February the 21st, 2023 - The Virovitica IT company Factory is introducing totally free IT education once again, and anyone who wants to bump up their level of knowledge about certain aspects of IT can apply.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, the Virovitica IT company Factory is launching the fourth programme of free education for IT so far. This time, participants will learn about backend development, and the entire programme is being conducted online, a statement from the company says.

As stated above, the programme is aimed at quite literally anyone who wants to upgrade their knowledge of backend development can apply to the Factory Academy to learn more. As the Virovitica IT company Factory has stated, all would-be participants need is motivation, a computer and a stable Internet connection. It's worth noting that this company is actually the only IT company in all of the Republic of Croatia that has the status of a strategic Pimcore partner.

The educational programme lasts for four weeks, and will be attended by four selected candidates who will have the support of a mentor the whole time. The number of participants, who can apply until March the 5th, 2023, is limited so that the mentors can provide them with the highest quality support, they explained.

"Over the years, we've come to realise that there are a lot of people who have reached a certain level of knowledge in the field of development and have as such found themselves facing a wall of sorts because they still don't have enough knowledge to get a job in the field. Through our academy, they will receive not only support, but proper direction,'' Marko Cuckovic from Factory pointed out.

Cuckovic also added that the company is very much open to hiring the best candidates as employees, and it's worth noting that the Virovitica IT company Factory has held three such academies in the past, and the average rating they received is a very impressive 4.9 out of 5.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

December the 22nd, 2022 - The Rijeka IT company Appon continued to experience enormous growth last year, and the need for more employees is only increasing.

As Borivoje Dokler/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian IT companies are achieving notable results on the market today, but society is always looking for a little more and a little more. The Rijeka IT company Appon managed to give that little bit more which is always being sought, and with it; they started the Academy for the training of IT experts.

According to the Rijeka IT company Appon, the reason for starting the Academy is very simple, and it relies on ever-evolving market trends. The development and accelerated growth of the IT sector has led to a lack of professional staff, which is ultimately necessary for the regular and high-quality performance of business processes.

"On the basis of this, and primarily from the experience of working on here on the Croatian market, as well as on markets throughout the EU, we concluded that it's far simpler to start our own training and staff training. This process may be more time-consuming and financially demanding, but in the end, it brings about benefits by which you ensure the constant presence of trained and educated personnel in the processes of working with clients.

''The Rijeka IT company Appon is otherwise an company with international experience and we work or have worked with some of the leading international companies such as Lufthansa, Mercedes, DB Energia and so on. These are indicators that we believe in this type of training because so far it has shown exceptional results and has trained a certain number of very successful experts," said Robert Franjkovic from Appon.

They started their story from the idea of transferring their knowledge and experience to young people who already possess some basic knowledge and want to invest extra effort in personal upgrading and development. The transfer of knowledge is therefore the backbone of it all, and it seems that the premise of growth is precisely that "knowledge is not knowledge to know, but knowledge is knowledge to give".

"The people we accept throughout our process aren't conditioned by diplomas or previous work experience and knowledge. It's crucial for us that candidates have the foundations on which we build that knowledge and expertise. In order to achieve this, we ask candidates for commitment, expediency, initiative and a desire to learn, which we can and know how to bring to a level that will bring benefits to them personally, but to us at Appon, it's also to our mutual benefit when it comes to our daily work with our clients,'' Franjkovic explained.

Participants who complete their Academy are included in operational processes, and depending on the level of training and their acquired knowledge, some of them will be immediately operationally redirected to operational tasks at locations in certain EU countries, such as Germany. There, all expenses and accommodation, as well as their salary will be covered in line with proper EU standards.

Their Academy differs in many ways from similar programs of this type, and first of all, their educators, as explained by Franjkovic, are people who also acquired their own knowledge according to a similar principle of work.

Their approach is based on similar foundations and they know how to approach and implement knowledge that will later be successfully applied in practice. Currently, the third generation of participants is in the process of training, among whom they already recognise a few that they state have predispositions to reach the highest level of knowledge and practical application. On top of all of the above, in the coming years, since their company is achieving significant growth, the Rijeka IT company Appon plans to invest significant funds and place an increased emphasis on the Academy.

Only last year, their growth was about 600 percent compared to 2020, and thus the need for professional staff has drastically increased.

For more, check out our business section.

October the 1st, 2022 - The Croatian IT scene is continuing to blossom and has been doing over the last several years, with companies springing up all over the place and doing exceptionally well. The latest news in this regard is the fact that the Croatian IT company Agency04 has now become Notch, a new name under which it will operate.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian IT company Agency04 has been operating under the new name Notch since last week. It is one of the fastest growing full service software companies in all of Central Europe, and it has recorded a 500 percent revenue growth in recent years. It presented its new brand and plans for the future recently in the City of Zagreb.

"We've been in existence for eight years now, there are almost 200 of us in the team, and we've been working on large and challenging projects since day one, but our story is not only about technology. Notch is all about serious processes, serious communication and most important of all – serious people in our team. That's why Notch, as a derivative of the term Not Only Technology, was chosen as our name,'' said one of the founders of the company, Roko Roic, at the aforementioned Zagreb presentation.

Around 75 percent of Notch's projects are for foreign clients from various industries, including global companies with thousands of employees and turnovers measured in billions of euros. The company is particularly proud of the fact that they have a low turnover of employees who have a strong mentoring system at their disposal.

Notch has offices in Zagreb, Split and Frankfurt, and the plan is to expand to other global capitals. That is why they need a larger team of creative people who will recognise their culture, attractive working conditions and desire to solve complicated problems in a simple way, which has become a kind of DNA and motto of the company.

"We are interested in playing only the biggest games. Today, Notch is even bigger and more ready for an even more serious global performance. The synergy of working on our own products and those for our customers and clients opens many global doors for us, and that will continue to happen.'' said Roko Roic.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

August the 26th, 2022 - The Virovitica IT company Factory has been going from success to success of late, now wanting to be listed among the top five global companies in one particular segment.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, the Virovitica IT company Factory, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has recently announced some rather ambitious plans. They want to be the leader, that is, in the top five companies that develop solutions based on Pimcore technology in the world. Ivica Horvat, one of the owners and director of Factory, discussed the topic.

Their plans, he says, are very realistic because in just four years, since they focused their business on Pimcore technology, they managed to position themselves among the leading 20. This is the result of top quality work and the fact that they successfully implemented the technology that enables the digital transformation of the company. They've done the same for 150 clients.

Most of the Virovitica IT company Factory's clients are foreign companies, primarily from the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region, the USA and Great Britain, meaning that a massive 80 percent of their income is generated on foreign markets. Their good business is continually confirmed by the constant growth of income, which rose to an impressive 8.8 million kuna last year.

This year, however, they expect to earn about 10 million kuna, which means a continuation of the trend of revenue growth. When they started their business back in 2012, under the name Plava tvornica (Blue factory), their business focus was completely different. They developed, as Horvat recalls, websites and mobile applications (apps).

"When we started the business, we took every single job we could get our hands on and we adapted to each client. After some time, we realised that it's so difficult to develop the company because we were just going in too many directions. We decided on a detour, but it was far from simple. We had to overcome a certain fear and uncertainty that comes with undergoing changes," explains Horvat, adding that the business environment ten years ago, when they were one of the first IT companies in all of Virovitica, was a lot different than it is today.

"The ecosystem wasn't developed then. We started in an environment where you had to learn on your own and you pay for everything out of your own pocket, and even the small IT community itself at the time was much more closed off,'' he said, adding that starting an IT company in Croatia is much, much easier today.

"Today, the exchange of information is completely open. I'm proud to be part of a community that is ready to share all of their knowledge and experience", said the Virovitica IT company Factory, which is now a company that currently has three offices - in Virovitica, Osijek and across the pond in San Francisco.

Factory matured alongside the IT sector in Croatia, and it turned from a company that "made everything" into a company that makes specialised solutions for its clients, including engaging in consulting services. The specialised solution is the implementation of Pimcore technology, which, as Horvat explained, enables the centralisation and management of all types of data.

"It is used by companies that manage large amounts of data and which need to distribute it to different points. On the Pimcore platform, we work with end-to-end solutions that enable the collection, processing, storage and distribution of data about products, services or any other digital materials within the company,'' he explained, noting that the platform, in addition to enabling the digital transformation of the company, does the same and is more competitive.

It's worth noting that in addition to technical assistance in the introduction of Pimcore, Factory has also recently been offering consulting services through the Consulting Department, which currently employs two people and should have four employees by the end of the year.

"We want to be a company that, in addition to developing technological solutions, also offers consulting services to clients regarding the implementation of digital processes and tools in the company," Horvat stated.

The number of employees in this department should be doubled over the next year, which means that much like others, the Virovitica IT company Factory is also facing an increasingly challenging search for employees, in this case - IT experts. That problem, at least according to Horvat, isn't just specific to Croatia but to the whole world.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

July the 20th, 2022 - The Sljeme summer camp for gifted children has been successful, and twenty children of varying ages and school grades took part at the Mala Hunjka mountain lodge.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, HSM, a Croatian IT company which has been present on the market for more than 30 years now, in cooperation with the associations Dar (Gift) and Vjetar u ledja (Tail wind), organised the Sljeme summer camp for gifted children from July the 11th to the 15th at the Mala Hunjka mountain lodge. Twenty gifted children partook, from the third, fourth and fifth grade, all of whom enjoyed interesting lectures every day.

"HSM has continuously supported vulnerable groups within our society, and this year we decided to start the HSM Sljeme summer camp to support gifted children as well. We cooperated with the Dar and Vjetar u ledja associations and, I would say, more than successfully held the first ever HSM Sljeme summer camp for gifted children," said the member of the HSM Board responsible for marketing and HR, Jelena Jelinic.

On the first day of the Sljeme summer camp, the children learned a lot about the Earth, the air and the atmosphere through a series of lectures and experiments, which were introduced to them in a picturesque way by the famous Croatian meteorologist Nikola Vikic Topic.

On the second day of the camp, Bojan Branisavljevic led them through a scientifically simulation with elements of role playing. Branislavljevic has otherwise been running workshops intended for gifted children for the past seven years through one of the aforementioned associations, as well as conducting educational sessions about giftedness for parents, educators and teachers.

The basics of 3D drawing, the creation of simple and advanced 3D models, an introduction to 3D printing technology, and 3D printing of drawn models were presented to the children in a more than interesting lecture by Robert Ljubek, a teacher and passionate STEAM fan.

The secrets of C++ programming were also taught to the children by Zvonimir Anic, who helped the Sljeme summer camp participants to present their solutions in a very simple and quick way.

The fifth and last day of the Sljeme summer camp was particularly interesting because the children participated in another lecture by Robert Ljubek, who introduced them to unmanned aerial vehicles.

"A week of creativity, curiosity, experiments, fun and laughter is now behind us. The children's satisfaction is our greatest reward for all the effort we put into the HSM summer camp," says Jelena Jelinic.

HSM's plan is to make this a beautiful, ongoing tradition, so preparations have already begun for the HSM Sljeme summer camp for gifted children in 2023.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

May the 8th, 2022 - The Croatian IT company Q has come together with the German startup Streamways and developed a mobile and web app for German driving school students to pass part of their driving tests.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian IT company Q, in cooperation with the German startup Streamways, has developed a mobile and web application that will help the younger generations and students of German driving schools to more easily master their driving theory exams. The solution was launched back in early February and is currently being used by over 30 driving schools in Germany.

The founders of Streamways - Christian Karstoft and Magnus Werner - came up with the idea while taking their own driving tests, when they noticed that the driving test system in Germany was very much outdated. Students of driving schools had to solve exactly 1,300 questions prescribed by the German state, as well as successfully pass the simulation of the exam five times in order to even get the right to take the theory exam.

This pair of young founders saw the space and opportunity to build a more modern application which would be more youth-friendly, and as such, they turned to the Croatian IT company Q. Q, in collaboration with Streamways, has created a platform that makes driving exams much easier and more fun. With it, the whole process doesn't look like learning, but instead a game, and each student can choose the pace at which they want to learn. An additional advantage is that through it, driving instructors can monitor the progress of their students.

“When creating this application, the main challenge was to increase the motivation and interest of students in learning, but also to find a way to engage them to master driving in a more interesting way. Therefore, the focus of our project was to empower young people to feel freer while gaining knowledge through the best digital educational experience,'' said Q CEO Filip Ljubic.

Streamways is available to German driving schools, and this new web and mobile edition is also available to students. Each lesson has its own three-minute video in which it explains to the participants the theory part of traffic regulations and rules, often referred to as the highway code. Streamways has optimised the application to motivate users to continuous learning, which is why they solve a quiz related to the material after each lesson. The Croatian IT company Q worked on the design and branding of the platform, patenting the desktop and mobile version of the app for students, as well as the desktop version for driving schools and administrators.

“The applications that were previously available to users weren't developed for young people who have grown up with digital technologies. In Germany, over a million people take their driving tests every year, and mastering the material through the application is mandatory. That's why we decided to develop a solution that would help end users find it easier to master the theory part of the test,'' added Christian Karstoft Madsen, co-founder and CEO of Streamways.

The Croatian IT company Q is otherwise continuing to grow its business across a variety of key markets, after the company was selected as one of the five finalists in this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. In addition to startups such as the German Streamways, the company also collaborates with already established brands such as Novartis, The Times, Manpower Group and many others.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

March 10th, 2022 - The company Q from Zagreb was declared one of the ten best web developers in the world by Clutch, the world’s leading research agency for IT company ranking.

This is the first time that Q joins the elite top 10. In the last two years, the Croatian company repeatedly made Clutch’s top 20 list, reports Poslovni dnevnik.

‘We work hard to be better every single day, and making Clutch’s top 10 list has been a strategic goal of ours for the last two years, ever since we were ranked among the top 20 companies in the world, and in a category that involves the most complex projects at that’, said Q CEO Filip Ljubić.

Clutch is a prestigious platform that ranks IT companies and makes a list of best companies every year based on client satisfaction. This independent B2B platform calls numerous clients individually to interview them in detail, and provides a complete insight into the reviews collected by their analysts.

The analysis is conducted based on four criteria. The first is quality and the number of reviews collected by Clutch, followed by the selection of clients a company works with, their range of services and experience in the provision of said services, and finally the reputation of the brand and their visibility on target markets.

The results provide a comprehensive insight into global projects and business processes, and so the Croatian company found itself in the elite society of the top 10.

Q continues to receive recognition for its work and is continuously expanding its business, most recently by opening a development centre in Belgrade. The Q office in Serbia is supposed to employ 40-50 people who will work on global projects. 

February the 22nd, 2022 - The very well known Zagreb IT company Q is vusy expanding its business by opening an office in the Serbian capital city of Belgrade.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this year, the Zagreb IT company Q has ambitious plans to employ 40-50 people who will work on global projects from neighbouring Serbia. After London and Zagreb, Belgrade is the third European city in which Q will expand its already impressive team of experts.

Their new Belgrade office will build on the one already open here in Zagreb, and the two facilities will work together on projects. Just like here in Croatia, in Serbia, Q will offer work in a fast-growing company with employees being put first with international projects and transparent communication.

"Here at Q, we've been cooperating with numerous IT experts from Croatia's immediate region for years now, and we've recognised Serbia as a market with quality staff to offer. We're sure that the opening of the headquarters in Belgrade will enable us to strengthen our presence and attract more top quality people. We're looking forward to gaining some new colleagues,'' pointed out the CEO of Q, Filip Ljubic.

They're now focused on Western Europe and the American market

The successful Zagreb IT company Q is already cooperating with a dozen experts from Serbia, as in these new collaborations it will be crucial for people to fit into the culture of Q. New employees will have a number of benefits at their disposal, including annual education budgets, special fees for working from home, choosing their own type of equipment, as well as private health insurance and a Fitpass.

In addition to all of the above, Q has announced that they will keenly listen to the needs of the market and their employees and, according to the feedback they receive, they'll continuously model the benefits to best suit them.

Experts from Serbia will join their colleagues on client projects such as Novartis, The Times, Manpower Group, Smart, Vaillant, BBC, Hilti and many others. This year, Q remains focused on the DACH region, the United Kingdom, the US and Canada, with continuous business expansion and progress.

It's worth mentioning that this Croatian company recently won its second consecutive award for the best employer in the category of medium-sized companies according to a survey conducted by MojPosao (MyJob), and at the Best Employer Brand Awards Adria competition, they stood out as the leading company in the field of employee satisfaction with as many as six awards.

For more, check out our business section.

February the 7th, 2022 - The Croatian King ICT company's system will protect no less than NATO from the ever-present threat of cyber attacks.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, although the Croatian defense industry has a relatively modest range of deliveries to its clients within NATO, the IT sector has been strongly involved in a number of projects and tenders of the North Atlantic Alliance for many years now, the most recent example being the Croatian King ICT company's contract. This Zagreb-based company delivered and implemented to NATO's Communications and Information Agency (NCI) an advanced solution in the field of cyber security with their entire IT infrastructure, worth a massive 7.8 million euros.

The biggest project so far

As reported by King ICT, the company has delivered its largest international project to date in the field of cyber security in full, within the budget and ahead of schedule.

“The SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution is a key system for more successful defense against cyber attacks and will be used as part of the services that NCI provides to NATO. More than 40 experts have worked on this project, and that included the delivery and implementation of an advanced SIEM solution in the field of cyber security with a complete state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. Like all major NATO projects, this one required a very high level of expertise and commitment in areas such as project management, implementation and management of all aspects of quality, logistics, support, demanding testing and knowledge transfer,'' they explained from the Croatian King ICT enterprise.

They added that SIEM is an area of ​​computer security, where software products and services combine security information management and security event management. They provide a real-time analysis of security alerts generated by applications and the network hardware. In its announcement, they pointed out that the delivered SIEM system will significantly raise the security level of the organisation and contribute to the protection of NATO's critical data and communication system.

An extremely successful year for this Zagreb company

The Zagreb-based IT company noted that last year, still marked by the coronavirus pandemic, was extremely successful and that they expect revenue growth of more than 10 percent than the year before, when their revenue amounted to 636 million kuna, which could bring them closer to their record results from back in 2018, which stood at a very impressive 817 million kuna.

“Our overall business focus remained on the complete digitalisation of key customer business processes through the delivery of our own solutions and professional services on the most modern technological platforms of global manufacturers. We're locally present over on the Benelux market and we're strengthening our position here on the regional market. We've increased our capacities and abilities to provide services within the XaaS business model and the number of services on our own platforms that we offer to the market,'' they stated from the Croatian King ICT company.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

September the 7th, 2021 - Brexit or no Brexit, the British capital is still a huge allure for many companies from the rest of Europe and the world. The wildly successful Zagreb IT company Q is yet another Croatian company to put down roots in one of Europe's most expensive and beautiful cities. The company is not only opening a British office, but planning further employment, too.

As Novac writes, the Zagreb IT company Q has ambitious plans to open an office in no less than the City of London at the end of September this year. It is busy investigating the acquisition of a London-based company, and there are plans in the works to hire another hundred people this year, Q announced on Monday.

"Opening an office in London is a big step forward in terms of Q's expansion because it creates additional value for existing clients and opens up the opportunity to meet even more new ones. In addition to that, we're already looking for new staff in London, and exploring the potential acquisition of a London company," the statement from Vedran Tolic, the co-founder and chief operating officer of the Zagreb IT company Q, read.

Without revealing any details or the name of the company they intend to take over, Q says that they expect their brand new office in the international and booming British capital London to focus more strongly on strategic projects from very big brands, because they already have a number of successful collaborations with companies like The Times, BBC, Smart, uSwitch and others under their belt.

London is currently the largest market for the Zagreb IT company Q, and most of their clients are large corporations.

Q estimates that they have taken an important step by heading in the London direction towards the development of a network of offices in Europe's metropolises, with a view on the rest of the world, too.

They say that the number of new professionals they employ is constantly growing, and this year alone the team will increase by more than a hundred people, the statement concluded.

For more on Croatian companies, follow Made in Croatia.