As someone who follows the construction industry closely, I have been reflecting on Admicom’s opportunities for growth in the domestic market. Easoft, Fondion, and Evelia are direct competitors that have gained significant market share in recent years. In addition to these, there is a slew of other companies operating in the sector, but Easoft and Fondion are the clearest threats from Admicom’s perspective.
Easoft is also a Jyväskylä-based software company, which was acquired by the Danish company EG at the end of '24. EG also owns Jydacom, which is the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system used by the largest construction companies. Admicom is unable to displace Jydacom’s position as the software provider for the largest construction firms, and Easoft competes in the same customer segment against Admicom’s Ultima.
Fondion, on the other hand, is a relatively new player in the field, with former Admicom employees among its founders. Employees responsible for the technical side jumped from Admicom to Fondion, so one could assume there are some similarities in the software itself. In the most recent financial year, they achieved two million in revenue growth, also turning the bottom line positive.
What causes problems for Admicom in the competition against the aforementioned and other construction software is the “all-in-one” nature of the software suite. When choosing Ultima, a company’s current accountant is forced to switch their financial management software to Ultima, or the company must switch accounting firms entirely to one that also uses Ultima. Competitors, conversely, work through integrations with the major financial management software packages. This creates hurdles, as in the most difficult cases, an entrepreneur would have to be persuaded to change their accounting firm as well when switching their ERP.
Growth is also limited by entrepreneurs’ reluctance to switch software. Digitalization in the construction industry is at such a low level that once an entrepreneur adopts a program to facilitate daily operations, it will likely remain in use for a very long time. Since most small construction and building services companies only need specific features that are found in almost all software, it is difficult to justify the need for a software change to an entrepreneur. Switching would mean an onboarding process for both the entrepreneur and the employees. Learning a new program alongside work and the challenges it brings is a real issue, especially for slightly older entrepreneurs in the field.
Functionality is another area where competitors have been catching up to Admicom in recent years. For example, Fondion has a quantity takeoff tool directly integrated into its main software. The functionalities promised for Admicom’s quantity takeoff tool, Quantima—which should have arrived a year ago—are still missing, including integrations with their own programs Ultima and the cost estimation tool Estima.
Admicom has seen a lot of turnover in recent years, which has provided opportunities for former Admicom employees in other companies in the industry. In addition to those behind Fondion mentioned earlier, former CFO Petri Aho is the CEO of competitor Evelia, and Joni Haapamäki, who held various sales roles and served as Business Unit Director, moved to become the CEO of Aceve (formerly known as Pajadata).
As a concluding remark, I would say Admicom’s products are good. Ultima is very extensive in its functionality, but a large part of those features are useful to only a small fraction of entrepreneurs in the field. The construction industry will continue to digitalize, but the competitive landscape has completely changed compared to, for example, the beginning of the decade.