Hrvoje Kapetanovic has led Undabot as CEO for six years, focusing on optimizing clients’ digital presence. Undabot, a technology company since 2013, specializes in end-to-end mobile and web solutions, earning recognition among Clutch’s top 1000 B2B companies globally.
Hrvoje Kapetanovic’s Personal Life & Company Life
The Arabia Times: Explain your background and your Company’s in detail.
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: I have been the CEO and a Board Member at Undabot for the last six years. My primary mission is to empower clients to optimize their presence on digital platforms, enhancing user experience while making a better return on client investment in the digital solution.
With more than 25 years in leadership and entrepreneurial roles, my passion lies in continually improving processes with a strong focus on innovation in methodologies and technologies and fostering a lifelong learning-oriented approach in every team member.
Undabot is a technology company specializing in designing and creating custom, end-to-end mobile & web solutions that help our clients optimize their investment in digital solutions. Since 2013, we’ve been refining our craft and growing our team of solution-driven, highly skilled, and forward-thinking professionals with diverse competencies and know-how.
Designing and building products from scratch is what we do best – we consult on and analyze clients’ needs, design a solution, develop it, and maintain it end-to-end. Clutch enlisted us on their most exclusive list of the top 1000 B2B companies globally two years in a row, among other industry awards.
The Arabia Times: List some of your clients over the years.
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Our projects are complex and ambitious, and that’s exactly how we like them. Our portfolio includes mobile and TV applications for a multi-content streaming platform – Cliq, a telecom customer care app for A1 Telecom Austria Group, a mobile app for a leader in skincare FOREO, a custom self-care app for Wiener Insurance Company, and numerous mobile and web projects for Coca-Cola, Styria Media Group, Austrian Post and others.
The Arabia Times: Can you provide a brief overview of what “UNDABOT” does and what inspired you to lead this company?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Undabot is a technology company that provides optimal digital solutions for clients across industries and worldwide. We ensure clients’ high satisfaction through tailored technical consulting services, on-point solution design, complex web and mobile solutions design and development, and post-development maintenance. Our bread and butter are Android, iOS, and cross-platform technologies, while in the web domain; we primarily work with the PHP programming language. Despite the constant evolution of new programming languages in IT, working with battle-tested technologies contributes to project stability, especially during upgrades and maintenance at large systems. As we create custom solutions for clients, we’ve had the opportunity to work on various B2B and B2C self-service and m-commerce applications, web and mobile platforms for content sharing, digital transformations through specialized ERP systems, technical, functional, and UX/UI design consulting, and other services that assist clients in the process of implementing digital solutions to enhance their businesses.
My main inspiration is working with a great team of industry professionals who create top-notch digital solutions for our clients, help them keep pace with the current market demands, and prepare for the future.
UNDABOT’s Adaptive AI Approach
The Arabia Times: AI is a rapidly evolving field. How does “UNDABOT” stay innovative and adapt to emerging technologies and trends?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: We certainly keep up with the latest developments in the industry, and we view AI as a help in our business, not as a threat. Although some processes might be optimized with the use and expansion of AI, companies will need more technology consultants to help them create products and maneuver the world of new technologies and AI, and that is where Undabot comes in. Our seasoned specialists with 20+ years of experience constantly upgrade their knowledge while mitigating upcoming challenges in IT with their vast experience.
The potential of AI technologies closely follows the development of generative artificial intelligence, especially Large Language Models (LLMs). To harness the power of LLMs, we integrate them into various aspects of our development process. For example, our functional design team uses LLM tools to write functional requirements and use cases, enabling them to create high-quality, detailed documentation faster and more accurately.
Our technical teams are also currently testing and evaluating “AI-assisted coding” tools, specifically introducing GitHub Copilot. This tool assists programmers by suggesting code snippets, completing code lines, and providing contextual recommendations. By leveraging AI in this way, our developers can increase productivity and focus more on solving complex problems.
Furthermore, we are actively exploring ways to use AI tools within our existing clients’ products. We believe that integrating AI solutions into our clients’ products can provide significant value to our clients and their users.
The development of artificial intelligence has brought new momentum to the IT industry and beyond. We actively monitor developments and adapt to stay at the forefront of technological progress, delivering top-notch solutions to our clients and contributing to the positive evolution of the industry as a whole.
UNDABOT’s Journey: Culture & Achievements
The Arabia Times: Could you share some key milestones or achievements that “UNDABOT” has reached since its inception?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Although client satisfaction is the biggest accolade we strive for, from the very first brief to the final stages of the project, we are proud to be continuously recognized and awarded for excellence in our work, approach to business development, and the benefits we provide for our employees.
Clutch, the world’s largest platform for ranking IT companies and service providers, compiles lists of the best companies globally and locally every year. In addition to being consistently included in the list of top companies in Croatia for several years, we have also been among the top 1% of the best IT companies globally for two years in a row. Considering tens of thousands of IT companies worldwide, this is a fantastic achievement for a company of our size.
Furthermore, we have received awards for our projects in recent years, including the W3, Web Excellence Awards, and Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards. The most recent award we are proud to have won is the “Family-Friendly Employer” award we received from the Croatian Central State Office of Demography and Youth. This recognition confirms that our efforts to make Undabot a pleasant workplace are appreciated within the local community.
The Arabia Times: Could you describe the company culture at “UNDABOT” and how it contributes to your team’s effectiveness and overall success?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: We’re solution-driven, highly adept, and forward-thinking professionals with diverse skills and know-how. Our working environment is nurturing, supportive, and flexible so that everyone can get a chance to educate themselves further and experience professional growth. We believe in the people-first approach; cherishing each employee means providing a nurturing work environment where everyone can learn, grow, and feel good while doing their best. Humbleness, trust, open communication, and willingness to help one another, regardless of achievements or position, are how we get the best results. We’re prioritizing work-life balance with various employee benefits, asynchronous, hybrid, or remote work options, attention to resources, and precise deadline planning — they’re here to help us lead a balanced and accomplished life. We’re constantly looking for improvement because we firmly believe that new ideas and trends (re)shape our processes and project approach, leading us to implement best practices consistently.
Comprehensive Services
The Arabia Times: Can you provide examples of the different services you offer to create end-to-end digital products for clients?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Undabot provides a comprehensive suite of services to deliver end-to-end digital products for our clients. We kick start every project with a thorough solution design process where we strive to provide a base of high technical quality. Our experienced specialists advise on critical challenges throughout the project, optimizing resources and advancing the final product. With numerous mobile apps designed and developed, we excel in crafting native and cross-platform apps that enhance brands and offer exceptional user experiences. Our web app design and development expertise ensures scalable, intelligently designed web solutions built on clean architecture. Furthermore, we offer professional, dedicated teams inspired by best industry practices and equipped with the latest technologies to deliver high-quality, end-to-end products that meet and exceed our client’s expectations, enhancing their organizations.
Knowledge about UNDABOT
The Arabia Times: How do these services work together to ensure a seamless and comprehensive solution for clients?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: We established a process that allows structure and coordination while leaving room for flexibility and a custom approach that fits any organization. Our Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) unfolds four pivotal stages: Discovery, Design, Engineering, and Scale. The foundation of every project is the SRS (Software Requirements Specification) document, which serves as a guideline for all stakeholders involved in developing a digital solution. Each stage has its own service offerings, and by combining some or all of them, we develop solutions for top companies who want to stay ahead of the curve. To ensure a high level of quality at each stage of building the digital product, we have a dedicated Quality Assurance team in place from the project’s start through completion and maintenance.
The Arabia Times: How do you ensure that your team stays up-to-date with the latest industry trends and technologies to deliver cutting-edge solutions?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Undabot is built on a culture of continuous learning – we learn from each other through teamwork, regular feedback, transparent communication, collaboration, and various professional and personal development forms. This year, we invested 6295 hours in educating ourselves to grow, learn, and push each other toward excellence. We prioritize quality and embrace challenges because they nurture our spirit of exploration and creativity and enable us to progress.
The Arabia Times: Could you walk me through your SDLC (software development life cycle) process? What are the key stages involved?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Our digital project development process comprises four key phases, each providing various services that might fit the project’s needs.
Our approach starts with the Discovery phase, which might include a Design Sprint, Design Benchmark, Requirements Capture, Customer Survey, Ideation, Technical Solution, User Research, and Software Audit. The main goal is to refine the client’s business ideas and figure out how to embody them in a single technical product. Once we set a clear goal, we precisely know what needs to be done to ensure the final product is complete, accurate, and of high technical quality.
The next phase is the Design phase where we strive to understand the thoughts and needs of end-users. We adhere to well-known UX laws and pay utmost attention to accessibility, usability, hierarchy, and consistency. During the Design phase, our UX/UI designers work on Information Architecture, Usability testing, Implementation Oversight, Wire framing, UI Design, Prototyping, and Motion Design.
The third phase is Engineering – we produce software that’s easy to write, read, and maintain using proven technologies and a reader-focused development approach. Every line of code is reviewed by humans following the four-eye principle and also undergoes additional statistical analysis and machine review. Later, special tools run through the code, thoroughly analyzing the software’s performance and stability. The engineering phase might include Android and iOS Development, Backend Development, Frontend Development, DevOps, and Quality Assurance .
The last phase is Scale, where we take care of the bespoke software by providing four flexible types of app maintenance (Corrective, Adaptive, Perfective, and Preventive), depending on the client’s needs. Our QA team ensures there’s a structured approach to fixing bugs and problem-solving, as well as a transparent ticketing system. Finally, we integrate app health real-time reporting that allows us to act as soon as a problem arises. As part of the Scale phase, we offer Technical Maintenance and support, Review Customer Feedback, and Usability Testing.
Challenges faced by Hrvoje Kapetanovic
The Arabia Times: What have been some of the most significant challenges you’ve faced while building and growing “UNDABOT,” and how did you overcome them?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Regarding the challenges we’ve faced in our business, one of the most significant has been keeping up with the rapidly evolving IT landscape. Technology constantly advances, and staying competitive requires continually updating our skills, tools, and strategies.
Also, one of the biggest challenges is recruiting and retaining top-tier talent. Attracting individuals with the required skills that resonate with our company’s mission and values is an ongoing challenge. Moreover, retaining these talented professionals and ensuring their continued growth and motivation require a strategic approach.
Overcoming these challenges took work, which is essential for our company’s growth and success. With our resilience, adaptability, and continuous improvement mindset, we continuously and successfully tackle these obstacles, contributing to our organization’s strength and maturity.
The Arabia Times: What steps do you take to ensure that the end product meets the client’s requirements and functions excellently?
Hrvoje Kapetanovic: Our first step to project success and fast time-to-market is finding the best way to work together to optimize client investment in digital projects. We call it the engagement model. We can adjust our game plan to fit the project type and involvement level our client prefers – hands-off, feedback only, or providing us with a steady stream of tasks and tracking delivery. Currently, we are offering four engagement models to our clients.
The first option is to have a Dedicated team. This engagement model defines the timeline, the overall budget, and team roles well, but there’s space to fine-tune the project scope and phases. This is the best fit for big projects when it’s difficult to define the scope to the finest detail, especially if clients want the flexibility to adjust to market response, a shift in priorities, or scope realignment.
With the Fixed bid engagement model, the client should be prepared for detailed planning before the project begins. This engagement model defines all three – project scope, timeline, and budget.
Rather than defining the entire project, we provide time and budget estimates for the specific tasks our client requests – and we call this engagement model Time & Materials.
The last option is called the out staffing. We provide the domain experts our client needs for a fixed time. The most significant advantage is that our clients don’t have to recruit an expert they won’t need once the project is finished.
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