Our Own Way and Biroservice
I have been entrepreneurial since I was a little boy. At the age of 12, I had my own film and image development lab with a friend and ever since I can remember, I dreamed of having something of my own. I've always been interested in these things. I mean, by an unfortunate coincidence, I went to school for woodworking first, but it really wasn't for me. After two years, I turned to what I was drawn to. Electrical engineering and finomechanics. After high school I did a lot of training, mainly in Germany.
On 26 June 1976, Biroservis was born, which I opened together with a former colleague and good friend. A joint workshop, a new job. We were among the first private entrepreneurs in the industry and we had an exciting future ahead of us. We had a lot of specific knowledge that we didn't have a lot of, and that's why we were successful. We quickly got our first clients and that's how it started. At the age of 26, we already had six employees. Those were the beginnings.
From there on it was easy. I have always been innovative and wanted to gain as much knowledge as possible. It was easy to compare all the knowledge I had acquired abroad with the engineers I had trained here. And that's what drove me on. What is new, what do we still need to know, what do we still need to learn, that was true for me and for all the employees. Sometimes it was difficult to convince anyone to take up new training, but without it we would have stagnated.
Just keep going
To be honest, at the beginning I didn't know where progress would take us. I just knew that we would go forward with technological progress and that we would certainly be around for at least 30 years. And some of them were at Microcop until they retired. Keeping up with new technology became part of my vision for the company. I understood what the customers needed and made sure that we were quick to adopt technological innovations. My colleagues probably thought I was overdoing it with all the training we regularly attended, but knowledge is power.
At the beginning, it looked like we were going to be technicians, but after a few years, outsourcing showed great potential. To outsource. In our industry, it took a long time for customers to accept the concept, but over time they realised that it was the only sensible direction to go. So we started outsourcing services. First good hardware, then software. We took care of the know-how.
Technological change was a constant
We have experienced three main technological changes. From electromechanics to electronics. When I saw the technological breakthrough and the chip technology and the printed circuit boards coming, I knew I had to be able to do it. And with every technological innovation, I followed it.
Then came the beginning of digitalisation. Analogue microfilm cameras were recording documents and, through optics, zooming in and recording the images on film. Then these cameras were upgraded to scanners, which started to record these images digitally. At that time, I well remember the technicians asking me: are you going to send us to training for this as well? Yes, of course, was my answer. We have to move on. Many were convinced that scanners would not replace cameras for a long time, but they were wrong.
The next big change was the move to digital in a big leap. We felt that customers needed software that would allow them to do more than just read and write the captured data. Our customers each had their own challenges and these needed to be addressed. This was the first time we recruited programmers to work with our customers to develop software solutions.
DOCSIS and the first expansion
Biroservis was the first sponsor of the DOCSIS conferences, where I met the owner of the company where they developed the software and we quickly found ourselves with the idea of a future together. Even then I wanted to see Mikrocop expand by connecting like-minded entrepreneurs, but until that moment I just hadn't found the right match. Within five minutes we had a deal. We both saw a lot of advantages and opportunities in the association.
From those early beginnings came what we do and know today. The desire was to make something that we could replicate and offer to other clients, but at the same time allow tailor-made solutions for individual clients who need it. This is how the idea of a digital platform was born.
The Web Archive: science fiction made real
Then, almost like science fiction, the web archive appeared. Something that sounded unthinkable at the time has become our everyday practice - a new way of working and a whole new way of looking at documents and information.
This was the start of another major phase in the evolution of Microcop.
Motivation is the basis
I have always been a believer that employees should be paid for performance and motivation has always been important. There is a lot of talk today about motivation in terms of socialising, perks, activities. That is all well and good. But the employee must be rewarded for what he or she brings to the company. Those who just work get what is agreed. Those who work more and bring more to the company should be rewarded on what they bring.
From archivist to IT provider
Our role has changed slowly but steadily. Even if some in the IT industry at the beginning of the transition to an IT development company dismissed us as archivists and did not take us seriously, over the years we have proved that we can meet every new client request. Because we had a great professional team, the desire to do something new and to deliver on our promises, to prove to ourselves and to others that we could do it. That's why I consider our tradition of investing heavily in the skills of our employees to be extremely important. Knowledge, experience, professionalism have developed with the business. We have never been left behind. For a long time, our slogan has been 'One step ahead of the rest'.
Disruptive risks
It was a good lesson when Kodak, which used to be a major part of our business, changed its business policy a few years ago and we lost our status as a Value Added Partner virtually overnight. At the time, Kodak had the latest equipment on the stand at Cebit and I decided at that time that we would buy all the equipment so that we could demonstrate it to our market. It was a lot of money at that time, and I had to get credit for it. But we did it and we regained representation for Slovenia, Croatia and BiH. It was one of those decisions that taught me that sometimes you have to take risks.
The investment for our building, designed to the standards we required to be able to do what we do today, was a similar story. It required a heavy burden. But we knew that everything was going in the direction of cloud services. We heard a lot at trade fairs about safe rooms, energy independence, multi-channel access, ... We knew that having our own data centre and the right infrastructure was what would help us retain existing customers and win new ones.
Relationship culture
From the very beginning, we have fostered not only business relationships, but friendly ones. Sometimes I would call a picnic on Fridays, unannounced. A lot of us were fishermen and we would go from the office to the Sava. The fishermen were catching fish for the picnic, the others had their own tasks: collecting firewood, preparing the fire, taking care of the food and drinks, etc. We have always been active in sports at the picnics, and this tradition has been preserved to this day, when Mikrocop's employee picnics always include sports activities. That is why I am also very happy to see how these relationships continue to develop and be nurtured today.
The relaxed social atmosphere that we have always maintained has helped us to get on so well. Even the new recruits made new friends after the first picnic. It is in these informal settings that people really get to know each other and get a feel for each other, so that even in a formal setting it is easier to get along and there is no noise in communication.
One may wonder if friendship has ever influenced a rational business relationship. It hasn't. Friendships have not influenced the running of a business. We have always worked in the interests of the company , and to this day I can still think of an occasion when we have stuck to that. That is how we functioned. For the good of the company.
From Slovenia to Croatia and Bosnia
From the beginning of my career I had many clients all over Yugoslavia. We serviced machines for copying blueprints. And I built up good relationships. With periodic servicing, we gave our customers a good record of what was ahead of them, and they appreciated that. I didn't want to lose those customers when Slovenia became independent. So it was a natural step to open branches in Croatia and Bosnia. Here again, we made sure that the transfer of knowledge and skills was appropriate and that the clients were satisfied.
From 1 to 100
I had many colleagues. When I retired, the company had employees in three countries - Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I always stuck to the rule of 5. For every five employees you need a manager. That way work is done more efficiently and the organisation is more manageable. One person alone can never achieve what a good team, a well-established team can. So growing a company from a few employees to over 100 employees has never been difficult for me.
Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of memories, a lot of interesting moments.
The handover of the management of the company was also quite quick, but the new management found their way very quickly without any special handovers, and I was very happy about that. I had a pretty good feel for people from the start and in this case I chose the right successor as well, as she and her colleagues continue with the vision that puts Mikrocop on the map as an important IT development partner. After she took over as CEO, I continued to work in a more supervisory role at Mikrocop for two years until my retirement, sometimes visiting clients in Croatia, where we had a really long-standing relationship.
From Biroservice to Mikrocop
Biroservis s.p. was transformed into Mikrocop d.o.o. in 1990. I wanted to get rid of the craftsmanship and make a company that would grow with every fiber of its being and reflect all the knowledge, experience and potential that we had. I used to wonder if the name Mikrocop was apt, but at the time it felt right. Today I think it sounds good. And today it is recognisable.
Music and technology
I come from a musical family and music has been with me since I was very young. I learned to play the piano, but as a teenager I realised that you can't take a piano to the beach. So I traded the piano for a guitar. I also love to sing and I could have made a career in music. A lot of people ask me why I didn't go for it. I could have, but I don't know if I would have enjoyed music so much then. But I did what I enjoyed all the time, and music was my companion all the way. Wherever I went, I was happy to sing and play, and that is still the case today.
The way forward
For more than twenty years I have been looking for the right partners to expand the company. When companies in the same industry, with the same goals, come together, they are stronger. In terms of skills, experience, market and resistance to change. From the moment I founded Biroservis, I have been working to grow the company and make it a leader. In that time, we have added five smaller companies and Mikrocop is today a major player in the market with a bright future.
With the new ownership, new doors are opening for Mikrocop. I am very proud to have been part of this success story. A story that I could never have written alone, but became a success story because I was always surrounded by a great, enthusiastic and professional team. Proud to have led the company across all milestones to a development company that is ready for the new leaps that future technology, such as artificial intelligence, will surely bring.
Let tradition remain
Communication is the key to good cooperation. Not only sharing opinions, but also clashing opinions is important for good decisions to be made. Good decisions together. Politics has no place in business. It has never been like that at Mikrocop and I want it to stay like that. The ability to lead well is precisely to accept arguments that are not your own. To understand that you are not always right and to make decisions based on arguments that are valid.
Values
What has the path of entrepreneurship taught me? That you have to have a vision and follow it. It's not enough to do it alone, you have to surround yourself with the right people who believe in the vision. Working together develops good ideas, overcomes challenges and builds the trust that is so important with clients. Change is inevitable. If you embrace them and are ready for them, turning points become milestones you look back on with pride. They are lessons that make you even more experienced in building for the future. You can't do without knowledge. Clients need and value professionalism, so it's important to keep up with progress. I am happy to have started a story that is still being built by so many people today.
