As part of its strategy, HSL, the Helsinki regional transport authority, needed to modernise its data and AI capabilities. Arked led the journey – from platform selection through design and onboarding — working alongside HSL’s own architects to build the platform, which went live on schedule with early use cases already generating business value.
Legacy platform holding the business back & data not yet AI-ready
HSL’s data was scattered across multiple platforms with no coherent foundation. Data usability beyond basic reporting was low, and analysts were largely running their work on personal computers rather than a shared, governed environment.
At the same time, AI use cases were already on the horizon, and it was clear that realising them would require a solid, secure platform capable of supporting analytics- & AI workloads and well–structured data product development.
HSL recognised that the situation was no longer sustainable and decided to invest in modernising its data- and AI-capabilities.
Finding the right path forward
Together with HSL’s business and technical staff during spring 2025, Arked’s Senior AI and Data Architect reviewed existing assessments and evaluated whether just a CDP or a broader data platform would best serve HSL’s needs for customer-related use cases. The analysis pointed clearly toward a new Data- & AI-platform, and the direction was set from there.
With the direction set, Arked’s expert led the platform selection process, evaluating platform candidates against HSL’s needs and steered the selection to the right choice by early summer 2025.
The new platform ramped up during autumn 2025, with Arked’s senior expert working alongside HSL’s architects to design easy-to-use self-service development tools and templates for data product development and use case deployments.
Arked’s specialist led the full user onboarding through winter 2025 and into spring 2026, taking ownership of the entire process — from presentations and demos to hands-on training.
Up and running, with immediate business impact
The new Data- & AI-platform was delivered on schedule, with early data and AI use cases live and HSL fully operational on the new setup.
Analysts have already built ad hoc visualizations for end-users and moved heavy processing workloads to the platform — saving time and freeing up capacity.
Stakeholder feedback throughout the engagement was outstanding, and the platform is already delivering real value through multiple live use cases.
Client feedback: 10 / 10
“We are extremely satisfied with the results of the project. The expert’s ability to navigate the intersection of business and technology is in a class of its own.”
– Ossi Berg, Head of Data and Analytics Platform, HSL
