Interview: Jyrki Sura, Business Manager
Customer digitalisation
Saga Furs is also actively promoting digitalization with its brokers and customers. Everything that can be digitalised in our customer purchasing is being digitalised,” says Jyrki Sura. He’s just returned from Hong Kong, where he trained 11 brokerage firms in four days on how they can best maximise the use of Saga Furs’ online services. Sura carries out trainings regularly around the world to help customers with digitalisation challenges and to encourage the uptake of the company’s online My Catalogue service. One of Sura’s favorite stories is of the British broker who came to him the first year with a pencil, proclaiming it the only tool he needed. But the next year he returned with an iPad.
My Catalogue
“It’s all about speed and transparency,” says Sura, “customers using our digital system get easy and quick access to price valuations and comparisons from previous Saga Furs auctions.” The company service is available in all time zones.
“But as well as getting information, the advantage comes in being able share it!” Using the Saga Furs tool, customers sitting in China, for example, can share information sourced through the Saga Furs system directly with their brokers, who might be sitting at the auction in Finland.
“This can be business critical for us,” Sura explains, “because brokers in our auction room can then focus on making purchases, instead of doing their research on the phone, which means less errors and better momentum in the auction room.”