“Laying the puzzle to see the bigger picture”

Knowing the business climate and how the market is developing is key for a successful business. An important person who provides that insight at DeLaval is Clara Secher, Market Intelligence Analyst.

Since joining DeLaval in 2016, Clara Secher has been an integral part of the Strategic Market Intelligence team seated in Tumba, Sweden. “In my daily work in the Market Intelligence team, I am trying to understand the external market environment, events, and how it impacts DeLaval. It could be anything from milk prices, milk production, weather conditions, structural changes, and political decisions, to what our competitors are doing,” Clara explains. “I see it as a puzzle, where you try to find and fit all the pieces to each other to create the big picture. I am constantly working on making sure that the wealth of information we have in our databases and other information is shared around the organization to help the product management, markets, and support functions take the best decision.”

Clara has been at DeLaval for six years, but her journey within the dairy industry started well before that. She grew up on a dairy farm in Sweden with her family and was early exposed to how dairy farms are operated. “During my childhood, I was very scared of the big and sometimes little crazy cows at the farm. So when I first got the question if I wanted to milk the cows, I was a bit hesitant,” she says. But she faced her fears and did eventually go up at 3:30 am to do the milking. She did so for a few months, and that experience laid the foundation for what would become her future career.

 “After I had been in the barn during the months of early mornings milking cows, I knew three things: I do not want to milk cows for the rest of my life, cows are the nicest and loveliest animals on this planet, and that I have to understand why dairy farmers cannot get better paid for their milk.”

She started studying at the university and took a master’s degree in economic analysis. “I knew the efforts behind each kg of milk, and with my degree in economics I could start gathering all the relevant data points to start laying the puzzle,” Clara says. “That is also why I feel it is great to be working for a company such as DeLaval, that makes it possible for farmers around the world to improve their and their cows’ lives. It makes it even more impactful to work for a market leader that has been in the business for a long time. DeLaval focuses on quality, sustainability, and animal welfare – which all are very important to me.”

Working with colleagues around the globe in order to produce market insights is something that Clara finds extra rewarding in her daily work. “I collect information from our internal organization and working cross-functional with colleagues from a great variety of departments gives me that extra energy. What inspires me is that we are all working towards the same goal. This is somewhat extra important to me right now, as I just got back after over a year’s parental leave. To be back in the office and see all my engaged colleagues really makes me excited to work again.”

Finally, Clara shares her thought on the most important component of her work as a Market Intelligence Analyst. “I must know why I open the computer every day, that what I do has a purpose. And knowing that I can contribute to making the life of cows and farmers just a little bit better through my analyses answers that question for me.”

Thank you, Clara, for sharing what you do and for your great work helping cows and farmers across the globe!