Meet Helge Fjelberg, the ServiceNow area VP for EMEA Nordics

At ServiceNow, we make the world work better for everyone: customers, partners, and employees. Our senior leadership team is an integral part of making that happen.

That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce Helge Fjelberg—the EMEA Nordics leader. We recently caught up with Helge to talk about his journey to ServiceNow, his goals for the region, and his people-centric approach.

Tell us about your background

I’ve been in the IT industry for almost 30 years, having worked for various tech companies in the U.S. before joining ServiceNow in 2016.

During that time, the IT landscape has changed exponentially, so I’ve had to constantly evolve in terms of skill set, mindset, and priorities. ServiceNow has changed a great deal, too, and the ServiceNow offices in the Nordics are no exception. We have offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. I joined the company in 2016 as country manager for Norway, leading a “team of two”. Nowadays the Norwegian team counts over 40 employees.

What are you bringing to your role?

First and foremost, my focus is on people. I’m a strong believer in the idea that if you look after your people—making sure that your team members feel happy, safe, and well equipped to do their jobs—the rest will fall into place. So that’s a key priority for me in this role.

Part of that involves making sure we’re hiring the right people and enabling them to develop the right skill set. Something that I’ve always done is building and managing teams and did on my first day in this role. I sat down with the teams in country and had a conversation about who they’ve enjoyed working with in the past and who they’d like to work with again. I really want to tap into the right network to build a strong culture organically and create a team that works well together.

What challenges are you seeing in the area?

Organisations in the Nordics are facing a lot of the same headwinds as everyone else across Europe: inflation and rising business costs, the ongoing digital skills shortage, and a turbulent business landscape. I'd say there are three key challenges customers need to pay attention to right now:

• The need to cut—and control—business costs
• The need to be mindful about the talent crisis—for example, by promoting internally or upskilling where possible
• The need to prepare for the future of work

Digitisation has a vital role to play when it comes to facing these challenges. And I truly believe that ServiceNow can be that digital transformation partner for organisations across the EMEA across all industries. I’m looking forward to working with customers in the region on a digital transformation strategy that suits them and to support them with their tech-led business transformation. It’s a challenging time, but there's an opportunity to thrive for those who take it.

How will you support customers through the challenges?

Since happy customers is priority number one, it goes back to ensuring that our internal teams are well equipped to do the very best work for our customers. My job is to empower and support our people, who can then go on to support customers in facing these challenges.

It’s essential to empower your employees and hold them accountable to our business priorities - when a team is genuinely operating with the right culture and mindset we can deliver the best in class experiences and services to our customers and partners.

I want to make sure every customer can see that we’re a well-oiled machine, that we can help them achieve their goals, and that we operate with a positive, inclusive, collaborative culture.

How will you keep driving this culture?

On the one hand, it’s about listening to the team, putting processes into place that help make their lives easier, and ensuring a constant feedback loop. On the other hand, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives play a key role in driving a positive culture, because people do their best work when they feel safe, included, and represented.

DEI is something I’m personally passionate about and to be honest something very natural in the Nordics - we are very progressive when it comes to DEI. We work hard to ensure we’re an organisation that offers representation across all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. A great example of this is our recent GPTW certification for the first time in Sweden and the first country in the Nordics!

What are your plans?

For me, it’s important to maintain a positive culture, for the sake of both our customers and our employees. One of the things I will focus on coming year is to strengthen our great learning culture in the Nordics. I want to make sure that in my role, I’m continuing to coach team members to drive that forward while also making sure everybody is heard and has the tools they need to thrive.

Externally, I’m looking forward to working with our large customers and global partners. Cross-collaboration with other organisations presents a great opportunity for growth. That’s something I really want to focus on: growing the business while keeping the team happy.

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