ADE Summit 2025 - success at scale

This isn't another conference about "the future of data." This is about what's working right now for companies scaling their data operations successfully.

Expect sharp perspectives. Real stories. Unfiltered insights. This year’s speaker lineup includes data leaders from major organizations in telecom, finance, and retail. They will be sharing how they’ve scaled their data efforts for long-term impact.

Keynote speaker - Veronika Durgin

With over 20 years spanning the entire data landscape, Veronika Durgin has seen it all—from database trenches to C-suite boardrooms. She has built and scaled data teams across various industries, mastering every layer of the data stack and understanding how it all connects to drive real business value.

Veronika’s superpower? Seeing the big picture. While others get lost in technical details or chase AI shiny objects, she understands how data quality, governance, engineering, and AI enablement work together as a unified ecosystem. Her approach is refreshingly practical: strong foundations aren’t glamorous, but they’re what separate lasting success from expensive failures. A passionate advocate for “data as a team sport,” Veronika breaks down silos between technical teams and business stakeholders. She’s dedicated to building cultures where innovation thrives—grounded in reality, not hype.

Why attend

• Get inspired by real-world cases from scaling journeys in demanding environments

• Hear directly from data teams working at the intersection of business and tech

• Connect with professionals from some of the most ambitious data organizations

• Learn what’s next from ADE — and how platform thinking can unlock smarter scale

• Get insights from key technology partners enabling these transformations

AGENDA

14:30 – Doors Open: Refreshments & Snacks available

15:00 – Part 1

• Welcome to Summit

  • Speaker: Juha Teljo (Agile Data Engine)

• ADE Keynote

  • Speakers: Matti Karell (Agile Data Engine), Harri Kallio (Agile Data Engine)

• Keynote – Omenapiirakka Doesn’t Bake Itself. Why Scaling Requires Strong Foundations and Constant Care

  • Speaker: Veronika Durgin (Saks Global)

  • More data, more dashboards, more AI, but where's the value? This keynote explores why efficiency without strategy accelerates decay, and why so many scaling efforts rot from the inside out. Veronika Durgin shares what separates teams that transform data into lasting impact from those drowning in unused inventory. Success demands strong roots, smart recipes, and the courage to keep things fresh.

• Databricks – Reinventing Manufacturing - Driving Growth, Productivity, and Resilience with Data & AI

  • Speaker: Florian Gorzitzke (Databricks)

  • Manufacturing leaders are investing heavily in data and AI — but too often, the results don’t match the promise. This session explores common patterns and pitfalls seen across the industry, and how successful companies are closing the gap between data ambition and real business outcomes. Learn how transformation enablers — not just technology — make the difference between stalled pilots and scalable AI success.

• Customer Success Story – Kesko – Data and insights at retail scale

  • Speaker: Tuuli Bollmann (Kesko)

  • The retail industry has undergone a massive data‑driven transformation. Personalized offers are now the norm, and stores and vendors need near‑real‑time insights to keep up with ever‑growing market expectations. A vast, data‑optimized supply chain is essential to deliver both efficiency and great customer experiences.

    But how do you move billions of rows of transactions across systems and merge them with other data to make this possible?

    In this session, Kesko pulls back the curtain on the platform behind one of Finland’s largest retailers — and how they’ve learned to scale success behind the scenes.

• Break

Part 2

• Snowflake – Bridging technology and business strategy to help companies gain crucial insights from their data

  • Speaker: Sam Bäcknäs, Head of Acquisition Solutions Engineering

  • Enterprise data platforms are great at telling you what happened — but often struggle to help you act on it. In this session, Sam Bäcknäs, Head of Acquisition Solutions Engineering at Snowflake, shares how leading companies are aligning technology with business strategy to close that gap. With over 20 years of experience in data warehousing and BI, Sam unpacks what it really takes to build systems that move from insight to outcome — and deliver decision-ready data when it matters most.

• Customer Success Story – DNA – Business and data - scaling success together

  • Speakers: Juuso Karikoski (DNA), Arto Osala (DNA)

  • Thousands of tables. Tens of thousands of loads every month. Dozens of developers. Multiple business domains. Sound familiar?

    At DNA, the challenge hasn’t just been managing scale — it’s been maintaining the connection between data engineers and the business, so every solution actually delivers value.

    In this talk, DNA shares how their data platform has evolved to handle massive scale without losing the plot. Expect insights on architecture, team collaboration, and how to keep things sane when complexity kicks in.

• Scaling Success Together

  • Speaker: Juha Teljo (Agile Data Engine)

18:00 Dinner & Refreshments

20:00 After-party sponsored by Databricks @ Bar Simon (Simonkatu 9)

Free for participants! Registration is now closed!