Content

• Who makes up the Opium Systems crew?  
• Beginnings in beernici 
• Achievements and Collaborations 
• Even fails were 
• How we see our future 

Do you also feel like the past few years are flying by? We're going to sound like our grandmothers every time they see us now, but time flies and look how much we've grown! It's been three years since we've been here with you. Incredible. Opium is no longer a toddler, but an established company on the market!  

Although we haven't saved up for a grandiose birthday party yet (they say good things come in fours), it's still worth celebrating. So, in Matúš's cellar (even though it's practically ours now), we opened champagne and reminisced about the times of our birth (*nostalgic sigh*), patted ourselves on the back for our achievements, and laughed through tears at some major fails we're still recovering from.  

And then it hit us – we're where we are, primarily thanks to you, and that's why we want to share our story with you! Nikol, who takes care of our great articles, interviewed us and turned our conversation into the following lines.  

Let's take it step by step. Who makes up the Opium Systems crew?  

Currently, customers most often encounter two musketeers (Matúš, Samo) and read Nikol. Matúš is the head of our team, the technical backbone, and a genius for details. His domain is running to meetings, where he helps clients understand their needs and design solutions. Samo is the right hemisphere of the operation's brain. His main weapons are his creative mind and UX. He is responsible for the intuitiveness of our products and turns all ideas into beautiful and functional solutions. He also serves as the liaison between the client and our developers. Behind our code are Domča, Peter, Mark, Illias, Peter_Second, and Darren, taking turns. Nikol is the newest addition to our team and creates all the nice articles you read. Like this one. 

Did you also start in a garage, like other giants in the field such as Apple or Microsoft?

No, we started much more interestingly. At Matúš's cellar.

As we know, you are most at home in the field of digitalization. How have you helped companies and institutions within this sphere? What benefits does it bring to your clients? 

We have digitized the processes of dozens of small and medium-sized businesses in Slovakia. We have become experts in the digital challenges of Slovak companies. We know exactly what they need for project management, what complications they face in document management, and our tailor-made solutions in Microsoft 365 help them manage their companies and projects better. We are happy that we can simplify processes for companies, thereby making their operations faster, easier, and more efficient. 

One example is the analysis and digitization of processes for the Košice City Magistrate. Here, we completely innovated and migrated their old intranet, without losing old data and files, thanks to which their operation is today in a completely electronic form and very intuitive to use. As part of the digitization, we created custom apps for them on the intranet to make things even easier and smoother.  

Since we're celebrating today - what do you consider your biggest success so far?  

We created the very first online elections in Slovakia for the Slovak Bar Association during COVID-19 restrictions. Due to lockdown, it was impossible to organize the elections in person for over 6,000 lawyers. Therefore, we came up with a hybrid solution of online elections and voting. 1,600 lawyers voted using touch kiosks at Incheba, and over 4,000 followed a live stream from the comfort of their homes, electing their representatives and voting live on regulations. We designed Entra identity for all lawyers in Slovakia, secured a SharePoint portal, and integrated Azure Functions, SharePoint Framework, Teams, and microservices into a comprehensive solution for a secure hybrid election system and an online voting system accessible from anywhere in Slovakia. 

Wow, that sounds truly exceptional. In what other ways do you see yourselves as pioneers in the Slovak market? Is there anything you've managed to achieve that no one else has?  

We also managed to release our first DOer application in the Microsoft store – an AI assistant in Teams that works with data in SharePoint and Teams, which today streamlines processes for thousands of people. However, an even bigger “technological treat" within our innovative projects is the first VR Metaverse festival in Slovakia for Slovenská sporiteľňa, for which we won 2nd place at the Best Events Awards in Rome in the Metaverse events category. We connected more than 4,000 people in virtual reality, and we created Holoportation-powered art performances on three metaverse festival stages.   

Wow, the future is here!  

Haha, yes. It was a truly unique project, and several times we paused to consider what era of technological advancement we were in. We're from a generation that grew up offline in the yard and without cell phones, so it's fascinating to witness this transformation and be a direct part of it as innovation creators. We even later discovered that the project was unique worldwide from a technological and programmatic perspective.  

How did this idea even come about?  

The initial idea came from us. During the lockdown, young people faced communication problems and restrictions in social activities. The inability to meet physically, communicate with friends, and attend events began to affect people's mental state. Even virtual meetings and chatting didn't provide the authentic connection people longed for. We have been collaborating with Slovenská sporiteľňa for a while, so we approached them with this idea, and they immediately enthusiastically agreed. A team of forward-thinking people works at their BrandHub, as they call their department. The idea of the first metaverse event immediately excited them. They placed their trust in us, and we continue to collaborate on the project.  

What does a metaverse festival look like? What happened there? 

The space was called Space Base and was set within a spaceship environment that evoked an immersive sci-fi gaming world for visitors. The event allowed people in the metaverse to meet up, talk with friends and new people in real-time, providing a natural sense of communication that was missing during the lockdown. Attendees could also enjoy concerts, DJs, singing contests, stand-up comedy, tree planting, avatar and outfit changes, a photo gallery, and other fun activities. Additionally, they could earn the digital currency "Spejsáky" by participating in various activities. The metaverse allows for greater interactivity and experiences that are closer to reality than multiplayer games like Minecraft or Roblox. This means better interaction with others and the possibility of realistically earning virtual money. 

Do you also operate internationally? Do you have foreign collaborations in your portfolio?  

We created the personal assistant Skybow Assistant in the style of the aforementioned DOer application for the renowned Swiss company Skybow. We were also the only Czechoslovak company to exhibit at the European Collaboration Summit 2022 in Dusseldorf. We shared our experience in creating Metaverse events with a keynote presentation at Event Fest in Prague. Currently, we are working on a system for a Danish biotech company and a German concern focused on construction and development.  

Do you have a dream project you'd like to work on, or a client you'd love to collaborate with?  

Every client is a dream client, because for us it doesn't matter if a startup with 6 people or a manufacturing company with 500 comes to us. Regardless of whether it's about personal relationships or business, harmonious cooperation is key to success. When we meet a client who is friendly, communicative, and willing to collaborate to achieve common goals, the whole process is enjoyable and the results are often much better. Such a client is a true partner, and working with them is a pleasure. It often happens that such a relationship brings not only professional success but also mutual trust and long-term friendship. 

Let's get to some spicier moments. Have you had any situations that left a really bitter taste in your mouth?  

Sure! It wouldn't be possible without such moments. We met the first “Slovak entrepreneurs.” They're the kind who order custom software from you, you prepare a fantastic application for them, they praise it as great, but when it comes time to pay the final invoice, suddenly the software is worthless, it didn't meet their expectations, and they certainly won't pay you. This is despite the fact that they use the application, their IT staff have learned how to do things with it, and they use data and know-how that are yours for their own application. 

Ouch, that must have hurt! 

Yes, but unfortunately that wasn't our last situation of a similar nature. We ordered furniture for our offices from another “Slovak entrepreneur” prototype, paid a deposit, and after excuses like: our car broke down, we can't come today because someone died, because it's raining, we'll come next week, in a month... we realized that the gentleman entrepreneur collects deposits but doesn't deliver goods. He hasn't delivered to us to this day, so Samo has to sit at a makeshift desk because we don't have the furniture and wall paneling in the office that we would like. ???? 

After all, we are in Slovakia. ????  Here, one must apparently be very careful of calculating and deceitful people.  

Yes, but also on the judicial system. The enforceability of law in Slovakia is catastrophic. If a customer doesn't pay your invoice and you take them to court, it will drag on forever and cost you a lot of money. And if your lawyer happens to miss a hearing due to illness, you will lose the case immediately. (In this regard, we would like to thank our law firm, which acknowledged its mistake and covered all the costs of the court case for us. We appreciate it.) To top it off, the businessman claimed that he won the lawsuit because he was dissatisfied, not because he owed us money and because we couldn't attend court. So this lesson taught us… what the hell did it teach us? ???? 

Was that a rhetorical question? ???? Or can you answer it now, looking back? How did your team handle these situations?  

Today we're doing things differently; we're more selective about our collaborations and dive into projects based on „chemistry.“ If we get a good gut feeling and the team agrees, we start building an epic collaboration and partnership. Such a client receives a lot extra from us; we work for them with passion and deliver services that would be hard to find elsewhere. If we don't feel this, we simply don't enter into a collaboration. And if the chemistry doesn't work out later, we have a reputable law firm specializing in our field that ensures our contracts are properly set up and protects our time and know-how. We've learned that not everyone has the same worldview as us, so we protect ourselves. ???? After every project we turn down, a better one awaits us... one where we can collaborate with people we resonate with, and that's more important to us than anything else.  

What were your biggest challenges over these three years, and how did you overcome them? 

We think that every single project involved some challenge that we always managed to overcome successfully. However, probably the biggest challenge was to create our own boxed product for Microsoft 365 alongside all those projects – System. In Systeemu, each of us has invested a piece of our experience gathered over these 3 years from all our projects, and we have created a comprehensive solution for managing orders, finances, documents, and tasks for small and medium-sized businesses directly within Microsoft Teams. 

Photo: Markíza.sk

Can you tell us about a specific success story or project that personally inspired you and left a significant impression? 

The most beautiful/nicest project we did was virtual reality for seniors at the Elderly Care Facility in Trnava. This project showed us how virtual reality can be used usefully, and how it can open new doors where we would least expect it. They say seniors have a hard time learning new technologies, but the opposite is true. The retirees in this facility regularly go into virtual reality to relax or attend virtual concerts of their favorite bands, such as Jadranka.  

You can read more about the project here: Great idea. Trnava seniors are living a new life thanks to virtual reality | Trnavské rádio (trnavske.radio) 

Photo: Kamila Pánisová, Trnavské rádio

What direction would you like to go in the future? 

We're currently transforming our office space, where we're also preparing a public area. This will serve as a coworking cafe with fast internet. You know how it is – you're in town and looking for a cafe where you can take a call or quietly get some work done... Well, this will be that place you're looking for. The space is designed by incredibly talented architects. VAU architects, So we're incredibly excited about the result!  

Thank you, guys, for a truly enriching conversation! Is there anything else you would like to convey to your clients, partners, and supporters on this anniversary? 

These birthdays are a special moment for us, and we simply want to say: THANK YOU! Without you, our amazing customers, partners, and friends, we wouldn't be here. Your support has motivated and inspired us every step of the way. And this is just the beginning. We look forward to many more years of great collaboration and new challenges that await us together.