It is time to introduce this year’s Management Trainees. Visma has put together a group of 10 enthusiastic newly graduated students from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Each one of them has been given an individual project, where they are working for different departments of the organization, at Visma’s headquarters in Oslo. In November they will have their next rotation, where they will be discovering Visma’s offices across borders. Here you can get to know our Trainees and gain more insight into what they are working on.
Academic background
Master in Applied Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, with an exchange semester in Melbourne, Australia.
Bachelor in Business Administration from Reykjavik University, Iceland.
First project
My first project is to perform an infrastructure cost analysis for Visma’s Product Unit. The primary aim of the project is to gain more insights into the cost structure and allocation of resources. The Product Unit at Visma is where the software development takes place. For me, the non-developer, it is really interesting to get to know this area of the organization.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
When the Norwegians say “gay” (gøy) it doesn’t mean that someone is gay, it means fun. That took a while…
Fun fact
I was once forced to lead the Icelandic Viking Clap in front of 550 people.
Academic background
M.Sc.E in Computer Science, specializing in IT-Management, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, with an exchange semester at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
First project
My first project is conducted at Corporate Marketing and Communication at Visma, a department that operates across all business units in the Visma group. As a management trainee I am responsible for evaluating internal search solutions to find an optimal substitute to the one currently used on Visma’s corporate web. My task also includes assessing the risks and consequences of moving the corporate web to the cloud.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
The major cultural clash I have experienced this far is the extremely short and early lunches – a 30 minutes long break at 10:30. Coming from Sweden it will probably take a while for me to adapt from the “Swedish lunch” that always starts at 12:00 and ends at 13:00.
Fun fact
I am a bad-ass at shuffling, both with cards and at dancing.
Academic background
MSc in Finance and Economics from Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, with an exchange semester at Mannheim University, Germany. I majored in finance and minored in economics.
First project
My first project is to design and pilot a security and privacy incident process within Development and across all development teams in Visma Enterprise. The process needs to be compliant with the GDPR, which is a new requirement on data protection which comes to act in May 2018. At first, the project was really challenging for me as it was a lot of new information. I, however, quickly recovered from the initial shock and now find the project highly fascinating.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
The sheer amount of “hytteturer” Norwegians go on. We are of course also outdoorsy in Finland, but it is nothing compared to the Norwegians.
Fun fact
I have absolutely no sense of direction.
Academic background
MSc in Economics and Business Administration from The Norwegian School of Economics, with an exchange semester in Melbourne, Australia. I majored in finance and my minor was The Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship at Berkeley, San Francisco.
First project
Visma is implementing a common community platform for all business units. The main reason for a common community platform is to establish a consistent user experience independent of business units and also be able to better exploit synergies across business units and market. My role in the project is to create an ‘onboarding’ guidebook for all business units in order to make the onboarding process easier for each business unit.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
The Swedish word ‘Fika’ does not mean ‘Else’ in Norwegian as Google translate tells me.
Fun fact
When I was 10 years old I had 2 rats as my pets and 98 dolls. A good mix!
Academic background
Master in Business and Management from Uppsala University in Sweden, with an exchange year in Sydney, Australia.
Bachelor in Business and Economics from Uppsala University, Sweden.
First project
My first project is at Visma Mamut, where I will focus on the automatization of the communication and sales to the customers. Through a customer database, interviews with employees and customers, I will be able to discover data driven opportunities in order to improve the customer’s experience. These opportunities will then be implemented in relevant communication and marketing material.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
I am a food lover so I got disappointed when I found out that Norwegians eat sandwiches for lunch. Luckily the lunches at Visma’s office are really good and more like Swedish lunches.
Fun fact
I can lick my elbow.
Academic background
MSc. in Economics and Business Administration from Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) – Major in Business Analysis and Performance Management, Minor in Finance, Exchange to Mannheim Business School.
BSc. in Economics and Business Administration from Norwegian University of Life Sciences – Business School.
First project
My first project is in Visma’s Corporate Finance department. The project is twofold, whereas I am to improve corporate reporting procedures in Visma in two areas. I started this by building a new budget template to be used in the entire organization. As a recent business student I thought this was going to be a walk in the park, up until the point where I was asked to write javascript for reconciliation and consolidation, and other budget related tasks. This was hard! The second part of the project regards improving the current transfer pricing models and structures.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
I have heard something about us eating lunch way too early in Norway. Apparently they have longer and later lunches and more “Fika” in Sweden and Finland.
Fun fact
I have a thing for tricks and numbers. I like to impress with card tricks, and for some reason I know many (more than the usual 3,14159…) decimals of Pi.
Academic background
M.Sc.Eng. Industrial engineering and management at KTH, Stockholm
Exchange studies at Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina
First project
My first project is within the Product Unit department, where all product development is performed. My task is to evaluate today’s KPIs from a developer team leader’s perspective. The project process can be divided into the following steps: a survey, interviews and analysis of the responses, which will be concluded into a list of metrics that will facilitate the team leader’s work.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
In Sweden, you typically choose beer from the way it looks but here in Norway that can end up in a catastrophe choosing a beer for more than 400 NOK.
Fun fact
I will take advantage of every opportunity to practice my Spanish, arrrriba!
Academic background
M.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration at Hanken School of Economics – major in Accounting.
Bachelor of Business Administration from Arcada University of Applied Science – major in Financial Management.
Bachelor of Arts in International Business Administration from Fachhochschule Frankfurt am Main.
First project
I work with designing an optimal customer journey for one of Visma Unique’s newly launched cloud solutions in the Norwegian public sector, Visma Flyt PPT. This involves research and analysis from the point where a customer becomes aware of the product, to the point where the customer is using the solution. Ultimately, my main goal is to ensure customer success through a streamlined customer journey. No walk in the park, but doable!
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
Apparently, it’s not appropriate to mix and match “brunost” with other cheese and ham when making a sandwich in Norway.
Fun fact
Once upon a time, I broke my nose in a dance off competition.
Academic background
5-year integrated MSc in Industrial Economics and Technology Management from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The third year of my masters was spent as an exchange student at Boston University.
First project
In my first project, I am evaluating and scoping the needs and requirements for a new information management system for the Visma Retail division. This entails investigating, identifying and analyzing the challenges companies are facing in this matter. The new information management system is to promote better collaboration and information management within the division, by providing a common platform for information and knowledge sharing, documentation and collaboration.
Cultural Clashes in a Nordic setting
When us Norwegians use the term “ellers takk”, Swedish people think it means yes rather than no. Big difference.
Fun fact
I do not know the difference between right and left, direction-wise, without checking which hand I write with.
Academic background
MSc in Industrial Economics and Technology Management, specializing in Finance, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, with an exchange semester at University of California, Berkeley.
First project
My first project is in the marketing department of Visma Software AS, which is a business unit in the SMB division. Sales in Visma Software AS are handled by a network of partner companies, and the main mission for the marketing department is to generate leads, i.e potential customers, to supply to the partner companies. I am going to map the process a prospect company goes through from lead to sale, and suggest actions that may increase the fraction of leads which results in a sale.
Cultural clashes in a Nordic setting
Using the word “vors” for pre-party is apparently only common in Norway.
Fun fact
In Mallorca this summer, I scratched my in-laws rental car before even reaching the end of the driveway.
We will keep you updated on what we are doing throughout the year, follow us here on the Visma blog or on Facebook and Instagram under #vismatrainee
