HiQ acquires the IoT specialist Cogitel based in Karlskrona. With its 30 employees, it will be a strategically important addition to HiQ's continued efforts to be a one-stop shop for customers in digitization. The acquisition is the next step in HiQ's journey towards becoming northern Europe's leading tech consulting company. “I am thrilled to be able to welcome Cogitel to HiQ! We see a solid development and consistent growth within IoT, and today, we work in close relationship with some of the Nordic region's leading players. The fact that Cogitel comes in with its deep knowledge, and both important customers and partners, enables us to broaden our offering in this area, which is fantastic. Together we are stronger,” says Fredrik Malm, acting CEO of HiQ.

Cogitel was founded in 2010 in Karlskrona and has since delivered products, services and tailored development of cloud-based business solutions and services with a focus on connectivity. In addition, the company offers expert consultants in telecom and works in close collaboration with Telenor Connexion. Cogitel also owns the standalone IoT platform Thellio, a licensed software product. The platform performs tracking, monitors health and productivity, and allows efficiency optimizations of your connected products, machines, and even connected spaces. Cogitel consists in its entirety of 30 employees and has customers all over Sweden.

“We look forward to being a part of HiQ and are incredibly proud to be able to announce this today. With HiQ, we get entirely different prerequisites that allow us to scale up as a company. In terms of the offering and corporate culture, we fit well together, and uniting our operations means that we can create a powerful team. In addition, our cutting-edge expertise is a perfect match with HiQ. We also look forward to growing with HiQ’s incredibly strong overall offering,” says Magnus Nilsson, CEO of Cogitel.

IoT is an area where development is progressing rapidly. HiQ has broad industry knowledge and extensive experience working with leading players in the field. Cogitel will strengthen HiQ in terms of this vital investment area. The team strengthens HiQ’s position to deliver digitization as a holistic partner – from strategy to design, development, integration, launch, operation, and management. The acquisition means an expansion in Sweden and locally in Karlskrona, where recruitment and job opportunities are top priorities on the agenda. HiQ has had a presence in Karlskrona for many years and is a leading company in the city. Cogitel will belong to region HiQ Sweden South with offices in Malmö, Karlskrona and Lund. Cogitel will be part of HiQ, while the Thellio platform will continue to operate under its own brand in the future.

“Karlskrona is an exciting market for us; we are aiming to become the largest locally! When we decided to expand further in the south of Sweden and got in touch with Cogitel, the decision was easy. We invest heavily in the region, which means that we can contribute even more to the local economy. Karlskrona has a strong business community with companies such as Ericsson, Saab and Telenor, and the region is also vital in terms of the public sector. We are a great partner for companies in need of digitization and an employer for everyone who wants to work with leading-edge tech, IT, integration, design, and communication. With Cogitel we will be even stronger in the region. As an employer, we can recruit at a higher pace; our goal is to grow and bring in even more competence in the company. In the future, we will see a lot of job opportunities locally, and at the same time, we can offer employees even more exciting assignments,” concludes Fredrik Malm, acting CEO of HiQ.

With the aim of becoming northern Europe's leading tech consulting company, HiQ is now acquiring the digital commerce specialist Lamia. The company, founded in Finland in 2012, specializes in building and designing digital services and multi-channel e-commerce solutions. The acquisition of Lamia will be a strategically important addition to HiQ's investment in retail with its constantly growing business consisting of 90 employees today. “It is very exciting to welcome Lamia to us at HiQ today! We’ve seen a solid, almost explosive, development in the demand for digital commerce-based solutions. Lamia will, with its deep know-how within design, development, cloud and data and important customers as well as partners, contribute to our continued development in the area,” says Fredrik Malm, acting CEO of HiQ.

Founded in 2012 in Finland, Lamia is a digital transformation company specializing in digital commerce helping customers navigate their journey online by combining relevant technologies, human-centric service, and cutting-edge design. The company delivers sustainable and measurable value with design, software development, cloud, and data with competencies ranging from digital business and e-commerce to pioneering technology. Lamia has for many years been one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Finland. As a company, Lamia values each employee, with a big emphasis on professional development and providing a clear career path. Following the acquisition, Lamia will continue to operate under their own brand as part of the HiQ family.

”Our aim has always been to bring our unique expertise of e-commerce tech, data and design to the market. Being a part of the HiQ family will enable us to continue this path but on a bigger scale, with northern Europe as our playground. Being acquired by HiQ is a significant step for us on our journey and in our development as a company, so we are proud to make this announcement today. With HiQ, we are a perfect match. To unite what we bring to the table, regarding digital transformation and digital commerce, together with HiQ’s comprehensive offering, we will become an incredibly strong team. As a result, we can offer even more career paths and growth for our employees at a level we couldn’t on our own. We are really looking forward to kick things off with HiQ,” says Henri Halmelahti, Co-founder of Lamia.

Retail is one of the industries where rapid technological enhancements have changed the landscape. Thanks to flexible digital services focusing on the user experience and the whole customer journey, trading increases efficiency. HiQ has broad industry knowledge and extensive experience working with leading retail chains. The collaborations range from idea and design to quality assurance in everything from marketing and sales solutions to purchasing and logistical systems. In addition, HiQ’s expertise in digital payment services as well as analysis of campaign activities, are valuable when new requirements are placed on simpler purchasing processes to increase conversion rate. Lamia will strengthen HiQ’s important positioning in both the B2B and B2C digital commerce space – a segment where digital solutions and omnichannel experiences are accelerating. Together, HiQ and Lamia are able to build robust and scalable omnichannel platforms, from backend systems to user interfaces like native applications, all serving the clients’ digital advantage. The team at Lamia also strengthens HiQ’s opportunities to deliver digitization as an end-to-end partner – from strategy to design, development, integration, to managed services. 

“Lamia’s ability to deliver digital engineering and support their clients in the digital commerce landscape fits very well with our broad knowledge and broad customer segments. Today, we work in close partnership with some of the Nordic region’s leading players in retail – everything from global players in the clothing industry, furniture industry and grocery trade – and being able to broaden our offering in this area is fantastic. We will see incredible technology shifts in the coming years, and at HiQ we want to be leading in the development,” says Fredrik Malm, acting CEO of HiQ.

HiQ has built up a strong business and brand on the Finnish market for many years, being a key player within online business, e-business solutions, process integration and quality assurance. The acquisition of Lamia will strengthen HiQ’s position on the Finnish market, especially within digital commerce. For HiQ’s quest to become northern Europe’s leading tech consulting company, the acquisition will create more opportunities to scale across borders at a pace that would not have been possible before.

“This is significant for us on the Finnish market. With this acquisition, we are expanding and becoming an even bigger player in Finland. We can meet specific market demands differently and offer even more expertise and manpower locally. We are investing heavily in the region, and this acquisition really proves that the Finnish market is booming when it comes to tech and innovation,” concludes Jukka Rautio, Country Manager at HiQ Finland.

Sven Ivar Mørch, CEO of HiQ, will leave his position with the company effective immediately. Fredrik Malm, CFO of HiQ, will take over the role as interim CEO until a formal successor takes over. The recruitment process for a new CEO of HiQ is underway. “I want to thank Sven Ivar for his hard work as CEO of HiQ during the last year. He stepped in and up at a transitional time for HiQ and has achieved a lot in a short time. When considering the company’s future plans and direction, we have, after many mutual discussions, however concluded to part ways. I wish Sven Ivar luck in his future endeavours”, says Magnus Meyer, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

During the recruitment process of a new CEO and until the successor takes over, Fredrik Malm will take over as interim CEO. Fredrik Malm has a background as CFO for HiQ for 19 years. He has a strong HiQ heart, is a clear leader in the company and has been a key part in building HiQ’s value-driven organization since the start of the millennium. 
John Klint will take on the role as interim CFO. 

In an increasingly digital world, companies are also facing digital challenges. The automotive company KGK has now turned to HiQ’s Frends as its new integration platform supplier for the group. Frends will help the organisation simplify and streamline by standardising integrations, with the ultimate goal of having Frends, in addition to APIs, as KGK’s sole solution for integrations. “It’s fantastic that Frends are continuing to grow in Sweden and on the Swedish market! The team has done a tremendous job, and partnering up with KGK shows how integration platforms can help organisations become more efficient and see ROI at an early stage. Great work and go HiQ!”, says Sven Ivar Mørch, CEO of HiQ. 

It is hard to ignore the advance of digitisation. Digitisation makes life easier in many ways, both for individuals and companies, but it also creates challenges in some cases. KGK is a company founded in 1946 by Knut-Göran Knutsson that operates in the automotive sector. The number of integrations being run increases by the day, and developments are happening at an extremely fast pace. Even hybrid environments, cloud versus on-prem, pose a challenge, and being a company in the automotive sector means having to contend with a widespread presence of legacy systems makes it more challenging to achieve simplification. Furthermore, for the work to become less person-dependent, it is necessary to work in a repeatable way. KGK needs a partner that can bring integrations together and provide quick and easy solutions to meet new customer needs and enable a faster time to market. KGK selects HiQ’s Frends as the new integration platform for the entire group. The platform supports hybrid environments and can assist with many of the challenges that occur.

“In some cases where there is no need to rely on legacy systems, we might be able to tell two systems to talk to each other, but if that is not possible, Frends will be KGK’s only option. That is our absolute goal with Frends. There is so much to do; as a company, we have many suppliers and partners with different circumstances and very different IT capabilities. Frends will enable us to modernise with minimal impact on our customers. It will be a lot better for our customers without them needing to do a lot of work. We feel confident with the team as well as the platform, and we are looking forward to what the future will bring,” says Johan Haack, CIO at KGK.

“We are delighted that KGK has chosen us. Frends is an amazing platform that can make things easier for and help organisations. The fact that KGK has chosen us after a pilot implementation shows just how good the platform is. A platform like Frends offers enormous opportunities for companies to simplify and streamline their operations,” says Jukka Rautio, Head of HiQ’s Frends.

Initially, KGK will focus mainly on different types of file movers, build APIs customised to their customers both for internal use and partners and clients, and internally modernise specific legacy systems. It is already possible to foresee major effects from decommissioning systems, reducing the load on systems and free up expensive licences, which could result in ROI on the platform relatively immediately. KGK will initially use the system at the group level in Sweden, Norway and Finland, similar businesses with similar needs. The future vision for KGK is to grow into the platform and its enormous opportunities. Frends will be used in a way that suits the business and its current and future strategies. Hyper-automation is also on the agenda, and in this regard, the platform is very much in line with the company’s future strategy. In the long term, KGK intends to automate the processes that they want to integrate today, using RPA tools and, by extension, AI. The goal is to standardise all integrations and for Frends to become KGK’s only integration solution, apart from APIs.

“We are facing some real challenges in terms of needing to act quickly and efficiently as a company, with the climate becoming more difficult to navigate as the world becomes increasingly digital. We have also seen a challenge working in the automotive industry. We need to deal with several legacy systems, including systems used both internally and by our partners, which are perhaps not of the most modern variety. We chose Frends because we recognised that our work could be drastically simplified and because we gained a great deal of confidence in them as a partner during the pilot implementation. They listened to us throughout the process, we felt very supported, and they answered all our questions. As a result, there was always a plan for how to move forward. Another positive is that the platform is relatively simple and user-friendly, with endless possibilities in terms of how far the platform can be developed,” says Urban Zetterström, IT architect at KGK. 

About KGK:
KG Knutsson AB has been moving people forwards since 1946, and it is a company that believes in long-term relationships. That is why we work with strong brands and do business that benefits all parties.

We provide our suppliers with our distribution network while our customers have the best brands, all wrapped up in our product knowledge and precise distribution. We have the widest range in the sector, and on our e-commerce website autokatalogen.se our partners can find more than half a million products. 

In addition to Sweden, KGK is also present in Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.