The Talent Drought
Bernt Håvardsholm stared out of his office window in Stavanger, Norway's oil capital. The year was 2011, and as CEO of Onix, the weight of a growing problem pressed on his shoulders. Outside, the North Sea wind buffeted the buildings that housed Norway's energy giants—the same companies that were absorbing every available software engineer in the region like a sponge.
"We simply couldn't find enough talent," Bernt would later recall. "The big energy companies required so many engineers... we really struggled."
For nearly two decades, Onix had been building software solutions, starting with crewing systems for the energy sector. But their newest vision—a cloud-based system for managing equipment that fell through the cracks of traditional maintenance software—needed developers. Lots of them.
The solution seemed obvious: offshore development. But the memory of their failed attempt with an Indian team still stung. Communication barriers had proven insurmountable, with the team always saying "yes" regardless of feasibility. Projects stalled. Quality suffered. Trust eroded.
Then one morning, a small newspaper article caught Bernt's eye—a piece about a company called Restaff operating in Vietnam.
"We have to check this out," he told his development manager.
The Leap of Faith
When Idar Johansen, Onix's CTO of over 20 years, first contemplated building a team in Vietnam, his concerns were practical and immediate.
"Vietnam was so far away," Idar remembered. "We were concerned that the distance would be a problem."
But the alternative—watching their innovative product languish in development while competitors moved in—was worse.
In 2012, Bernt and his development manager boarded a plane to Ho Chi Minh City. The CEO stayed for two weeks, his colleague for a month. They weren't just interviewing developers; they were testing waters, seeking cultural compatibility that had eluded them in India.
What they discovered surprised them.
"In Vietnam, we found them to be very much like our own culture," Idar explained. "They say 'No' when they mean 'No' and they disagree when they disagree, but it always comes with an explanation and some facts."
For Norwegians accustomed to directness, this was refreshing. There would be no false agreements here, no painful discoveries weeks later that what was promised couldn't be delivered.
Restaff assembled a small team—developers, testers, and a project manager who Idar described as "extremely professional and very skilled." Restaff guided them through those tentative first steps, the cultural handshake between teams separated by 8,000 kilometers and vast cultural differences.
Growing Pains
The early years weren't without challenges. Documentation became paramount—every process, expectation, and standard had to be explicitly written down, tested, and refined.
"As a start, it was all about routines," Idar explained. "We had to write down everything... And at the same time, we could also prepare for doing it better."
But the greater challenge was less tangible. In Norway, the Onix team held all the product knowledge, making the Vietnamese developers "just doers" initially. This created an unstable foundation—without ownership, quality and motivation would inevitably suffer.
"Taking ownership of their job is the most important," Idar emphasized. "That was not easy at the start."
The transformation happened gradually. As the Vietnamese developers spent more time with the codebase, as they understood the product's purpose and users, something shifted.
"When you work for something for a time, you feel some ownership," Idar observed. "And that has grown and grown by the year."
This delicate cultivation of ownership required leadership from both sides. Restaff placed enormous emphasis on personal growth and engagement, functioning as what Bernt would later describe as "our human resource department here."
One testament to this approach: a developer hired in 2012 was still with the team a decade later, an almost unheard-of retention rate in the volatile tech industry.
The Pandemic Paradox
In early 2020, when COVID-19 swept across the globe, companies with distributed teams braced for disruption. How would already-complex international collaboration survive when offices shut down entirely?
For Onix and Restaff, something unexpected happened.
"Something happened during COVID-19 with the communication lines," Idar recalled with a hint of wonder in his voice. "Before, we had meetings in the meeting room. Both in Norway and in Vietnam, it's really difficult to understand each other when a lot of people are sitting in the same room."
When every team member retreated to home offices, with individual screens and headsets, clarity emerged from chaos. The playing field leveled. Those less confident in English could speak up without the intimidation of a crowded room. Questions could be asked without fear.
"Now we have daily meetings on video," Idar said. "It's just like having them in our office and the other way around. We don't feel any distance today."
This newfound closeness catalyzed bolder moves. Half of Onix's customer support moved to Vietnam, giving the development team direct exposure to user problems and needs. Product ownership roles were established in both countries, creating counterparts who could collaborate on specific areas of the software.
The Vietnamese team, once envisioned as a supplementary capacity, had become integral to Onix's identity.
Funding Future Growth
By 2023, Onix had grown to approximately 70 people, with 35 in Vietnam. Their software was available in 11 languages. Major energy companies were deploying their solution across platforms. The "niche" Bernt had identified back in 2005 was proving to be global in scale.
The company attracted attention from Viking Venture, a Nordic investment firm specializing in B2B SaaS companies. Their investment would provide fuel for international expansion, allowing Onix to target specific markets more aggressively.
"We are one of the top-rated companies there," Bernt noted with pride. "We grow faster than most."
This growth created constant demand for new development capacity. But unlike the crisis of 2011, Onix now had a well-oiled machine for scaling their team.
"Luckily, we have no problem with recruitment today," Idar explained. "Restaff do that for us, of course. We just set up the plan and what kind of resource we need, and then it doesn't take long before we have the right resources available for us."
For each new product area, a dedicated team could be assembled in Vietnam, bypassing the talent bottleneck that had once threatened the company's future.
The Secret Ingredient
When asked what makes the partnership successful, both Bernt and Idar point to the same factor: a genuine sense of "team" that transcends location.
"We work as colleagues," Bernt emphasized. "So we can really create some synergy together."
This wasn't achieved through platitudes or team-building exercises, but through structural changes that reinforced collaboration. The Vietnamese developers speak directly with customers, seeing the impact of their work. They participate in product decisions. They're invited to disagree, to challenge, to improve—not just to implement.
"Today the team here in Ho Chi Minh is 35 people," Bernt noted. "And of course, 35 smart people can create lots if they take ownership."
Restaff's role extended beyond just providing developers. They created an environment where talent could thrive and maintain the cultural bridge between the teams.
"Restaff is very professional when it comes to doing the human resource function and making people engaged and stay, and take ownership for what they do here," Bernt explained.
The results speak for themselves. The combined team maintains a rhythm of four to five software releases annually, with two-week sprints. As the team grows, so does their output—addressing the ever-expanding backlog of features that accompanies success.
If Only We Had Known
Looking back on the journey from hesitant exploration to full integration, Bernt expressed only one regret: "I'm just sorry that we didn't start here before."
For CTOs and CEOs faced with similar talent constraints, the Onix story offers both inspiration and a roadmap. Success wasn't instant, nor was it achieved without commitment. It required presence—boots on the ground in Vietnam. It demanded honest communication, clear documentation, and most critically, a willingness to share not just tasks but responsibility and ownership.
But for those willing to make that investment, the rewards can be transformative. What began as a stopgap measure for Onix evolved into a cornerstone of their growth strategy and a key factor in securing venture capital.
In the end, perhaps the most telling sign of success is the simplest: When Idar speaks of the Vietnamese team today, he doesn't call them "them" or "the offshore team." He calls them "we."
The distance between Stavanger and Ho Chi Minh City remains 8,000 kilometers. But in every way that matters, there is no distance at all.
