Digitalization is no longer a privilege reserved for large companies. It is becoming a key development direction for small and medium-sized businesses as well. A vivid example in Latvia is the company “Will Grow Up,” which, within four years, has managed to create a unique product from an idea while simultaneously transforming and optimizing its internal operations through automation and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
“Will Grow Up” is a family-created brand by two parents, Dagne Kantāne-Indrika and her husband Ivars. It offers children’s memory books in a subscription format. The product is designed to make it easy for busy parents to preserve the most important memories of their child’s early years. Each week, parents receive carefully curated questions, ideas, and tasks that help them meaningfully document key moments—child development, emotions, personal reflections, and everyday experiences. At the end of the year, all content is compiled into a high-quality, beautifully designed, personalized book.
“Our company story started very personally—from our own family experience. The idea came when we realized that while the first child’s memories are carefully documented, with the second child there is often not enough time, or things are simply forgotten. That ‘click’ became the foundation of our product—personalized memory books for a child’s first year, created with the help of reminders sent to parents. It’s important to emphasize that our concept focuses not only on photos but primarily on storytelling, which adds emotional value to the product,” says Dagne.
When Technology Meets Creativity
From the very beginning, the company used digital tools such as automated email reminders and content aggregation. However, over time, book layout became the biggest challenge. Initially, it was a fully manual process—designers created each book individually, which required significant time and human resources.
“This stage became a turning point in the company’s development. To ensure sustainability and scalability, we needed to significantly reduce costs and time while maintaining high quality and personalization,” recalls Ivars.
With co-financing from the European Union’s Recovery Fund, the company implemented an automated layout system with AI elements. This system can structure and analyze user-generated content, automatically create visually appealing layouts, and adapt design according to content volume and style—while still maintaining flexibility so that each book remains unique rather than template-based.
The system reduces manual work, minimizes errors, and significantly accelerates production. It allows the company to process larger volumes of orders more efficiently and speeds up preparation for printing.
“Our goal was to make book creation easier—not a burden. Digitalization made the process much simpler and more user-friendly. Previously, layout was expensive and time-consuming, but with the new digital solution, we can generate ready layouts much faster and at significantly lower cost while maintaining high quality and a personalized approach,” explains the company representative.
The AI-powered system handles large volumes of content and enables scalability, while humans focus on quality, context, and final improvements.
“By reducing technical and manual workload, we gained more time to focus on customer experience, content quality, and product development. It’s important to stress that AI does not replace humans entirely. Our experience shows that the optimal model is a combination—technology handles the heavy lifting, while humans ensure quality control, contextual understanding, and aesthetic judgment,” adds Ivars.
AI – A Tool That Must Be Used Wisely
With digitalization and automation, “Will Grow Up” has shifted from a pure production mode to a development and innovation mode. The founders describe AI as a team member—a virtual employee handling tasks from content processing to marketing and even sales.
“AI helps us work faster and at greater scale, reduce costs, and adapt flexibly to different tasks. However, these solutions also come with costs and require supervision—they are not ‘free employees’ but tools that must be used correctly,” the company representative notes.
Digitalization has also opened new business opportunities. The company is expanding beyond children’s memory books, exploring ideas such as transformation journals—for example, documenting weight loss journeys, personal development, or even home-building stories. They are also considering export opportunities and new markets, where AI helps adapt content to different cultures and audiences.
Benefits Outweigh the Investment
Digitalization and automation are strategic tools for maintaining competitiveness. Businesses that ignore them risk falling behind.
“A simple comparison—using outdated methods in today’s business is like sending faxes while others use digital communication. And AI development is making this gap even wider,” say Ivars and Dagne.
It is already evident that implementing digitalization and AI in daily operations has not only reduced costs and increased efficiency but also allowed company leaders to focus on higher value-added activities—essential for growth and expansion.
“With digitalization, business growth becomes faster and more focused. What we would recommend to other companies is simple—just start and don’t be afraid of AI. Initial skepticism is natural, but once you take the first steps, it becomes clear that the benefits outweigh the investment, and those who adopt it gain a significant advantage,” concludes Ivars.
Latvian entrepreneurs have access to a wide range of state and European Union-funded support for business development, available through the unified business portal “business.gov.lv” and its subsite “liaa.business.gov.lv.” There, companies can find information on various programs—from funding for innovation and new product development to export promotion, international cooperation, digitalization grants, technology implementation, and productivity improvement.
The project is co-financed by the European Union’s Recovery Fund (NextGenerationEU) under the Cohesion Policy Programme 2021–2027. The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission is responsible for them.
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