First and foremost, technology must address a real need and create value.Jon Marius Håkedal
He joins from his position as Chief Technology Officer at Solwr Software. At Anda-Olsen, he will now have the opportunity to apply his technology experience closely to the business, its products and its customers.
It is a combination that aligns well with the kind of work he wants to focus on going forward.
“I have always had a particular interest in technology where IT can be combined with physical products and solutions. When the opportunity arose to work within an exciting field, in a company that is also on a growth journey, the choice was an easy one.”
“Anda-Olsen has grown rapidly in recent years, and we need to strengthen both our capacity and expertise to further develop the business digitally. We are very pleased to have Jon Marius on board and to have him lead this work,” says Jon Kjærstad, CEO of Anda-Olsen.
Technology as an enabler, not an end in itself
Jon Marius is clear about what should come first when new technology is considered: the need. Technology should serve a specific purpose, not be introduced simply because it is new.
“First and foremost, technology must address a real need and create value.”
At the same time, solutions should be future-oriented, open to integration and kept as simple as possible. Excessive complexity increases costs in development, operation and maintenance.
“When technology and digitalisation are more closely connected to business development, we can take real business needs as our starting point and use technology, information and insight as tools to create actual and measurable value.”
From raw data to insight
One area where he sees particularly significant opportunities is the flow of data throughout the organisation. Information already exists in ERP systems, operational systems, documentation and connected products. The real value emerges when these data can be viewed in context and used as a basis for better decisions.
“There are significant opportunities in creating a more integrated flow of data across the business, where data from ERP systems are combined with operational data and transformed from raw data into information and insight.”
Over time, he sees opportunities to connect information more closely throughout the entire product lifecycle, from engineering and production to installation, operation and service. This can provide a stronger basis for both internal improvements and the development of new services for customers.
AI will be important, but it is only part of the picture
When asked which technology trends will have the greatest impact in the years ahead, Jon Marius first points to AI.
“A technological transformation is under way, and every industry will, for better or worse, be affected by it.”
For Anda-Olsen, he sees opportunities in areas such as more efficient knowledge work, digital assistants, decision support, quality assurance and automation.
Another promising area is the combination of telemetry from connected products with technical documentation and AI, enabling information to be used more effectively to understand system status and diagnose problems.
At the same time, he emphasises that traditional machine learning remains highly relevant for areas such as prediction, anomaly detection and risk scoring.
“Machine learning can identify patterns and anomalies in data, while language models can place those findings in a broader context, combine them with documentation and make the information understandable and actionable for people.”
He also highlights cybersecurity and information security, digital twins, edge computing, IoT and the increasingly close connection between IT, operational technology (OT) and physical products as important areas of development.
Building on the digital foundation
As CDO, Jon Marius will work broadly across digital strategy and business development. His role also includes further developing data flows and the company’s digital foundation, as well as leading the work within IT and information security.
At the same time, he will help explore how technology can contribute to better processes and new solutions, services and products.
“What I am perhaps most looking forward to is building on the good work that has already been done, developing an even stronger foundation for the future and using that as a starting point for creating new opportunities.”
About Jon Marius
Jon Marius Håkedal is 48 years old and has around 20 years of experience in the technology industry. Before joining Anda-Olsen, he was CTO at Solwr Software. He has previously worked at Statnett, Harald A. Møller and Knowit.
He holds a master’s degree in computer science from NTNU, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Agder and a two-year vocational qualification in electrical engineering.
He now brings his experience in technology, systems architecture and leadership into a role where digital development will be more closely connected to business and products.
