Stian, you’ve been with Visma since 2009, but your career actually started in the classroom as a teacher and school leader. How does that "frontline" experience influence how you lead today?

It’s everything. I remember being a school leader and using Visma’s software myself. I eventually joined the company because I wanted to help quality-assure the tools being built for school administrators. Coming from the public sector, I have experienced firsthand how vital it is to provide software that actually works. Whether you are a teacher, a healthcare worker, or a payroll officer, our job is to make sure you spend less time on administration and more time on your core task, whether that’s pupils, patients, or citizens.

You are taking over at a time when Europe is facing a massive labour shortage. How can technology help when there are fewer hands to do the work?

It’s a real challenge, and digitalisation is the only way forward. We need to be the 'oil in the machinery' for families, schools, and healthcare institutions. For example, if we can make it easier for relatives to cooperate with a home care institution via our software, we’ve simplified someone’s life. My goal is to deliver first-class software that helps the public sector be more efficient, allowing them to maintain high-quality services despite the demographic shifts we see across Europe.

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There is often a debate between building custom IT solutions versus going with a standardised approach. Why do you believe standardised software is the best path for governments?

Historically, large institutions sought tailor-made solutions, but we have seen a massive shift toward standardised software. The advantages are clear: first, it offers a much lower total cost of ownership through shared development and operating costs. This comes with predictable subscription pricing that fits perfectly with local government budgets and procurement cycles.

Secondly, it ensures a faster time to value. Through continuous delivery and rapid onboarding, customers always have the newest, most secure version without the burden of manual updates. From a security and reliability perspective, this is critical. By choosing our standardised models, municipalities benefit from operational scalability—including high uptime, automated backups, and rigorous testing. They don't have to invest heavily in their own security experts; they can trust Visma’s top specialists to handle that complexity for them.

You now oversee 36 specialised business units in Visma’s public segment. How do you ensure they learn from each other to provide the best value for customers?

We have 36 business units with an incredible amount of knowledge, and one of my main goals is to facilitate better networking between them. We want our Managing Directors to share best practices. For instance, our Norwegian unit, Acos, has developed a fantastic AI-driven case management and archiving solution that customers are already benefiting from. By showcasing cases like this across the segment, we ensure that an innovation in one country can inspire better solutions in another. In this 'AI era', sharing knowledge is more important than ever.

Read: Visma appoints Stian Svendsen as new Segment Director for Public

Speaking of the future, what is your vision for Visma’s public segment beyond your current core markets?

We are currently the dominant player in the Nordics and the Netherlands, and our primary focus remains on these core markets. We see significant untapped potential here that we want to fully utilise, both through organic growth and from an M&A perspective. That said, while our immediate priority is strengthening our current leadership, we remain open-minded. If the right prospect emerges in Western Europe that aligns with our mission-critical software model, we are certainly ready to explore it.

After more than 15 years in Visma and many different roles, what is it that still makes you excited about the public sector?

It’s the vision of shaping the future of society through technology. It’s incredibly motivating to know that our solutions impact how families interact and how welfare is delivered. We aren’t just making software; we are making daily life easier for millions of people. To lead that mission into its next phase of growth is a huge honour.

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About Stian Svendsen

Stian Svendsen is the Segment Director for Public at Visma. He joined the Group in 2009 and has held numerous leadership roles, including Managing Director and Business Area Director. Originally educated as a teacher, Stian brings a unique "user-first" perspective to the tech industry, focusing on how mission-critical SaaS solutions can empower the public sector across Europe.

View Stian Svendsen’s full profile