Profitable and sustainable business 

The Otava Group’s three business areas are Books, Otava Learning and Media. The Books business consists of Otava Publishing Company’s general literature (which includes fiction, non-fiction, and children’s and young adult literature), Otava Book Printing Ltd, and Suomalainen Kirjakauppa Ltd (which sells books and other products). Otava Learning is part of Otava Publishing Company, and its line of business is publishing learning materials. Our Media business area is run by Otavamedia Oy, which publishes magazines. 

As a family-owned company, our aim is to create economic wellbeing by ensuring the continuity and operating conditions of our forward-looking and profitable business activities. In 2024, the Finnish association for family businesses, Perheyritysten liitto, gave its Family Business of the Year award to Otava.

Our memberships in both the United Nations Global Compact and the FiBS corporate responsibility network reinforce our commitment to sustainable and ethical business practices.

Value chain

The Otava Group’s supply chain in Finland consists of about 3,050 subcontractors. The largest single group comprises small companies who provide content. The Otava Group’s 50 key subcontractors accounted for 63 per cent of total purchases, of which 19 subcontractors represented 50 per cent of total purchases. These are mainly companies that supply goods or provide distribution, printing and ICT services. During the reporting year, the Otava Group’s total purchases from goods suppliers and service providers totalled EUR 160 million.

In 2024, the Finnish association for family businesses, Perheyritysten liitto, gave its Family Business of the Year award to Otava.

Data, information security and data protection

The responsible use of data and the careful and appropriate processing of personal data are essential aspects of our daily work, and the Otava Group’s Code of Conduct guides us in these areas as well. Training, briefings and bulletins help us to ensure that our personnel are aware of the requirements for information security and data protection.

Responsible use of data

The Otava Group is committed to using data responsibly.

We adhere to the Group’s jointly agreed principles on data usage. We carefully manage data throughout its lifecycle, and safeguard its quality and accuracy.

We continued the technical development of our data platforms in 2024. We are developing infrastructure and solutions that will allow data to be used securely by automated processes and artificial intelligence.

Information security and data protection

Privacy is a fundamental right for every one of us. As we process personal data in the course of our activities, we want to maintain a feeling of trust in the digital services and systems we administer.

The Otava Group and its personnel are committed to processing personal data carefully and responsibly. We monitor changes in legislation, data protection regulations and compliance to ensure that privacy and personal data usage rights are being respected. We always comply with our privacy policies and practices when processing personal data.

Our privacy and security policies are constantly evolving, and our goal is to maintain business continuity as seamlessly and efficiently as possible.

We regularly assess our information security and seek to identify cyber risks to our operations. This ensures that Group companies have layered protection against cyber threats. Our preparedness for threat detection and prevention is constantly being improved.

We monitor changes in legislation, data protection regulations and compliance to ensure that privacy and personal data usage rights are being respected.

Our personnel deepen their knowledge of information security and data protection with the aid of online courses. These courses are also part of our employee onboarding. During 2024, we also provided additional training and participated in Finland’s national Tieto24 cybersecurity preparedness drills. Employees were regularly provided with bulletins about current issues in information security and data protection, and we also organised a data protection theme day on topical issues.

We actively monitor developments in regulations governing data, information security and privacy.  We are also enhancing our data protection management model, and are assessing our activities from the perspective of accountability. We are also actively helping to develop national and industry-specific cybersecurity in the information exchange and collaboration groups that are being coordinated by the National Emergency Supply Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre Finland.

During the reporting year, both a cookie decision issued by Traficom and Otavamedia’s subsequent appeal against it were being handled by the Administrative Court. No ruling was given during the reporting year.