At the Grand One gala held on Thursday 27 March, marketing communications and the most significant digital services that utilise digitalisation were once again awarded. Sitowise participated in the competition for the first time, and success was immediately achieved in two categories.

Metsään.fi won the Most Accessible Digital Service category

- It is absolutely fantastic that the project group's investment in the accessibility of the Metsään.fi service was rewarded! We worked hard for accessibility throughout the project, so this is certainly heartwarming, says Hanna Visuri, Project Manager at Sitowise.

The jury's award criteria for the victory:

This e-service is an exemplary example of how a service with complex content can be designed to be accessible to everyone. Many other services are half-finished in terms of accessibility, but this implementation has built a high-quality and user-friendly experience for everyone from the beginning. The user base of the service is wide and diverse, and the design has succeeded in taking into account very different accessibility needs. The implementation does not rely on just one user group, but it takes into account users who face motor, visual and cognitive challenges. Special praise is also due to the fact that the service serves ageing users smoothly, who are often overshadowed by digitalisation. User-oriented design and consideration of accessibility have made this service a good example of how accessibility and a good user experience go hand in hand.

Sitowisen Hanna Visuri ja Selko Digitalin Jere Havo vastaanottivat Grand One kilpailun palkinnon.
In the photo: Hanna Visuri from Sitowise and Jere Havo from Selko Digital.

- Producing such a complex service to meet accessibility requirements was not an easy task, and it would not have been possible without the strong desire of the Finnish Forest Centre to invest in the matter. Thanks are also due to Selko Digital, who audited our output and went through the observations with the application developers, increasing our understanding of the topic, Hanna praises the cooperation.

- I am really proud of the application developers of the Metsään.fi service, who succeeded wonderfully in the face of the challenge! Writing accessible code was new to many, and there were several tricky puzzles to solve. Fortunately, our team had Jani Hyvönen, an expert on the subject, who held the accessibility training for other developers and was the driving force of the team in accessibility matters, Hanna says.

Planect was awarded an honourable mention in the Best Data Use category

The jury's criteria for the honourable mention: 

Planectin kunniamaininnan perusteet Grand One kilpailussa.

The solution enables more efficient planning and rapid simulation of the environmental impacts of different solutions with the help of data. Easy and versatile utilisation of data enables better decisions on the environment, climate impacts and construction in a scalable manner. Bring the data designer into an easy-to-use tool. The solution has the potential to help designers make environmentally better and more far-reaching solutions at the right time.

-This is a great recognition of our development work! The jury saw the strengths of our service just as we did, says Eero Puurunen, who is responsible for Planect development.

-Thanks go to the Planect development and maintenance team, which has recently been influenced by Anu Talasranta, Gadidjah Ögmundsdóttir, Iida-Elina Kiminki, Miikka Mänttäri, Roope Taipale, Sameli Sivonen, Samuli Hemminki, Samuli Välimäki and Valtteri Kovanen.