Standing steadily with the boots on the ground and taking it one day at a time – Finland’s Deflog

What was the start of the company?

In Estonia, the company started officially in 2021, but the history of it is much longer. The Finnish HQ was established in 1969, so that could be counted as the date of birth. Before 2021 and the establishment of the official Estonian company, we worked much like we do now but all the administration was handled through the HQ.

How has the company evolved over the years? What major milestones can you discern?

The major milestone is of course the establishment of the Estonian office in 2021. Apart from that, we’ve done the same in Sweden in 2022. The planned expansion of the company is a major milestone, but we consider ourselves in a building and development phase all the time, so there’s more to come in the future.

You say on your website deflog.fi: “Release your resources for other tasks with our services”. Please elaborate.

Not only the defense industry, but others as well usually spend a lot of time/resources on tasks that aren’t their core business. This takes away resources from the valuable work from the core business point of view. What we want to do is to help with the logistics and by doing that the customer can release more time/resources for their core activities.

Assisting national armed forces and related partners with their transportation and logistics needs has perhaps changed or needed adjustments over the years.

Absolutely. In the world before 2022, the MoD’s had a huge focus on international missions, whilst after 2022 the focus has turned on much closer areas. The private defense industry wasn’t as active as it is now. There is also a huge demand for self-sustainability, which is time to time also a demand to us as the service provider.

You’ve been working for decades with the Estonian Defense Forces. Please, speak about that experience.

We don’t want to mention anyone by name. Working in general with military or MoD’s requires an understanding of their demands and way of thinking. Some requirements and expectations don’t arise in the “daily logistics or transportation needs”. The long experience we have working with the MoD’s, as well as experience working in the military, is something where we feel that we can really meet the requirements that are set by the customers.

Finland joined NATO last year. Did the membership bring more competition in the market you operate in? Or created new business opportunities for you?

Of course, all memberships that are being activated in the vicinity of our area of interest bring up new possibilities. Overall, the competition is much tougher now, but that is not due to a certain country/countries, but more of a combination of the situation in the world.

With the war in Ukraine ongoing, the defense industry is commercialized, with many new defense startups emerging in the Baltic and Nordic countries. Do you benefit from that too?

Yes, of course, but it doesn’t automatically mean that business is booming because of this. New companies, depending on their product, might have quite a long road ahead before they get their equipment on the market and logistics is needed. We work long-term and do not think that everything has to be established at once.

Deflog is also a part of civilian crisis management. Please speak about this involvement.

Our knowledge and experience in the defense industry are without a doubt on a high level. In civilian crisis management, the same basic rules usually apply so we can easily use the knowledge we have to support the other. Climate change is bringing up a lot of unexpected happenings and here we come quite well in place. Always ready to serve, whenever and wherever.

Do you have offices in other countries?

Yes, currently in Finland, which is our head office, and then in Sweden. In Denmark and Poland, we have staff working, but no official office yet.

Where do you see Deflog in 10 years from now?

We stand steadily with our boots on the ground and take it one day at a time. However, we want to be a reliable partner that MoD’s and the private defense industry can rely on and hand over their logistics with a confident feeling of superior service. We seek for long-term cooperation that is built on trust and commitment.

How much do you rely on artificial intelligence nowadays?

We don’t want to go into details, but I can say overall that digitalization is a good and important help/added value, but the person still needs to be a master and on top of the business. You need to follow the development, but security, reliability, and experience are still the highest priority in our work.

But, no doubt, it is the team behind you who have to be credited for the success. Who are the brightest minds on your team?

This is no one man or woman show. This is all about the right people managed in the best possible way. Therefore, it would be really wrong to point out someone special!