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Interview with Jarkko Turtiainen, SVP, North America, Cloudpermit 

Cloudpermit, a SaaS company based in Finland, moved its North American headquarters from Canada to Fairfax County in 2021. Jarkko Turtiainen, Cloudpermit’s Senior Vice President for North America, talked to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority about the company, its innovative technologies, and why Fairfax.

FCEDA: Please provide an overview of your company and its mission.

Jarkko Turtiainen: Cloudpermit provides local governments with online community development software. We offer simple and user-friendly software solutions for building permitting, business licensing, planning & zoning, and code enforcement. Our mission is to empower local governments to digitalize and improve citizen experience across the U.S. and Canada. We work with over 700 local governments and are excited to expand our reach for modernized community development across the nation.

FCEDA: When and where was Cloudpermit founded?

Jarkko Turtiainen: In 2011, we saw a gap in community development software. So, in Finland, we created Cloudpermit so that any-sized government could benefit from online processes. Several years ago, we came to North America and now work with hundreds of American and Canadian governments for online land management.

FCEDA: When and why did you open your Fairfax County headquarters office and what is its main business focus?

Jarkko Turtiainen: We were looking to establish a North American headquarters and were on the hunt for the perfect location to call home. In our research, we met with (former) Governor Northam and his delegation during the spring of 2021 while in Germany. After this meeting, it became clear that Virginia was the right choice for our company to put down roots since the state has the highest concentration of tech talent in the U.S.

We asked Governor Northam where we should create our company base, and he encouraged us to consider Fairfax County. After doing some research, we learned that thousands of tech companies have made Fairfax County home since it is a fast-growing, safe, and welcoming community.

It was important to us that we felt personal involvement from key leaders in Virginia and the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, and we did. We felt even more confident in our decision after learning first-hand how other businesses in Fairfax County were achieving great success.

In the summer of 2021, we opened our Fairfax County headquarters office and could not be happier with our decision.

FCEDA: What’s innovative about your technology?

Jarkko Turtiainen: Our user-friendly technology is innovative because we were built with local governments for local governments, so we offer exactly what our customers need, give them the efficiency the cloud provides, and can be used by any government. While creating software tailored to meet the needs of governments, we engaged with numerous government officials to understand their viewpoints, challenges, and software requirements – and we still do. We regularly update our software with the feedback we receive from our customers. We highly value how our customers respond to our software and are continuously improving how our solutions work.

We place great importance on customer feedback and regularly update our software to reflect what our customers want. Not only do we listen, but we seek out new ideas from our customers in our continuous search for improvement.

FCEDA: Do you collaborate with other companies in the Greater Washington, D.C. region?

Jarkko Turtiainen: It’s important to us to collaborate with local companies in the Greater Washington, D.C. area to support our community. We work with a variety of companies for printing, promotional materials, office furniture, shipping, and recruitment purposes. It gives us great pride to feed into our neighborhood’s economy.

FCEDA: Why is Fairfax County a great location for Cloudpermit?

Jarkko Turtiainen: We enjoy living and working in Fairfax County – it is a great location for any company that wants to grow in the U.S. A few of our team members and their families relocated from Canada and Finland. So, we prioritized establishing our headquarters in a welcoming, family-friendly community close to the airport for easy travel. Our move has helped establish our brand as a top software company in the government space.

FCEDA: It has been two years since you established your Reston HQ. How do you like it here so far?

Jarkko Turtiainen: We love working and living in Reston – it feels like home. Our office is close to the airport for easy domestic and international travel, part of a great neighborhood, and our staff members with children enjoy having access to top schools. We cannot imagine being anywhere else.

FCEDA: Are you looking to hire talent for the Fairfax County location?

Jarkko Turtiainen: Absolutely. We have exciting plans to hire more talent in the Fairfax County area and beyond. From skilled government professionals to creative problem solvers, we’re looking for individuals who are ready to take our company to the next level as we add more features to our offerings.

FCEDA: Is there anything else you’d like to share about Cloudpermit?

Jarkko Turtiainen: Cloudpermit, as a company, is committed to continuous improvement and just like Fairfax County, welcomes new insights to help us become even better. We have additional software solutions coming out this year and the next, and we’re excited to share our innovative ideas with our customers for even better community development.

Find out more at Cloudpermit.com.