Growing in a crisis: Croatian firm Lemax opens Osijek office 

The decline in tourist activity has not stopped the growth of Croatian firm Lemax as they open an office in Osijek. Lemax is a firm with a world-renowned SaaS solution for automation of business processes in the tourism sector and despite the global crisis, is realising strategic plans. 

ZAGREB, 15 September 2020 – Croatian company Lemax, which in the last few years has become a world-renowned provider of solutions for travel agencies and tour operators for its SaaS solution for automating business processes in the tourism sector, continues to grow. 

With revenues of more than 2.5 million euros in 2019, the company made the Deloitte list of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with almost 100 employees.

The Šibenik-based company with an office in Zagreb is implementing this year’s business plan by opening an office in Osijek.

Opening an office in Osijek is a strategic determinant of the company in order to employ and enable growth and development in an environment that connects two leading sectors: information and communication technologies and tourism. 

With continuous revenue growth of 40 percent per year, strong growth in the number of employees, from juniors to management, Lemax today employs almost 100 employees, and five experts from Osijek have already joined their team. The selection of Osijek as a new business centre for the development of excellence was based primarily on the need to hire professional ICT employees, and then on the research and analysis of available data from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the Croatian Employment Service. 

The optimistic results are confirmed by about two hundred companies that have their headquarters or open branches in Osijek, and employ more than 700 people, achieving a continuous increase in revenue, exports, and growth in net wages. Aware of the value of the IT sector, the decisive role in positioning Osijek as an important regional centre of the IT sector and beyond the borders of Croatia is often emphasised, which is confirmed by the opening of Lemax’s office.

The COVID-19 pandemic that brought about a crisis in the tourism sector required rapid adaptation to new working conditions. The acceptance of digital business is in full swing in all economic activities, but the director of Lemax, Mate Kostovski, is optimistic: 

“Investing in digital transformation is the only way for travel companies to survive. The crisis witnessed by the whole world is only a catalyst for the inevitable changes that the travel industry has sooner or later had to go through. Despite the large number of layoffs and reservations at the mention of investing, investing in technology that automates business processes will allow travel companies, once things return to normal, to adapt faster and respond to inquiries from their customers. The complex situation in which we all find ourselves is a challenge to which we have quickly adapted and all our users who are in the process of implementation are aware of that, including those who are thinking about strategic technological investments. Therefore, hiring the right people is important and represents a sustainable level in our country. We have been systematically thinking about Osijek for the last year and made a decision for a new address for our expansion. We believe that we will influence positive economic changes in the county, by employing the best individuals and enabling the local community to have access to state-of-the-art knowledge and state-of-the-art technological solutions.”

Director of Lemax, Mate Kostovski

Recruitment will continue in all Lemax offices in accordance with market needs. The company regularly publishes job advertisements on its website www.lemax.net/careers-and-jobs/ and on social networks and IT groups. On the Lemax blog, they talk about the culture, ways of employment, work atmosphere and business, taking care of the development paths of existing experts, while giving an insight into the work of the company to all interested individuals.

Lemax recorded its greatest success and milestone in business in 2018 by signing a contract with the largest Asian travel agency, Asian Trails, which opened the door to new world markets. The company is 100% Croatian-owned, today it cooperates with more than 100 users on all continents covering companies ranging in size from 20 to over 600 employees and has launched its own technological transformation of the entire platform which will include conversion of monolithic architecture into microservices, code restructuring, and interface redesign.