A Decade of Strategic Partnership, Built on Trust and Technology

Wärtsilä is a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. With over 18,000 professionals in 77 countries and net sales of 6.4 billion euros in 2024, Wärtsilä’s operations rely on outstanding engineering, deep customer understanding, and future-proof digital tools. 

Fluido has been Wärtsilä’s trusted strategic Salesforce advisor for over 10 years. Over the years, Fluido and Wärtsilä have collaborated on more than 400 projects, accumulating close to 100,000 working hours. 

The longstanding partnership reflects mutual trust and Fluido’s ability to support Wärtsilä’s digital transformation in manufacturing. This article explores how the pair got to where they are now, the value of cooperation, and the path forward. 

One strategy, one vision  

The Salesforce platform is at the heart of Wärtsilä’s customer operations. It connects customers, sales, field service, ERP systems, and a wide range of business-critical processes, becoming the central nervous system of Wärtsilä’s customer management. 

When cooperation began, the Fluido team acted as a traditional external consultant on a project-by-project basis. However, the partnership has evolved over the years into Fluidians working as an extended part of Wärtsilä’s team. 

“Instead of external consultants, we see the fluidians as our staff and treat them as one of our own. We have one strategy, one shared vision, and one shared goal. It is a truly great collaboration,” says Paavo Kotinurmi, General Manager, Customer Operations Services at Wärtsilä, who has worked with Fluido from the beginning. 

Fluido is the strategic advisor in the partnership and steers Wärtsilä’s Salesforce development forward. As a testament to Fluido’s capabilities and mutual trust, the Fluido team contributes to roles typically handled by the customer, such as Scrum Master and Solution Manager. 

Another benefit of the longstanding partnership is agility. In addition to the core team, Wärtsilä can get resources flexibly according to its current needs. 

“Fluido has adjusted their working model to ours, and the cooperation works smoothly. We have transitioned from a project-based approach to a resource pool approach, allowing us to access expert Salesforce resources as needed. Fluido can even fill in if our employees change jobs or are on sick leave,” explains Anne Voutilainen, Manager, Sales and Marketing Solutions at Wärtsilä. 

Benefit from the digital shift 

One of the collaboration’s flagship results is the Wärtsilä Online portal, which has supported Wärtsilä’s shift from traditional services to digital customer channels over the years. 

Fluido joined the project in 2013, with the aim of building a digital service that offers the same high-quality service to a wide variety of customer segments. The project brought together multiple internal stakeholders, including field service and maintenance units, as well as the procurement department. 

“Fluido did an outstanding job on steering the development and roadmap of the online portal, and its development continues today. With it, we wanted to provide our customers the opportunity for self-service and transparent access to knowledge on the Salesforce platform. Looking ahead, we’re exploring how AI could help us summarise support cases and speed up access to relevant internal knowledge,” Voutilainen says. 

At Wärtsilä’s Online portal, customers can, for example, access their technical documentation, order spare parts, track deliveries, and plan maintenance to keep their vessels and power plants running smoothly. 

Visibility to the field 

As a global organisation, Wärtsilä has developed its field service solutions to enhance efficiency and improve the customer and employee experience. 

Fluido has supported Wärtsilä in improving employee tools for case handling, field service quotation, and spare part management. Their field engineers can now quickly access engine data, serial numbers, and equipment history on Salesforce, boosting efficiency and reducing the risk of human error. 

“As many of these solutions didn’t exist before, Fluido has had to make many bold choices. They evaluated the best way to build something and effectively implemented the selected field service solutions. We trusted them to solve the challenges, and they did,” describes Kotinurmi. 

An essential outcome of these projects is having sales and field service departments on the same Salesforce platform. Wärtsilä’s sales teams can globally see the available experts and assign them flexibly to the job. Salesforce adoption is high, as 20 percent of Wärtsilä’s employees log in daily. 

“It makes sense business-wise that our teams operate on the same platform. When sales and field service have shared visibility into the field, besides organising the work more efficiently, sales can serve our customers better,” Kotinurmi says. 

Ideas into impact  

With deep Salesforce expertise and strong business understanding, Fluido has played a key role in turning Wärtsilä’s complex business needs into scalable solutions. Like in any relationship, mutual trust, appreciation, and understanding lead to the best outcomes. 

“Wärtsilä’s digital services have been running smoothly, and revenue has steadily increased – we have just broken our sales and profitability records for 2024 while keeping our IT budgets. Our team would not have succeeded half as well without Fluido as our trusted advisor,” Kotinurmi says. 

Kotinurmi and Voutilainen nod in agreement when asked about Fluido as a partner. Voutilainen summarises their sentiments: 

“The Fluido team has wide, varied, and deep Salesforce experience; thus, they have been able to guide us as a strategic advisor. They understand what the customer needs and wants. I especially appreciate that I can always rely on them to handle whatever challenges, even in a hurry.” 

Wärtsilä and Fluido continue to explore new possibilities for the future. Artificial intelligence is one of the key focus areas, with the potential to further streamline operations and enhance customer experience. Once again, Fluido is there to help turn ideas into impact. 

Fluido is the leading strategic Salesforce advisor. If you want an innovative partner to steer your digital transformation, read more about our Advisory Services.