A Finnish Kindergarten Chain's Digital Journey

Introduction

This case study examines a private kindergarten chain operating in Finland, an SME with an annual revenue of approximately EUR 9-10 million. Faced with increasing operational demands and a desire to differentiate in a competitive market, the organization set out to modernize a key early childhood education process. The goals: save time, boost efficiency, and lay the groundwork for potential international expansion.

The Story

Driven by a vision to streamline a mandatory educational workflow, the kindergarten’s founder initiated a project to develop a standalone digital application. The solution was to be designed by a team of early childhood education professionals with no prior experience in software development.

To bring the concept to life, the team was supported by:

• A technical project manager and 1–2 developers

• A UX/UI specialist

• A Finland-based project manager

The project was built using .NET technologies and followed Agile methodologies to enable iterative development and stakeholder feedback.

The Challenge

The transformation journey was not without hurdles:

• Limited technical experience on the client side led to frequent misunderstandings.

• Unclear process documentation slowed progress and created friction around scope and cost in the Time & Materials (T&M) model.

• Legacy operational constraints meant development had to occur alongside live educational activities, resulting in additional work hours and complexity.

Despite these challenges, the team navigated the project through consistent stakeholder engagement, structured analysis, and open dialogue.

The Conclusion

The initiative delivered several meaningful results:

• Successful launches of both the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and the final application.

• Operational efficiency gains through digitalization of core processes.

• A working solution now in use across the organization.

• Strategic positioning for future international growth, with the digital product serving as a competitive differentiator.

The project not only modernized internal operations but also marked a significant step toward innovation in early childhood education, demonstrating how even non-technical teams can lead meaningful digital transformation with the right support.