April the 27th, 2023 - The Portuguese IT company Xpand IT has been operating out of its Zagreb base for some time now, and has been hunting and utilising Croatian talent, of which there is a huge amount in tech.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/PD VL native tim writes, a specialised IT company for software engineering from Portugal, Xpand IT, has been operating from its Zagreb base since the middle of last year. Since then, they have hired Croatian talent, more specifically over a dozen IT experts, and they're operating with the ambition to keep on adding Croatian members to their team.

This Portuguese company is on the continuous hunt for Croatian talent from the blossoming domestic IT scene who will participate in the design and programming of their software products and the implementation of various solutions for international clients and who will fit into their global mission - to change the world for the better using technology.

Twenty full years of experience, 340 clients in 30 countries (mostly in the European Union and Brazil) and almost 400 employees deployed in six specialised departments - which function as independent production business entities in Portugal and Croatia - and sales centres in the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden. This company has an awful lot to offer Croatian talent, of which there is plenty in the tech sector.

As a global company, Xpand IT offers a whole range of services used by some of the largest national companies in the field of Big Data, BI & Analytics, Data Science, Middleware, Digital Xperience and Collaboration solutions. The company's experts cover a wide range of areas, such as near-real-time big data collection and processing, cloud migration, custom business reporting and analytics, data science, collaboration solutions, customer relations, layered solutions and tool development to improve a user's digital experience. It is precisely this breadth that has secured the trust of very big clients from various industries such as banking, healthcare, telecommunications and energy.

As such, Xpand IT has already developed some state-of-the-art solutions for companies such as Toyota, Just Eat, Commerzbank, LeasePlan, Altice, Vodafone, Ageas, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas. In addition, it has developed a mobile application (app) for healthcare service providers for several different platforms, which has enabled patients to schedule appointments and view their medical records. This Portuguese technology firm has also worked with various government agencies to simplify business processes and improve efficiency by integrating multiple systems that have enabled a centralised view of data and workflow.

The Portuguese company's decision to have a base right here in the City of Zagreb is all the more interesting considering that we mostly hear about the lack of Croatian talent in the IT sector because they escape abroad, hence the outflow of quality local IT professionals to other typically EU countries.

"In addition to the size of the country, the population, the market, legal or legislative framework, people in Croatia are also known to be extremely professional, dedicated and hardworking. This is what we need to continue achieving top results in technology," explained Paulo Lopes, the director of Xpand IT. In addition, this Portuguese IT company sees Zagreb as an attractive base for programmers and engineers from neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and other countries in the region.

"There is a clearly defined process when it comes to this company's internal business organisation. If there's anything that sets us apart from other development companies in Croatia, it's the internal organisation of the business with clearly defined processes and the depth and breadth of communication: each of our employees is actively involved in finding solutions, not only in the domain of what they're responsible for, but at the level of the entire company,'' said the director of the Croatian branch, Dejan Kapetan.

For more, check out our dedicated business section.

November 22, 2022 - In addition to data on last month's September salary payments, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics also published the latest data on employment. The Croatian IT sector has shown a significant increase in employment.

As Poslovni writes, the average net salary paid for September to employees of legal entities in the Republic of Croatia amounted to HRK 7,623. Compared to the previous month, it is nominally 0.7% less, and if inflation is considered, the real drop is a slightly more significant 2.2%. On the annual level, September wages are on average nominally 7.2% higher than in the same month last year, but the purchasing power is 5% weaker. Half of the total of 1.4 million employees in legal entities have a salary of less than HRK 6,500, while 10% of those with the lowest salaries, i.e. around 140,000 people, in the net earn less than HRK 4,211. In terms of the average net salary in September, the activity of air transport was also in the lead (HRK 12,580). The lowest salaries were paid in protective and investigative activities - less than HRK 5,000.

In addition to data on last month's September salary payments, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics also published the latest data on employment. Although total employment (which, in addition to legal entities, also includes craftsmen, freelancers and insured farmers) in October recorded a normal seasonal slight monthly decline (by about 900, to 1.62 million), the number of employees in legal entities increased by more than 8,400 or 0.6%, which means that the annual growth of employment for them reached 1.3%.

The IT sector stands out with double-digit annual employment growth. The Information and Communication activity registered a growth of 14.6%, to more than 55,600 employees. There are almost 10% more employees in tourism and hospitality companies today than a year ago, and an above-average increase of more than 6% was also recorded in real estate and administrative and other service activities.

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

August 25, 2022 - From September 2nd to September 4th, the largest regional IT conference will be held, organised by the team from MS Community, the Osijek Software City association, the PMI Croatia association, the Business Incubator BIOS, and partners: City of Osijek, J. J. Strossmayer University and the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek.

„In addition to the previous sponsors, this year we gained reinforcement from some new ones, with whom we are preparing 3 days of first-class knowledge, fun, and unforgettable socialising in Slavonia and Baranja. Each year we strengthen the program, which would not be possible without the tireless individuals who do their best to raise the bar for the quality of the conference“, said Conference Director Bernardin Katić.

During the 3 days of the conference, there will be an interesting program for all fans of the IT industry, as well as for the young ones. The topics range from advanced programming, database, IT Pro, web technology, design, project management, and game development, to an open part, where the lectures are formed at the event.

A major refreshment to the conference this year is brought by a new sponsor - EPAM USA, which will cover the KulenDayzKidz program.

The organization of the conference would also not have been possible without the support of the teams from King ICT, Tria, Undabot, Optiva, Joberty, Infobip, Nephos, and Evolutio.

Conference program:

FRIDAY – 2^nd September 2022

The program starts with pre-conference training in seven different areas. The locations of the training are the Kopački Rit Nature Park and the Kopačevo Ethno Village.

SATURDAY – 3^rd September 2022

On the main day of the conference, over 50 lectures will be held at the Academy of Arts and Culture and the Stara Pekara centre. The courtyard will be the place to socialise through the well-known In Da Sofa concept, stalls, and exhibitors who will make sure that there is no shortage of food and drinks. At the end of the day, a legendary party and gathering await!

SUNDAY – 4^th September 2022

A day of relaxation in Tikveš for a team-building event with a tour of the newly opened museum.

IT conference for the young ones

In addition to the main program on 3^rd September, an IT conference for children will take place: KulenDayz Kidz - a workshop intended for children aged 7-15 to strengthen their skills with computers, communication, and teamwork. This year's the theme is Scratch and HTML where the little ones will learn to create websites and a simple game.

Kulen, rakija, chillis, and first-class knowledge - it smells like a good invitation to apply!

Registration is open until August 30, and the number of places is limited to 500. The organisers invite you to secure your place in time.

More about the conference at www.kulendayz.com.

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

July the 29th, 2022 - The brand new Serengeti Split office has opened its doors and has been hiring local IT experts, a move which will hopefully further contribute to people remaining in Croatia and people from Dalmatia becoming employed in something other than tourism.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after having opened offices in Zagreb, Bjelovar, Varaždin and neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as development centres over in Kenya and Serbia, the new Serengeti Split office has opened, where it sees great potential for further establishing the IT profession, developing innovative projects and attracting young experts from across the region; Cooperation with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Shipbuilding in Split is also planned through internships and scholarships.

Serengeti, one of the fastest growing Croatian software development companies, will start working at their new location on August the 1st, 2022, in their brand new office on the Riva in the very heart of the City of Split. Since its foundation back in 2007, Serengeti has grown organically in terms of revenue, number of employees and level of expertise, and is now one of the fastest growing Croatian IT companies for software development, with an average annual revenue growth rate of around 35%.

Serengeti's expansion further down towards the south of Croatia is motivated by the increasing volume of work in general, as well as work on projects for the global market, and it has all been planned since the beginning of this year. Serengeti recognised Split as one of the most promising Croatian cities with great potential for even stronger technological development. In addition, Serengeti wishes to motivate local young experts, software engineers, to stay here in Croatia. There are already seven developers working within the Split team, and by the end of the year they will employ a minimum of eight more people. Two and a half million kuna is planned for the salaries of these 15 employees this year alone.

As far as the further growth of the number of employees is concerned, cooperation with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Shipbuilding in Split is also planned in the form of professional internships, scholarships and employment of interns, as mentioned previously.

"We already have seven employees working in Split and they fit perfectly into our way of working. Since Split and the region where it is located are strong in terms of engineering personnel and there are excellent technical faculties there, we believe that we'll be able to significantly expand our engineering team and offer people work on large international projects. The new Serengeti Split office is an important pillar in our future development plans, which largely depends on the ability to attract and retain quality engineering staff," says Goran Kalanj, president of the board and founder of Serengeti.

Serengeti's developers in Split are currently working on the development of a tourist application (app) for one of the leading Croatian tourism companies, and in cooperation with colleagues from other offices, they'll also work on projects for other markets. With an already established position within the European Union (EU), Serengeti has been present on the American, Scandinavian and Israeli markets since last year, which is why this company is constantly growing in terms of the number of employees.

Thanks to challenging projects, expertise and experience from both domestic and global markets, investment in development and the family atmosphere that reigns in all Serengeti offices, the company is recognised as a desirable employer and will have more than 200 satisfied employees at all of its current locations by the end of the year.

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

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. 

June the 16th, 2021 - When it comes to innovative Croatian companies being noticed on a global scale, the list is only continuing to grow and provide a spring in the step of certain sectors in the country. Clutch has recently listed the Zagreb company Ingemark among the 100 fastest growing.

As Novac writes, with more and more of the population being vaccinated against the novel coronavirus and the gradual relaxation of anti-epidemic measures, the economy also appears to be waking up, finally. According to the latest Eurostat data, Croatia's GDP in the first quarter of 2021 grew by 5.8 percent when compared to the previous quarter.

Last year, the year dominated by an unprecedented global public health crisis, was extremely challenging and impossible to predict for the entire economy, but only positive news came from the blossoming Croatian IT sector. The Zagreb company Ingemark, which deals with the development of custom software, has been listed by Clutch among the top 100 fastest growing.

Clutch, one of the world’s leading global B2B rating and review companies, highlights one hundred of the world’s fastest growing companies each year, as well as the top 100 companies with sustainable growth based on financial data. The Zagreb company Ingemark, which ended last year with impressive revenues of 14.3 million kuna, which is 6.4 million kuna more than back in pre-pandemic 2019, has rightfully been included. Viktor Matic, the director of Ingemark, was also more than satisfied with another success.

''We're flattered to have been placed on the list of the 100 fastest growing companies in the world. That means our engineers are doing a great job and I’m proud of that. The moves we've made over the past couple of years have focused on the development of Ingemark, organisational changes and a much more careful evaluation of projects before we take them over. We've completely changed our organisation and we're constantly evolving, so this inclusion in the top 100 companies is, in a way, a confirmation that we are on the right track, which I'm extremely proud of,'' stated Matic.

The companies on this list are mainly headquartered in the US, Australia and India. A smaller number, about 10 percent of the list, are companies with more than 1,000 employees, and most of them, more than 50 percent, are companies with less than 50 employees, including the Zagreb company Ingemark, which currently has 40 employees, but plans to increase that number.

''The indicative target is to reach 70 employees by the end of 2022. I think it's hard to plan for a longer period than that. With this intense growth in the number of employees, it is important to set up processes that will ensure that all employees know at all times what is expected of them and what they can expect from their colleagues. In that sense, defining the process is certainly one of our priorities, and as part of that, we recently certified the company according to ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 standards,'' said Matic.

For 2021, Clutch’s ranking of the 100 fastest-growing companies is based on their absolute revenue growth rate from 2019 to 2020, while the top 100 companies with sustainable growth are based on their absolute revenue growth rate from 2017 to 2020. With excellent business and an increase in employees, the Zagreb company Ingemark expects revenue growth of up to 25 million kuna by the end of this year.

Judging by the statement of Tajana Barancic, the longtime president of CISEx, who said back in February that the IT sector will grow by at least 10 percent this year, and its exports by 20 percent, more positive news from the Croatian IT sector is to be expected by the end of the year.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

As Novac/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 7th of September, 2020, the French Exclusive Networks company has taken over Veracomp, a Polish company whose subsidiary in Croatia is one of the 50 largest IT companies on the Croatian market.

Last year, Veracomp had a revenue of 208.4 million kuna and a net profit of 3 million kuna in Croatia. It is a fast-growing company on the Croatian market whose business jumped by a third compared to the year before, both in terms of revenue and profitability.

Veracomp is originally a Polish company, founded back in 1991, and is positioned on the market as a Value Added Distributor of ICT equipment in the markets across Central and Eastern Europe. The French Exclusive Networks was founded in 1995 in France, has complementary offerings, operates across 100 countries and has 50 offices worldwide. The French takeover will significantly strengthen the company's presence in Central and Eastern Europe and also strengthen its competence in the field of cyber security.

Adam Rudowski, the CEO of Veracomp, warned that the transaction will be subject to regulatory approvals and that its conclusion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.

“Associating with the French Exclusive Networks is proof of the success of our approach and allows us to focus our expertise on a truly global mission, while continuing to contribute to growth and create greater value in the channel,” explained Rudowski.

He added that he will now be able to offer existing and potential partners suppliers and sellers new opportunities to increase the volume of business in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. He pointed out that this will also be a 'brand 'new chapter in Veracomp’s fantastic success story'' for their employees as well.

Olivier Breittmayer, the CEO of the French Exclusive Networks, stated they have returned to strengthening their operations here in Europe, where they initially started.

''The story of Exclusive Networks began in Europe, and after global expansion to the EMEA and APAC regions and North America, now is the right time to expand further into Central and Eastern Europe, which has always been our plan for future growth,” says Breittmayer.

He added that acquiring a successful and well-established distribution group is the best way to accelerate a presence in the new region and create opportunities for their strategic supplier and GSI partners. He has announced new investments and is particularly pleased that there is a strong cultural match and operational coherence between the two organisations.

"Our plan is to support continued success, and not to impose new structures. This means keeping Veracomp's key management in their current roles so as to ensure business continuity and achieve a plan for accelerated growth," Breittmayer concluded.

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