Director of Business Development Linda Seppälä heads Receptum's strategic planning. She also works as a business consultant.
How did you come to work in the sector and Receptum?
I have always been interested in information technology. My mother taught automatic data processing and we always had computers in our house and saw them in a positive light. When I was younger, I used to play games a lot, mostly strategy games. Visions of the future also intrigued me, and I read a lot of science fiction.
I trained as a pharmacist, as I was interested in medicine, but could not stand the sight of blood. I was already interested in the IT sector during my studies and I did my dissertation on electronic prescriptions 10 years before they became available. My background made me enthusiastic about Receptum, where I can combine my passion for the pharmacy and IT sectors with an attitude of continuous development.
What have you done at Receptum?
My first task was heading a quality project titled HUIPPU. The objective of the project was to create agile approaches, which could be used to provide the best possible quality today, tomorrow, and in the future. We needed to create specifications for approaches that would ensure quality, and thus pursue ISO9001 quality certification, as Receptum had grown so much in 10 years. Common rules were needed.
The year-long project had to be approached with the characteristically relaxed Receptum attitude and as little documentation as possible. I had not previously done anything like this, even though working as a pharmacist does include a fair bit of creating directives.
All the planning work was done together: We created common rules and agreed on roles and responsibilities. We specified objectives and indicators for all operations. The work was made easier by the fact that Receptum’s products and services are at an excellent level. We did not require change so much as documentation of jointly agreed upon approaches. It has been great to see the amazing level of expertise we have. And we received the certification on our first try.
What new insights has the quality project and working at Receptum provided you?
The most significant insight of the quality certification work was realizing that instead of a quality system, the objective was a management system. Instead of writing directives, it is more important to ensure the effectiveness of internal communications and agree on roles and responsibilities. In addition, you have to specify clear objectives and indicators for operations.
I have also learned about understanding imperfection. Whereas in a pharmacy, things are generally either correct or incorrect due to the precision inherent to the sector, in IT nothing is black and white. The world is never finished. There are so many opportunities that you just have to grab. You also have to have the opportunity to fail; the only way to progress is to experiment.
In the auditing for the certification, it was good to also hear about the things that we had done well. We received a lot of positive feedback for our work. It was astonishing how the system replacement could be performed without having to close the pharmacy. And not a single one of our system replacements has failed.
It has been great to see the amazing level of expertise we have.
How do the clients see your work?
Due to our quality project, our clients receive the best possible service from us. That ensures, for example, that information is shared quickly internally, and we have clearly defined rules in all areas of the operation. In the future, I would like to share the lessons and insights provided by the quality project with our clients as well and help them succeed in their own quality projects.
What is the best part of your work?
The pleasant work community is the best part of my work. I also like the fact that Receptum has a continuous desire to keep developing tools, methods, and the entire industry.
We also want to celebrate our successes together: Each Friday we have a staff meeting, where we discuss our successes from the week. It provides a nice opportunity to meet everyone in a positive mood. It is always a good time and provides a bit of good humor for the week.
How do you maintain and improve your competence?
It is an inherent challenge of our sector that we are operating in new, uncharted waters. We have to search for information and experiment. I myself have taken courses related to quality and management. I also keep a close eye on LinkedIn, where a lot of interesting information is shared. I read a lot online about artificial intelligence, for example. It is also important to keep up with international affairs, such as the pharmacy market in Sweden.
I use the time spent on traveling to learn new things. Each day, I spend at least one hour sitting in my car. During that time, I like to listen to podcasts. My favorite podcast is Framgångspodden by Alexander Pärleros. Most recently I listened to an interview of a futurologist, where the importance of allowing failure was emphasized, for example. You cannot succeed every time.
How do you relax when you are not working?
I do yoga and watch films with my children, mostly superhero movies. Most recently, we watched Avengers: Infinity War.
Three aspects of my work that demonstrate five-star quality
● High customer satisfaction
● Well-functioning internal communication
● Positive team spirit at work
Who: Linda Seppälä, Director of Business Development
What is your background: I am a pharmacist by training and also hold a Specialist Qualification in Management in the pharmacy sector. Among other things, I have worked as a pharmacist and provided consultation as an entrepreneur.
What do you do at Receptum: My most important job is to ensure that our employees have optimal conditions that allow them to perform at a high level and serve the clients. With regard to the future, I am interested in helping our clients develop their business operations, which is what we are already doing with MAXX.
Hobbies: As the mother of three boys, I have little time for hobbies, but I read a lot of fiction, detective novels, and literature related to my field. I do yoga and try to exercise in a versatile manner. I also like traveling.
Your motto at work: Change is a possibility.
