Asteroid in 2023: Celebrating 130% growth in a tough market

As we bid farewell to 2023, it’s time to reflect on the past year and look ahead to what the future holds for Asteroid.

Last year Asteroid had its best year yet. While we celebrate our successes, we're mindful of the broader challenges in our industry. The past year in IT consulting has been one of the most difficult, yet at the same time exciting, marked by significant upheavals and transformative changes.

Succeeding in a tough market this well feels special, and we’re thankful for it.

Shining star in dark skies

Last year Asteroid enjoyed significant growth and continued serving our customers successfully on their long-term goals. Almost all of our contracts continued throughout the year, new projects started and we were thrilled to welcome more great people to our company. Here's how 2023 went for Asteroid in numbers and beyond:

📈 Our revenue soared from €1.37M to an impressive €3.15M, with nearly full employment. An important signal of a healthy business!

🤝 We started new customer projects in many industries, such as Education, Energy, Manufacturing, Psychology, and Real estate. Everyone seems to love our collaboration, and the feeling is mutual! Our long-term contracts are a testament to this.

🚀 We welcomed six people and are getting ready for many more to join our ranks in the near future. Currently, Asteroid employs 26 talented individuals.

💙 People like working at Asteroid – our satisfaction score holds strong at 4.7/5.

🌟 We made significant investments in boosting our sales and marketing capabilities. Hats off to our great partners for making us shine – we’ve improved our market presence greatly!

🙌 Last but not least, a big shout-out to our great ecosystem partners Luoto Company, Kipinä, NorthCode, Trail Openers and Vuolu for great collaboration!

Our recipe for serving our customers and employees, and adapting to change, can be easily declared a job well done. Our journey and steady growth from the beginning of Asteroid are signals of a healthy business.

Healthier market as focus shifts back to customers

The IT consulting landscape is evolving due to several key developments. On one hand, the economic downturn has posed significant challenges. On the other hand, we’ve seen a positive trend with customers ramping up their own software development capabilities. This shift, while encouraging, sets new and higher standards for consulting partners. Consequently, established industry players have faced new challenges, with reduced customer projects and declining prices prompting strategic actions to safeguard business stability.

Unfortunately, the near future doesn’t seem much brighter. This year, global growth is expected to be 2.4 percent, with Finland’s growth near zero. Instead of growth and new investments, many Finnish companies now mainly focus on keeping their own operations steady, responding to tightening regulation changes, and boosting productivity – while waiting for the economic cycles to change.

While the market as a whole looks much different than a year ago, in my opinion, in many respects, it also looks healthier. Due to the scarcity of projects, the focus in IT consulting has shifted back to customers. That’s why building everything to primarily serve customers in the best possible way is a smart thing to do.

AI – a bright spot in challenging times

It’s important to stay positive, and in 2023 we also saw some of the most exciting developments in decades, such as massive leaps in artificial intelligence and the emergence of AI tools based on large language models available to everyone.

Tools and coding assistants based on the same principles also permeated everyday life in our field, both in customer organizations and in the daily work of our consultants. It’s been thrilling to see this finally happen and tap into the possibilities of new technology, productivity and quality leaps, together with our customers.

Recruits say talking to Asteroid is a breath of fresh air

This year, we’ll continue on the same steady growth path, serving our customers in digital transformation and building a stronger focus in a few specific industries. We also continue recruiting the best software consultants based in Finland and building an inspiring, diverse workplace. Fortunately, there’s more to it than just my words: We’ve heard from many hiring candidates that talking to us has been like a breath of fresh air and the entire process the best they’ve encountered.

At the moment, the majority of our customer projects concern end-to-end development of web and mobile applications, data and cloud platforms, and technology advisory. Amid the transformative technological changes and with the strategic investments of our customers in mind, we’ve made significant investments in strengthening our already sharp data and AI capabilities.

Lastly, I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our customers, employees and partners. Your trust and success have been the most important parts of our journey and we’re looking forward to the rest of 2024 – good things await!

Wishing you all a dazzling 2024! 💫