Laura Auhto-Savolainen - Business Consultant and QMS Lead

‍Meet Laura, our Business Consultant and QMS Lead at QOCO!

QOCO's most valuable assets are our people. Their dedication, professionalism, willingness to go extra mile to achieve goals is what makes QOCO successful. We have prepared a series of publications to highlight our international workforce.

Laura joined QOCO in 2019 and her contribution to the company's success is countless. She is in charge of projects that are vital for QOCO's growth. Learn more about Laura, her role and projects in the interview!

Tell about yourself in a couple of sentences.

I could describe myself as an empathic and people-driven eternal optimist who gets easily excited, but who also likes to be organised. My first reaction to a new situation is usually to write a list, do a presentation draft or prepare an excel sheet to organise my thoughts. These factors are all probably why I’m so enthusiastic about project management and business development. I believe in helping customers succeed by conducting projects that add value to their business. 

What is your role at QOCO?

My role is currently threefold. I run solution delivery projects for aviation customers as a Business Consultant and part of the Airline Engagement team. Also, I’m the QMS Lead in charge of an integrated management system and I’m part of the Business Support team helping scale up our company HR and finance processes. 

How does your role contribute to QOCO’s growth? And how QOCO supports your growth?

In my role as Business Consultant, I’m part of rolling out our EngineData.io solution to new airline customers, growing our global user base one airline at a time. In the other parts of my work, I make sure our back office processes are in the best possible shape to support the growth of the company. 

QOCO’s growth supports mine in many ways. It has given me the opportunity to work in very versatile projects and constantly learn new things. It also gives me the confidence that as I am leaving for maternity leave in a couple of months, I will have exciting things waiting when  I come back to work. 

What is your most memorable highlight at QOCO?

There are many, but if I have to choose I would say when we got our ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications. It was something we as a team and I personally had been working on for almost two years and it is quite rare for a company our size to have a certified quality and information security management system so it’s something we’re really proud of. 

What has been your biggest lesson learned at QOCO?

QOCO is a very different company and field than anything I’ve worked with before, and I’ve learned a lot skill and competence-wise. But as the biggest learning, I would still say is the fact that how much people, especially people different than you, can teach you. We have a more and more diverse team and I think that is a great strength for learning. 

What was your favorite project, assignment, or initiative at QOCO?

There have been several exciting and challenging airline engagement projects during my time at QOCO. The best are always the ones where we can establish a good relationship with the airline contact persons and move things along smoothly with them. We are here to help them get the advantages of data sharing with minimal burden and when that can be achieved is when I feel we have succeeded the best. 

What would you like your legacy at QOCO to be?

I like to think I have done my part in bringing diversity and a softer focus on people to the team. Due to its focus on tech and engineering, the team is naturally quite introverted, results and fact oriented and was even more so when I joined a couple years ago. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, but it can leave some people and cultural aspects a bit overlooked. We have come a long way since then and diversified also the roles and responsibilities in the company and I think that is exactly the right path forward. 

QOCO is supporting remote working, especially during pandemics. What are some lessons you learned about working remotely?

I’ve learned to listen to my natural alertness and rhythm, as I am most productive in the morning and least productive in the afternoon. I’ve been able to either arrange meetings in the afternoon hours or do something completely different for a while and then get back to work more alert after a break. That would have been possible even before the pandemic, but I just didn’t take advantage of the possibility. Being at home and having everyone else remotely as well made it more natural to rearrange the rhythm of the workday. Also not having to commute and sleeping in instead is quite nice from time to time as well. 

How do you keep a work-life balance?

In everyday life, I like to unwind by going for long walks with friends and working out at the gym. Both of those are easy to schedule throughout the week, especially since we have a gym at our office building. They are also both a good way to mentally separate from the workday even when working from home. When I have more time and during vacations, I like to go alpine skiing in the winter, and hiking in the summer. 

What is the perfect workplace for you to progress in your career and be happy?

That’s a tough question. I guess what makes a workplace perfect for me would be the people in it, an atmosphere of trust and a drive for constant improvement and learning. When people support and encourage others and want to see each other grow, that’s when there are all the elements available for happiness.