Imagine a single moment that changes everything – one impact, one big bang – which reshapes an entire industry. Do you remember the Shoemaker-Levy9 comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994, in an explosion more powerful than the entire nuclear arsenal on Earth?
The company Levi9 Technology Services, named after that very comet, follows the vision of creating the same kind of impact on the IT market ever since its founding year of 2005.
“The Levi9 of today and the one from 18 years ago are essentially the same company but very different. Our vision remains the same: we strive to use technology to create a noticeable impact on the business of our clients. However, the methods we use to go about it are different – or rather, we should say more advanced. Today, with two Development Centers in Serbia and three modern offices in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Zrenjanin, Levi9 gathers an incredible collective of more than 700 IT experts who are ready to reshape the digital world,” says Viktor Kovač, the Director at Levi9’s Development Center in Novi Sad – Zrenjanin.
From a comet to an IT titan
This April, Levi9 will celebrate its 18th birthday – a coming of age in business that places them among the pioneers of the domestic IT scene.
“When we were starting out, companies were focused on the markets that were available to us, such as they were after a long period of sanctions. Levi9 brought in a new wave in 2005, which was the IT service in the Dutch market. The innovative web solutions – back then greatly needed in the Western Europe market – were very attractive to the IT professionals who were primed for change. This later proved to be a crucial element in the development of our domestic IT scene,” Kovač says, reminiscing on their beginnings and the time when the stage of Serbian technology had been abundant in companies offering typical products for that time, such as accounting applications.
When discussing a company named after a comet, one must ask: what were the effects of the Levi9’s impact on the domestic IT market?
“What used to be beyond imagining is now a reality for our employees at Levi9. Our “Niners”, as we affectionately call them, now have the opportunity to work on challenging, hard-won projects,” Viktor remembers, adding that many of them went on to use this experience to start their own, now also successful, companies.
According to him, many companies today uses the good professional practices that Levi9 had introduced to our region.
“It is with a lot of pride that we regard our influence and all the connections borne from our simple desire to bring together talent in our country with the needs of business advancements using IT solutions in the Western Europe. Collaborating with remote clients on the principles that we have developed has led to this method of business becoming a mainstream practice today.”
Flexibility and culture of empowerment
Different phases of company development demand different perspectives. Having a vision and adjusting to every situation is the key to long-term success.
“IT Companies have experienced years of sky-rocketing growth that even the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t deter. The current year is calmer, indicating a slower growth which reflects on the IT market as well. We see it as a specific moment. The need for digitalization is definitely not going anywhere. We can’t say exactly what the future will bring, although we did try to revive the iconic DeLorean time machine from “Back to the Future” in celebration of our 18th birthday. The plan for 2023 is to be a development year. Our focus is to consolidate our team in every required aspect and strengthen our position, so that we would be even stronger when greeting better economic days of our clients, both present and future.”
This is the main reason why Levi9 has strategically positioned their offices near selected university centers.
“The kind of talent that gravitates towards those centers has a natural interest in Levi9 hubs. Our trademark flexibility, which has become more widespread during the pandemic, has always been available here. Still, we believe in personal interaction within teams which is where a lot of inspiration comes from. We encourage teams to spend time together and strengthen both interpersonal relationships as well as bonds with their clients. We use our offices as hubs where we promote those interactions and deepen our connections.”
One of the missions of Levi9 in Serbia has always been to provide full support to the development and promotion of the IT profession. The need for IT engineers has only increased with time and the arrival of new companies to our market, while formal education lagged behind.
“Only those who were with us in our battle for the popularization and expansion of programming courses know exactly how much energy it had taken just to get things going. We are incredibly happy to see all we’ve achieved in our educational system over such a short period of time. The impact our company has had on the domestic IT market is all the greater, knowing that we’ve achieved our own growth and development by including the dreams of newly graduated IT students who had no previous commercial experience.”
Double-digit anniversaries are not typical in the IT industry. Nevertheless, about 50 employees celebrate over 10 years of work in the company Levi9, bearing witness to the quality and stimulating working conditions and professional development which, for many, has had the same upward trajectory as the company itself.
“I’ve been with Levi9 from the very beginning and I have to say that the challenging projects, passion for technology and the culture at the company itself is what makes the Niners special and creates a very dynamic environment. For me, Levi9 is synonymous with an environment where it’s possible to test out all kinds of projects, collaborate with all kinds of clients and above all keep moving forward,” Kovač says in conclusion.
Originally published at novaekonomija.rs.