries currently accounting for 50 percent of the European startups that exceed the $1bn valuation, including companies such as Spotify and Skype. Technology is again very much at the heart of this.

Through my work in the industry and my journey through the cloud, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Okta and instantly saw the benefits its secure and easy-to-use platform brings to businesses first-hand. Okta has focused on identity since the company was founded, and is now a leader in both identity and access management (IAM) and identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) markets, protecting organizations in the connected world we live in. For the burgeoning tech scene in the Nordics, identity is a key to success.

Identity, and specifically the Okta Identity Cloud, enables companies to successfully navigate mergers and acquisitions, build access to services through APIs, and connect to the entire business ecosystem including partners, customers and contractors. Okta’s capabilities are best demonstrated by the fact it now provides its unique solutions to over 4,700 customers, and new innovations in its services mean that the customer base is only set to grow.

It is going to be an exciting journey and I’m starting it with a feeling of “Nordics, here we come!”