Dream Broker wishes to express their gratitude and thanks to their customers, and this holiday season will be making a donation on behalf of all their customers to support the mental health and wellbeing across Europe. The donation will go to the Finnish Association for Mental Health (MIELI), to whom Dream Broker has already made multiple donations, and also, in recognition of the power of musical therapy and art, the Sibelius Academy as a part of the University of Arts.

Instead of sending physical gifts, Dream Broker wished to do something more meaningful and lasting. As a company, Dream Broker is committed in a number of ways to maintaining a positive standard of corporate social responsibility. Dream Broker has already donated to MIELI in the past and wants to continue supporting their work now and in the future.

Operating for over 120 years, MIELI is the oldest non-governmental organisation dedicated to mental health in the world. In addition to operating at an international level, they are also one of the largest mental health organisations in Finland, with 54 local member associations, being run by almost 150 professionals and over 3,000 volunteers. Their goals include promoting mental health and wellbeing, providing crisis support and preventing mental health issues. Their aim is to build a society wherein people can talk about mental health safely, confidently and without stigma.

An internationally recognised centre for developing the musical arts, the Sibelius Academy is the cornerstone of music culture in Finland thanks to its expertise in teaching, research, and artistic activities. The Sibelius Academy is one of the largest music academies in Europe, with the primary mission of renewing and fostering the music culture. The love of music and uncompromising passion for their work is the driving force behind this mission.

A creative community of approximately 1,500 students and 500 teachers, the Sibelius Academy attracts the best from across the continent to study, learn and teach. The international nature of the institution is reflected in everything they do, from research and teaching to concerts and other activities. One of their areas of focus is researching and teaching the relationship between music and the mind.

Dream Broker is a firm believers in supporting their customers, employees, and the community, and see that supporting these two organisations is both a valuable and meaningful endeavour. Mika Ahokas, CEO of Dream Broker, encourages everyone, as individuals and companies, to support the mental wellbeing and health of those around them.

Watch this greeting to find out more:

Follow the link for more greetings from our teams: https://resources.dreambroker.com/holiday-donation-2021

Additional information:

CEO, Mika Ahokas, Dream Broker Ltd, Tel. +358 40 583 7782, mika.ahokas@dreambroker.fi

PR & Communications: Alexandra Taimitarha, Dream Broker Ltd, Tel. +358 40 410 8188, alexandra.taimitarha@dreambroker.fi

With more than 14 years of video communication technology experience and after becoming a market leader in on-demand video communication solutions in Northern Europe, Dream Broker is launching today its first live video communication technology – Webcasting. As a part of Dream Broker Studio, Webcasting is Dream Broker’s first live video communication solution and a major milestone in our journey to become an online video software powerhouse with a complete range of video communication technologies covering all the communication needs of our customers.

Using Dream Broker Studio with Webcasting, our customers can take advantage of both on-demand video and live video streaming, maximising the effects of their content depending on their use case.

Internally or externally, Webcasting allows the targeting of audiences in relation to the style of content being communicated. For example, timely information such as CEO reports, monthly townhall meetings or important new product launches, all could be effectively communicated with Webcasting.

“Dream Broker software with Webcasting fulfils the most important communication, leadership and training needs of any organisation and makes it smooth to choose between on-demand and live video communication on a daily basis. Once you have it, you will love it.” – Mika Ahokas, CEO

Webcasts can be easily and securely shared via the Dream Broker Studio’s existing channel structures and communication workflows. In the same way that anyone in an organisation can create, edit, manage, share and analyse on-demand videos, they can now choose to start their own live webcasting event without the need to hire external professionals or expensive equipment.

Dream Broker Studio with Webcasting is an end-to-end and easy-to-use live video communication solution for any organisation. It enables the users to choose how they communicate their content in order to achieve the greatest impact, either as a live video, or an on-demand video. Users can even combine the two, with webcasts being recorded simultaneously and automatically added to the presenter’s Dream Broker Studio account upon ending the live session. This enables the webcast recording to be edited, managed and shared in exactly the same way as any on-demand video, all within the Dream Broker Studio online video platform.

With this new release, our customers are gaining even more flexibility and value in their most important communication, leadership and training use cases.

Join the revolution of communication in a fun, natural and productive way with video. Anywhere, anytime and on any device. Dream Broker is welcoming all its existing and future customers to Live it. Live.

Watch this short video to find out how it works:

Follow the link to learn more: https://resources.dreambroker.com/webcasting

Additional information:

CEO, Mika Ahokas, Dream Broker Ltd, Tel. +358 40 583 7782, mika.ahokas@dreambroker.fi

PR & Communications: Alexandra Taimitarha, Dream Broker Ltd, Tel. +358 40 410 8188, alexandra.taimitarha@dreambroker.fi

Dream Broker has been featured in the Top 250 ICT companies list in Finland this year. The Tivi Top 250 list is released every year and outlines the top performing ICT companies in Finland. Making it onto the list at number 236 as a private, independent company is a great, and rare achievement of which Dream Broker is proud. This is because the majority of companies in the list are subsidiaries or local branches of global ICT giants, publicly listed international companies, or one of many growth companies that have significant backing from venture capital funds. The list is the work of the authoritative IT and technology magazine in Finland, Tivi.

Exceeding the 10 million Euro revenue milestone in 2020 only encouraged Dream Broker to continue to invest in their people and company more. Attracting more talent to all six countries where the company operates today, Dream Broker are also continuously expanding its operations to new countries. By the year 2025, the company expects to expand its operations to a global level including all corners and continents. The continued long-term growth is a good indicator that they are well on their way in becoming a truly market-leading online video software powerhouse, that has the capacity to serve all the needs and use cases of its customers.

“Building, growing and expanding a company from scratch is anything but easy. So it is no mystery why entrepreneurs are willing to welcome funding from private venture capitalists, other investors, or selling part of their ownership to external parties such as strategic buyers or competitors. It is certainly a good option for some, but we are proud to prove that it is not the only option,” says Dream Broker CEO, Mika Ahokas.

In today’s world of hundred-million Euro investment slush funds, growing an independent company beyond the basement or garage, let alone to achieve international recognition as an industry leader, could be considered highly unlikely at best. Yet, Dream Broker has grown to its current size without the aid of big investment Euros, reinvesting its revenue directly into the people, the products and development.

“It is important for the Finnish and European economies that companies with alternative financial models exist. Diversity in this way is critical for building a strong future, in the same way that a diverse workforce is key for building a strong company.”

Make no mistake, Dream Broker is on the radar of many investors, but Ahokas and his company have been confidently moving from strength to strength since day one. With scores of brilliant employees at his side, he sees no reason why Dream Broker can’t continue its impressive growth and become one of the big players, competing with other software giants on the global scale. Dream Broker’s vision and dream is to disrupt the long history of U.S. based companies dominating the world stage, by leading the way for more European companies to compete at the same level.

One of the key challenges and concerns facing the European political landscape has been to secure the EU’s interests, and avoid it becoming a second-tier economy. This can only be achieved by cultivating companies like Dream Broker, and championing the innovative spirit of European businesses. That is why Dream Broker and its people believe that it is vital for Finland and Europe to lead by example, proving that independent companies operated in the style of a family business, can survive. But more than that, they can achieve great success, and even become the benchmark of their industry.

“I want this company to continue to grow as a result of the people within our offices. Without the major external investor money, we know that the people who want to work with us are genuine believers in our vision, and who honestly want to be a part of our exceptional journey,”

“An independent company requires strong ambition, passion and heart from all of its employees, and I am incredibly proud of each and every one of our people because I know that they have all been integral to our ongoing and continued success”.

Ahokas is quick to highlight the family culture he has fostered and develops at Dream Broker, believing that the new era of collaborative, agile and dynamic business management can, and should apply to software companies. All of the owners of the company have started as employees, exemplifying the CEO’s desire to cultivate a genuine team spirit and family attitude. He hopes his efforts, and those of his employees might inspire others.

“Everybody knows that the people are the most important asset of any company. This is one of the reasons why I personally interview every employee who joins our team. My door is open, and I look forward to meeting all our new talent,” says Mika Ahokas, CEO.

Open positions can be found from the Dream Broker website: https://dreambroker.com/careers/

Additional information:

CEO, Mika Ahokas, Dream Broker Ltd, Tel. +358 40 583 7782, mika.ahokas@dreambroker.fi

PR & Communications: Alexandra Taimitarha, Dream Broker Ltd, Tel. +358 40 410 8188, alexandra.taimitarha@dreambroker.fi

Media: https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tassa-ovat-suomen-250-suurinta-it-yritysta/b29a81ca-3d12-4614-9581-d24c1d376954

In the Nordics, when someone is looking to purchase some sports or outdoor equipment, chances are they will go to an XXL store. This is because they trust that they will find the predictability of well-known brands, enjoy a wide selection of products, and they won’t be overcharged. It is through these simple business values that XXL grew to become the market leader in the Nordics, with over 90 megastores selling well-known sports brands and outdoor gear.

Sometimes, meteoric growth can be attributed to luck, but in the case of XXL, it was hard work, intelligent business decisions and a strong culture of ‘doing things right,’ that led to the company achieving such enviable business success. So, what can we learn from this burgeoning Norwegian company that can be applied to other businesses?

There are many pillars required to sustain the growth of a business, and it is no secret that communication is key in every business, of any size. However, some keys are difficult to use, and just having the key does not enable the door to be unlocked.

Simply knowing that communication is critical to business success is not enough to achieve it. As it was one of the world’s fastest growing retailers of sports and outdoor goods, XXL recognised this and began extensive research and investigation into how to turn “communication” from an obscure caption on a motivational poster, into concrete business gains. Jon Harald Espolin Johnson is the Head of Training and Development – Group Operations at XXL, and in commenting about their successful growth, he stated: “All in all, we are about 5,000 people. To be successful, we need highly skilled and motivated people. In general, we are increasing our online training capacities, and COVID-19 accelerated this”.

The trademark grey buildings, with the neon green signage are practically a part of the landscape of Northern Europe, almost as recognizable as the Golden Arches. For years, this iconic Norwegian brand has been steadily growing and expanding, providing a textbook example of scalable business growth to a population who are no strangers to successful business.

In addition to the well-known and popular physical stores, Johnson explains that they “…have a very strong and growing e-commerce business”. Obviously, the entire global economy underwent significant changes due to COVID-19, with e-commerce being a major focus worldwide.

Without disregarding this trend, XXL believes that a healthy balance between online retail and physical stores is important. Managing Director of XXL Austria, Magnus Kreuger said “In these challenging times, it is particularly gratifying that we will open the eighth [Austrian] branch in Klagenfurt in 2021. I am very proud of it. Now is the right time and the location is perfect.”

With news channels flooded with reports of companies like Amazon reporting it “had doubled its quarterly profits with net sales rising by 40%” (The Guardian, 18/11/21), it could seem that e-commerce was leaving brick-and-mortar stores in the dust. This makes it easy to question XXL’s decision to continue investing in physical stores. However, reports by such publications as the Financial Times suggest that the data tells a different story. A dive into the 2019 FT 1000 ranking of Europe’s fastest growing companies claims that “The answer is online, or with a calibrated mix of web and bricks-and-mortar sales.”

Clearly, focusing on both e-commerce and physical stores is one of the successful strategies that XXL employed. But this is easier said than done, because as we have already established, communication is key. For a company as large as XXL, especially one that is growing at a similar rate, having effective, meaningful communication systems in place is absolutely critical.

One of the traps a lot of businesses fall into, is relying on outdated methods of communication, such as email, to handle things such as trainings, updates or announcements. A manager or CEO may spend days creating and honing a company-wide email, notifying staff of a particular update, new system or process, with the result often being only marginally better than not communicating at all.

The reason for this is that as a method of communication, email is relatively limited, and almost dangerously ineffective. In this and practically every cases where information is coming from a senior management position and being transmitted to large swathes of employees, an email is a one-way communication method.

Nobody ever replies to these kind of emails, so there is no direct response that the information was received. Worse than that, it is almost impossible to get any data or metric on how many people saw the email and/or opened it. Even if this data is accessible, there is no way to know if the whole email was read. Even worse still, speaking of accessible data, email as a medium is not cyber secure!

In addition, no matter how carefully the email is crafted, there is nothing inspiring about it. Email has become the most reviled communication tool in business, representing a faster, cheaper fax machine. Well respected business magazine Forbes has published a plethora of content, damning the medium;

“Today, we get excited when we manage to empty an inbox, as if it were an accomplishment. The effort we put into this daily disposal ritual is silly, considering most of what we receive is clutter. Email is failing because it’s not productive to spend hours managing your means of communication.”

One of the reasons why email is still so widely used, is because everyone has it. But for larger companies, emails are far from the best solution to communication. The above reasons are just a few examples as to why. So, what is the solution?

Like all of us, XXL recognised that communication was critical to their continued success. What they did differently, is they understood that it required further development. As an example, companies with large and/or scattered workforces can struggle to manage employee trainings. Online training has been largely underdeveloped in recent history, and suddenly became an international necessity with the COVID-19 pandemic. With companies all around the world looking for ways to successfully manage the training of their employees, the search for solutions has grown drastically. Jon Harald commented:

“A key question we asked ourselves was what is high quality training content? We realised that to reach out and engage our people, we need to create more video-based training content. So last year we searched the market and luckily, we found Dream Broker”

One of the key findings that XXL realised, was the value of video based content. The explosive growth of video content consumption in just the social media sphere recently indicates a new pattern in the Information Age;

If we consume so much content in video form in our private lives, why wouldn’t it work in a business environment?

As a medium, it is rivalled only by face-to-face (f2f) meetings in terms of how effectively information is exchanged and absorbed and although it may come as a surprise, utilising video in a business environment is more accessible than ever. It no longer requires huge budgets, reels of film and a lifetime of filmmaking skills. With the right tools, an effective, professional video can be created by anyone in less time than it takes to prepare for an in-person meeting.

Another thing to consider is that once made, a video is a reusable asset, unlike a manager’s time. A video can be replayed over and over, without requiring any further time for meetings. This is one example of how a video can prove to be even more advantageous than a f2f meeting.

But beyond repeatability and saving time, video affords another metric that is oft overlooked when compared to f2f meetings, and that is trackability. It can be widely assumed that if someone is present in the meeting room, that they are absorbing all the knowledge and information that is coming at them during the meeting. But listening, and understanding are two very different things. How often have you noticed someone whose attention wanders in the middle of a meeting?

There has been a recent uptick in journals and medical papers publishing evidence to corroborate that which most of us already assumed; we all learn differently. Some people may have the ability to sit and absorb information as it flows to them, for hours on end. There are many others, though, who may absorb information better a different way, and this does not make them any less effective.

So, whilst someone may be physically in the meeting room, they may not be absorbing all the information. It is not acceptable to just get up and walk out of a meeting when your attention wavers. A video, however, can be paused, and returned to when it suits you best, meaning you are able to consume the information on your own terms, in a way that best suits your learning method. Furthermore, with access to analytic data like this, you have a much more comprehensive review of what information has been consumed and understood, not just delivered.

In Dream Broker Studio, you can capture, edit, share, manage and analyse video content on anywhere, on any device, all in one entirely cyber secure platform. When asked about why he chose Dream Broker, Johnson commented:

“In Dream Broker, it is so easy to capture, to edit and to share, and we’ve seen that after just two hours of training, our employees are ready to launch self-made videos. Regarding support, Dream Broker offers local offices in our operating countries. To be honest, we are really impressed by the service level they offer, and there are no hidden costs. To sum up, we are really happy working with Dream Broker.”

Dream Broker Studio enables you to onboard new employees faster and continue to train existing ones. Reinforce the employer brand and let your employees tell their stories. Build a culture of sharing know-how through video. Reach and teach your employees no matter where they are located.

Whether you work in HR, IT, Marketing, or any function in the organisation, you can save time and costs by using online videos as a communication and leadership tool.

At Dream Broker, we help our customers lead their markets. That is how we became market leaders ourselves. We don’t simply sell a software, we help our customers reach their business goals through effective leadership, training, and communication.