🇩🇰 Du finder den danske version af denne artikel her.

Behind companies such as PanzerGlass, JOE & THE JUICE, NTG and Kingspan is a digital infrastructure that keeps orders, suppliers and logistics running. When these systems work together seamlessly, businesses can move faster.

Connecting those systems is what Martin Bjorheim has built his career around. As CEO and founder of SublimTech, he helps companies integrate their IT systems and automate data flows, reducing the need for manual processes.

After years in the IT industry, Bjorheim saw how good technology did not always deliver its full potential. Too many layers stood between customers and the people who could help them. He decided to build a business around a more direct approach, though taking that step came with its own risks.

At the time, Bjorheim had three children. Today, he has four, and family life made financial security an important consideration. At the same time, he had built a network of customers who knew him and trusted his way of working.

That trust remains central to SublimTech. Customers have direct access to technical specialists, while employees work across several locations rather than from a traditional central office. SublimTech is a Platinum Partner of the Lobster Data Platform and the largest Lobster consultancy in the Nordic region, serving more than 40 customers across Denmark and Sweden.

We met Martin Bjorheim to discuss starting out on his own, rethinking an established industry and building a business around freedom and trust.

Martin Bjorheim, CEO & Founder, Sublimtech.

Martin Bjorheim already had the experience and industry knowledge when the idea for SublimTech began to take shape.

At Lobster Platform, he had worked closely with the technology, its customers and the partners helping businesses put the solutions into practice.

Over the years, he had also seen how the IT industry could make things more complicated than they needed to be. While technology offered solutions to many business challenges, customers could find themselves navigating layers of account managers and project managers before reaching the people who could actually help.

“I could see that the things customers were asking for were falling between the cracks. They weren’t getting the help they needed. First, you had to speak to an account manager, then a project manager, and every layer came at a cost. Eventually, you might get to someone who could actually solve the problem.”

The technology itself wasn’t necessarily the problem. It was how it was delivered.

Bjorheim saw how customers could become frustrated at having to pay simply to discuss ideas and explore possibilities before they had even begun addressing their challenges.

So he started asking himself a question.

“I thought, why couldn’t I deliver what customers were actually looking for? They wanted to speak to someone, discuss ideas and explore possibilities without worrying about receiving a hefty bill.”

That became the starting point for SublimTech.

The idea was simple. Bjorheim wanted to build a company where customers had direct access to technical expertise, and where the person who understood the problem was also the person who could solve it.

But turning a good idea into a business required more than just taking the leap.

Martin Bjorheim on stage at Summit X Copenhagen

Starting a business is one thing. Doing so while supporting a family and managing financial responsibilities is another.

The bills still had to be paid, and there was no guarantee that customers would follow him into his new venture.

“It was a difficult decision because I was financially responsible for my family. When you start your own business, there is always uncertainty. Will it work out, or will it fail?”

Still, Bjorheim had something that would prove crucial: the relationships he had built with customers over the years.

He had taken the time to understand their businesses and find solutions that genuinely helped them. He had also seen how customers in the IT industry could face unnecessary layers of management and processes that made it harder to get the right support. For Bjorheim, this confirmed that there was room for a more direct, personal approach.

“The customers I worked with knew I was honest and had their best interests at heart. I had stood up for them on several occasions over the years. That meant some were ready to work with me and partner with my new company.”

As a result, SublimTech gained a foothold relatively quickly.

For Bjorheim, it confirmed that there was room in the market for a different approach. Not necessarily a new technology, but a different way of working with customers.

Ask Martin Bjorheim what SublimTech actually does, and his answer is not about software, integrations or technical acronyms.

It is about removing the bottlenecks that emerge when business systems fail to work together properly.

Take a company looking to onboard a new supplier. The agreement is in place, and the business is ready to move forward. But connecting that supplier to the company’s systems can be held up by technical bottlenecks and internal processes.

Weeks or even months can pass before everything is up and running.

For Bjorheim, it is a clear example of how IT can stand in the way of an otherwise promising business opportunity.

“There are people in companies with really good ideas, but they come up against systems and processes that hold them back. When the market changes and a business needs to respond quickly, it can end up waiting for an IT department or an external partner before it can move forward.”

SublimTech connects systems so data can flow between them, helping companies automate processes that would otherwise require manual work. Its solutions include the Lobster Platform, EDI and API integrations, self-service EDI onboarding, as well as B2B, customer and supplier portals.

But for Bjorheim, the goal is not simply to make the technology work. It is to give people within a business greater freedom to act.

“We make sure all the different pieces fit together. It is about enabling companies to do more themselves. We need to be flexible and listen to the business, not just the IT department.”

That is also why SublimTech does not aim to make its customers dependent on the company. For Bjorheim, this is an important principle in an industry where customers can sometimes feel locked in.

Customers should stay because the relationship works and delivers value, not because moving on is difficult.

SublimTech is not built around a large, central office. Instead, Martin Bjorheim has chosen to run the company with employees working from different locations across Denmark and Sweden.

It is a deliberate choice, but one that also brings its own challenges as a leader.

How do you make sure people feel supported, continue to develop and feel part of the same team when they do not see each other in person every day?

Bjorheim gained experience working remotely during his time at Lobster Platform. He knows that leading a distributed team requires particular attention to communication, especially when you cannot read a colleague’s body language or get a sense of the mood in an office.

“One of the hardest things as a manager is not being able to see people in person. You constantly have to gauge whether they are happy, whether they are satisfied and whether anything is troubling them.”

That is why staying in regular contact with his employees has become part of his daily routine.

Every morning, he spends time calling team members to ask how they are doing, what they are working on and whether there are any challenges he can help resolve.

It is not just about wellbeing. It is also about spotting problems before they grow, making sure employees feel challenged and helping them develop their skills.

“I need to spend 15 minutes with each employee every day. I want to know whether they are ready for their tasks and whether there is anything I need to get involved in.”

He also tries to give employees variety in their work, so they do not get stuck on the same types of projects. Sometimes that means joining a customer conversation or helping with a technical challenge. At other times, it means finding new assignments that give employees the opportunity to learn something new.

For Bjorheim, this is an essential part of being a leader. His role is not simply to make sure the work gets done, but to ensure that the people doing it want to keep doing it.

When asked about his ambitions, Martin Bjorheim is not focused on building the biggest company possible at any cost.

He wants to attract more customers, take on interesting projects and explore new technologies. But not at the expense of what made him start SublimTech in the first place.

Customers should continue to feel heard, with solutions built around their actual needs. Employees should enjoy their work, develop their skills and be part of a company where collaboration works.

“What we do today is really what I dream of. Working with happy customers, having them come back with a new project or thinking of me first when they need help.”

That does not mean he has stopped looking ahead. He sees opportunities to expand the company’s expertise and, over time, work with a broader range of technologies and systems. But growth needs to happen at a pace the organisation can support.

For now, the Lobster Platform remains the foundation of the business, while several team members also bring expertise in other technologies.

For Bjorheim, the next step is about growing without losing the approach that has brought the company this far.

“We are growing, bringing in new customers and doing exciting things together with them. That is really what I want. To get better every day and help customers get the full potential out of the technology they already have.”

Meet the people, companies and brands thinking beyond borders. Explore more stories from The Global Desk.

Discover more →