From Complexity to Clarity: How ZenDev Streamlined Operations and Boosted Profitability with Productive

Anđela: ZenDev is an agency focused on staff augmentation and product development. I’m the Chief Marketing Officer at ZenDev. I started as a digital marketing specialist almost five years ago.

Farik: And I’m the General Manager at ZenDev. I started working here almost six years ago.

Anđela: If you need experienced developers to strengthen your team or help with specific project parts, we can onboard quickly and get to work immediately. On the product development side, we can take your idea from concept to launch. We ensure your project isn’t just built using the latest tech but is designed to make the most of it, whether it’s an MVP or a complete product. 

We operate primarily in Western Europe and Scandinavia, focusing on the Swedish market, where many client relationships originated.

Our strategic nearshore model combines Swedish business understanding with Bosnian technical expertise, offering clients the perfect balance of cultural compatibility, technical excellence, and cost efficiency.

We have offices in Sweden and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

We serve mid to large-sized enterprises across diverse industries, including:

Our ideal clients are looking for a reliable software partner who understands their business and can help them implement the most effective IT solutions for their specific challenges.

Anđela: Operations, sales, and project management relied on individual work and many Excel spreadsheets. All the data was scattered, making it difficult to see and make informed decisions.

Farik: Resource planning was done manually, without a centralized system, which made processes more complex and less efficient. 
We relied on Excel sheets to track profitability and hours for each team member.

At the end of each month, we’d manually summarize everything. Combining timesheets with project names and creating calendar views by hand.

This approach became a liability:

What started as a simple solution became a serious problem threatening our ability to understand project performance and make good decisions.

Farik: As the team grew, and we reached 13-14 employees, it became clear that the previous way of working was not sustainable. The increasing amount of data in different spreadsheets made it difficult to track key metrics, and manually managing resources, invoicing, and time off became a bit complex.
We were looking for a solution that would allow us to centralize all of our key data – from finances and time management to resource planning and invoicing.

The goal was to have one place where we could easily manage projects, optimize resource utilization, and make better business decisions based on accurate data.

Anđela: After switching to Productive, we quickly noticed significant benefits and changes in our work. The biggest change was centralizing all key data in one place, which allowed us to be more efficient and better organize our business. Instead of relying on various Excel spreadsheets and manual processes, we now have all the key information – from invoicing and resource planning to time tracking and cost prediction – within one tool.

Growing our team has dramatically improved our operational control in two key areas:

Leave management & resource planning

Financial oversight

The unified system is our single source of truth, enabling our sales team to commit to staff augmentation opportunities confidently. At the same time, project managers can plan using actual resource availability data.

This structured approach has directly contributed to improved profitability through more efficient resource allocation and reduced bench time.

Farik: These past few months, I’ve been doing a lot of work in the Reosurcing part of Productive, tracking our utilization and projections and whether we’re meeting them. We also use time management, cost and revenue predictions, and team skills visibility to the fullest, which helps us make informed decisions.
With Productive, our resourcing process is so efficient that what used to require a full-time role in spreadsheets is now streamlined, allowing our team to focus on higher-impact work.

I’ve also been exploring the Scenario Builder since its release, and I can already tell it will greatly impact how we do business.

Anđela: It’s probably Productive’s CRM because we have it all set up, and it’s easy to get reports and the data we need. No more wasting time on making PowerPoints.

I also have to mention something we implemented across the entire company: the weekly and monthly pulses on mail and Slack for almost everything. We created a Risks and Opportunities board where team leads write a weekly update about the status of their projects. If they have stated opportunities or threats based on the level of threat or opportunity, they are sent to accountable people on Slack.

Anđela: Without Productive, our work would be significantly more complex and less efficient. Given the amount of data we monitor and analyze, it would be difficult for us to make accurate decisions and plan for future growth.

Productive is not just a tool for us – it has become a key part of our business, allowing us to optimize processes, learn from data, and strategically plan for the coming months and quarters.