Rimac Group invents ground-breaking new technologies relying for security and productivity on Microsoft 365

Founded in 2009 in Croatia, Rimac Group’s vision is to “set the new benchmark for hypercars and provide industry-leading technology for the next generation of electrified and new mobility vehicles.” As it grew, the company saw a need for a dedicated group in charge of IT operations. The IT team in Rimac Technology, Tier 1 supplier and one of the two companies in theGroup was tasked to build and maintain mission-critical group services by utilizing modern and sustainable architecture. The change couldn’t have come at a better time. 

“Fast company scaling increases complexity and requires a new approach in tackling IT operations” says Ivan Knezović, Head of IT at Rimac Technology. “With exponential growth in both number of employees, group companies and locations, it was tough to keep up with the increasing security demand without integrated toolset. We needed a solution that was fast, cost-effective that could scale with us, and that we can use even when we’re ten times larger than we are now.” 

As the company was already using Microsoft solutions, Rimac Technology decided to explore an extended partnership. “Microsoft did much work in understanding our needs and introducing Combis from their partner network who could support our vision. Combis provided us with workshops and worked together with us to solve everyday issues,” adds Marko Šnajder, Chief Information Security Officer at Rimac Technology.

Safety on the roads, safety in IT 

Rimac Group strengthened security in just six months by migrating its assets to Microsoft 365 E5. The move helps Rimac to protect people and data against cyberthreats and gives Rimac peace of mind.  

“With Microsoft 365 E5, we have a centralized dashboard that allows us to collect incidents from all sensors surrounding us. We have a lot more visibility—we can now trace, understand criticality, and solve security incidents in a timely manner. “Microsoft Defender became the core for our detection response strategy to secure our environment. Innovating and growing in a changing world like ours is a must.” adds Šnajder.

Operations have also become more efficient since the change. “The new unified system based on Microsoft 365 E5 enables us to be on edge of our possibilities. We have decreased the IT workload by 60 percent and allowed users to resolve minor issues faster through self-services solutions without needing to contact IT,” says Knezović. 

Newcomers have also found it easier to get started at the company. “With Windows Autopilot, the effort to prepare equipment for new employees decreased by more than 90 percent. And with Microsoft Intune, we can efficiently manage employees’ devices across the globe” adds Filip Čižmešija, IT Service Delivery Manager at Rimac Technology.   

As Rimac Group moves forward, it plans to continue its partnership with Combis and Microsoft to expand the use of Microsoft 365 E5. 

“Customization is key in our collaboration with Rimac Group. We adapt all the solutions to our client’s needs to provide the best possible outcome for any scenario,” adds Danijel Blagajac, Business Development Manager for Microsoft Professional Services at Combis. 

Rimac Group’s overall feedback on the experience is a positive one. “We felt that we’re all working in the same team; this was not just another collaboration. Microsoft put a lot of work into understanding our needs, and Combis was instrumental in making us realize that it was better to have one vendor as a solution provider,” concludes Šnajder.