Client story: RapsiApp supports the availability of domestic oil plants
Apetit, a Finnish listed company focusing on food solutions, wants to ensure the sufficient cultivation of oil plants in Finland. To aid farmers and facilitate trading, the company joined forces with Rakettitiede to create a mobile app.
When you last poured rapeseed oil into your frying pan, did you come to think that producing oil requires more than a bit of skill?
The rapeseed was first sown and cultivated by a farmer, who also made sure the crop didn’t fail. The farmer then sold the seeds. The buyer was most likely Apetit, which is the only company in Finland to have an industrial-level vegetable oil mill and which produces most of the domestic vegetable oils found in shops.
“Growing oil plants is very demanding. Farmers need to constantly expand their skills and know what they are doing at each stage. We wanted to help them with that task. And of course, this project provided the opportunity to strengthen Finland’s food security as well,” says Jani Kielenniva, CIO at Apetit.
According to Apetit’s CIO Jani Kielenniva, RapsiApp is even better than initially imagined, and it provided an excellent first experience of how a mobile app can be used to support business.
In its search for a tech collaborator, Apetit selected Rakettitiede as its software development partner. RapsiApp was created during the summer and autumn of 2020. The development of the application received funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Two developers from Rakettitiede and one external UI designer were included in the team.
The app was released to users in the spring of 2021. Kielenniva is pleased by the excellent end result. Feedback from users has also been very positive.
“RapsiApp is even better than we had imagined and planned. The application is clear, easy to use and beautiful to look at,” Kielenniva says.
A new channel to support business
Apetit wanted to build a mobile application, as the information on their website was underutilised.
“We wanted to give this new channel a go. The project gave us an excellent first experience of how an app can support our business. For example, push notifications can be used to better distribute information,” Jani Kielenniva says.
“The app is also interactive. We provide a platform for farmers to anonymously share observations of pests. The farmers also receive information on purchase prices, which helps to make price comparisons.”
Clients should be aware of their own needs too
There’s no doubt RapsiApp is a useful application. Best of all, its development was a breeze.
“We have been very pleased with the cooperation. We wanted to find people who don’t just freeze when the going gets tough. The project progressed as agreed and according to our wishes. The developers’ expertise really showed in their interactive and productive collaboration, which included offering suggestions throughout the process,” Kielenniva says.
He sees potential for further application development collaboration in the future.
Rakettitiede’s developers Topi Sarkkinen and Tuisku Salminen are happy with the cooperation.
“The project was a success because the work was by and large familiar – there was no need for special tricks,” rocket scientist Topi Sarkkinen says.
“We built the application with a small group of people using agile methods, and the client was pleasant to work with. There were no obstacles, nor did anyone try to deliberately create them,” Topi Sarkkinen says.
“The client knew what they wanted. I’m not saying that the customer should always have all the answers, but with the RapsiApp the fact that the Apetit team expressed their wishes so well really helped with the process. It meant that we were constantly on the same page.”
Having a blast
Topi Sarkkinen says that creating mobile apps is something Rakettitiede knows how to do.
“It’s always great to get more experience, especially when it comes to submitting an app to app stores. That’s something you don't get to do every week. The project was a success because the work was by and large familiar – there was no need for special tricks.”
Tuisku Salminen agrees:
According to rocket scientist Tuisku Salminen, fun tasks speed up the development process.
“The collaboration was a great refresher. I for one like doing these gigs, they’re a blast,” Salminen says.
“It’s fun and pleasant work,” Sarkkinen agrees.
“When that’s the case, things get finished quickly. And we always ensure a high-quality end product, so there’s no need to feel ashamed afterwards,” Salminen summarises.
Did creating RapsiApp teach anything else?
“We learned quite a lot about oil plants,” Sarkkinen says smiling.
Jani Kielenniva also gives kudos for the learning process:
“The guys from Rakettitiede really knew how to put themselves in a Finnish oil plant farmer’s shoes.”