The Skiing World Championships were the test of whether PSS Securitas's foundation would hold.
The security responsibility for the 2025 World Ski Championships in Trondheim became a moment that showed how far PSS Securitas had come. For a company that has grown from a few security guards in Stavanger to over 2500 employees in 15 years, the assignment was also a confirmation of something else: they had built for growth long before the growth took off.
PSS Securitas is a Norwegian security company that has grown from a few bouncers at Stavanger's nightlife venues to over 2,500 employees in 15 years. Today, they provide security services nationwide, from permanent assignments within the nightlife and business sectors to large events. In 2025, they held the security responsibility for the World Ski Championships in Trondheim, the largest single assignment in the company's history.
PSS Securitas grew rapidly from a small security company to a nationwide operator with hundreds of employees. When you go from knowing everyone personally to coordinating people across regions and assignments, email and spreadsheets are no longer sufficient. The company needed to ensure that everyone worked in the same way, that deviations were identified, and that they had an overview in real-time, regardless of whether the assignment was at a nightclub in Rogaland or an event in Northern Norway.
PSS Securitas opted for Business Online after just two years of operation, before the company was really large enough to need it. They wanted a single, shared platform to manage their daily operations. The system needed to be able to grow with the company, so that everyone worked according to the same procedures and reported in the same way, regardless of department and location.
PSS Securitas has now used the same system for 11 years, without feeling the need to change. Business Online has constantly scaled with the company from a few employees to over 2500, and has been with them through the single largest assignment in the company's history: security responsibility for the World Ski Championships. Today, they use AI in Business Online to quickly identify staffing shortages and act before small problems become big ones.
The biggest mission so far
The Ski World Championships are the biggest single assignment PSS Securitas has had, with multiple venues, public areas, accreditation, logistics, and close cooperation with the police and organisers.
"Everything has to be right from day one, there's no dress rehearsal. It requires a lot. It's a very big assignment, and it involves interacting with a lot of people." Chrisofer Næsheim, Operations Manager Norway at PSS Securitas.
Several hundred employees were involved, many from various departments across the country and at venues they had never been to before. The fact that it was possible was down to choices made long before the assignment came up. The explanation lay in the way the company had structured itself over many years.
The foundation was laid early
PSS Securitas began as a small security company in Stavanger, with a few security guards at a few venues. It was manageable as long as everyone knew everyone. They realised early on that it would be more difficult to sort things out once growth had made everyday life more chaotic.
"We weren't big enough that we had to have a management system then and there. But we knew it would be much harder to introduce a system once you've got chaos, than to start correctly from the beginning. So perhaps we've been a bit wise in hindsight beforehand." sier Næsheim.
After two years of operation, they moved from email and spreadsheets to a shared management system: Business Online. This became the foundation they have built upon since then.
The scope during the Ski World Championships 11 years later made it extra clear what it meant in practice.
"All of the shift rosters, resource allocation and reporting went through Business Online. It would never have been relevant to coordinate it in any manual way. Email and Excel wouldn't have worked then, to put it mildly," he says.
This is one of the things that sets PSS Securitas apart from many other rapidly growing companies.
"What's a little special for us is that we've used the same system the whole way through. We've never had to stop and switch platforms because we've gotten too big or outgrown it. We've had the same thing with us the whole time."
The early election was also about how the company should grow
PSS Securitas wanted to ensure better oversight when they implemented Business Online. At the same time, the company wanted to gear itself up for further growth, so that people could work in the same way and deliver the same quality, whether they were based in Stavanger, Trondheim, or Oslo.
"When you go from 10 to 100 to 1,000 employees, you can no longer maintain control by knowing everyone personally. Then you need to have systems in place that ensure things are done consistently, that deviations are detected, and that you have real-time oversight." sier Næsheim.
Today, PSS Securitas uses one platform for rosters, staffing, clients, projects, incidents, payroll, and HR management.
"Business Online is our nervous system. What we primarily use it for is rotas and staffing. Who is working where, when, and with what qualifications. That can be the difference between an incident and a potential crisis. Without a system, we would be sitting around making phone calls and hoping for the best." he says.
When information is scattered, people quickly end up searching, double-checking and doing the same job multiple times. For many companies, these are the growing pains that emerge when growth accelerates. PSS Securitas chose early on to consolidate control, reporting and follow-up into one system that could grow with them.
AI provides a lightning-fast overview of resources
The operations manager is now also using AI within the same platform that the company has built its operations around for many years. This gives him much faster answers on where there are staff shortages – and makes it easier to act before small problems become big ones.
"The first question I asked AI was: «Can you show me all shift changes in the Rogaland region where we are understaffed?» I got an answer straight back." sier Næsheim.
He gives an example from Easter.
"The AI fetched data directly from our staff rotas nationwide and gave me an overview of which locations were short of staff, how many hours were uncovered, and which department it concerned. I could have found that out myself, but now I had the answer within seconds."
The value is primarily the speed of the decisions, he says.
"You no longer sit and wait for reports, or do the report extractions yourself. You ask questions and get answers, and that means you are in a position to react faster and be proactive instead of reactive."
At the same time, he emphasises that AI only becomes useful when the groundwork is already in place.
"AI can be as good as it likes, but it's still “shit in, shit out”. If you don't use the system correctly and put things in, there will be no value in what you get out either."
For Næsheim and PSS Securitas, the point is simple: they didn't have to change systems to grow.
"Don't wait. Get the system in place while it's still simple, so you don't have to stop and fix what you should have done earlier, when you'd rather be focusing on growth and operations. Business Online gives us the peace of mind that allows us to focus outwards and forwards instead of inwards."
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