Dr. Krmpotić, you founded IMED fifteen years ago. What was your original vision, and why did you leave the relative safety of the public healthcare system?
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: True, I came up through the public system – KB Dubrava and the Faculty of Dentistry – where I became a specialist, earned my master's, and worked as an assistant. That's where I fell completely in love with dental implantology. But over time, I realized that in such a clunky, bureaucratic, and inefficient system, you can't do professional work at the level I imagined or that patients deserve. Implantology is the queen of dentistry and needs its own throne. So I went out on my own, first with a small practice, then with partners to establish IMED. The vision was simple from day one: create a clinic where all of dentistry is performed at the highest possible level. Patients are the biggest winners.
IMED is much bigger today than it was at the start. You've said that on the business side, you were – to use a medical term – insufficient. How did you decide to bring in professional management and tech solutions like CRM (customer relationship
IMED is much bigger today than it was at the start. You've said that on the business side, you were – to use a medical term – insufficient. How did you decide to bring in professional management and tech solutions like CRM (customer relationship
management)?
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: The story started three or four years ago when Dušan and I met. That's when I realized my business wasn't just about the work – it was much more than that. You can't run a polyclinic this size without business know-how. Dušan started out advising me, and eventually that turned into him becoming general manager.
Dušan Banović: Once we had the foundation – toptier medical services that were already bringing in patients, let's say up to two or three million euros a year – we needed a more systematic approach to keep growing. First, we tackled back-office processes and set up a Patient Care Office, handling everything from the call center to reception. Then we realized we needed software to tie it all together.
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: Just like we have protocols in medicine, we needed them on the business side too. About a year and a half ago, we decided to implement several software solutions: first for clinic management, then ERP (enterprise resource planning) and
CRM. That's where FrodX came in.
Dušan Banović: Once we had the foundation – toptier medical services that were already bringing in patients, let's say up to two or three million euros a year – we needed a more systematic approach to keep growing. First, we tackled back-office processes and set up a Patient Care Office, handling everything from the call center to reception. Then we realized we needed software to tie it all together.
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: Just like we have protocols in medicine, we needed them on the business side too. About a year and a half ago, we decided to implement several software solutions: first for clinic management, then ERP (enterprise resource planning) and
CRM. That's where FrodX came in.
"Dental tourism is like McDonald's. We want to be in the slow food, healthy food space, where clients don't ask about price.– Dr. Marko Krmpotić
Dušan Banović: Our job was to connect all these solutions into one unified, coherent system we call IMED 360: patient care from entry to exit and beyond. The goal is to turn every patient into a lifetime patient. Having partners like FrodX, who've implemented these systems in much larger environments, is truly invaluable.
What exactly is the goal of the IMED 360 project, which has about two more years to go, if I'm not mistaken? And what's the vision for the next ten years?
Dušan Banović: Short term, we want our back-office processes to match the excellence of our medical operations. We're confident that with our current setup and people, we can boost productivity by at least a third. This isn't just about HubSpot – we're talking AI, automation, and process digitalization. It's a complete mindset shift, moving from the 20th into the 21st century. Long term, we want to become the go-to maxillofacial and dental center for this part of Europe. To be recognized as the best in both quality and processes. Whether that means eight, ten, or twelve million euros in revenue, we'll see. What matters is that we haven't done dental tourism up to now, and we won't in the future either.
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: Exactly. Our competitors making 12-15 million euros are focused purely on dental tourism. It's the quick fix, the McDonald's of dentistry, where quality takes a back seat. We chose a different path. We wanted to be the best clinic first in Zagreb,
then in Croatia. Today our ambitions are regional. Once we get all our processes dialed in, we'll try to compete at the European level too – not with mass tourism, but with top-tier services. Services that often aren't even offered in the private sector.
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: Exactly. Our competitors making 12-15 million euros are focused purely on dental tourism. It's the quick fix, the McDonald's of dentistry, where quality takes a back seat. We chose a different path. We wanted to be the best clinic first in Zagreb,
then in Croatia. Today our ambitions are regional. Once we get all our processes dialed in, we'll try to compete at the European level too – not with mass tourism, but with top-tier services. Services that often aren't even offered in the private sector.
So your patients are mostly from Croatia?
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: About 90% are domestic patients; the rest come from the wider region – Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia. But these patients come to us for services they can't get in their own country, either because wait times are too long or the expertise doesn't exist. That was our strategic call from day one. We turned down agents bringing busloads of Italian patients, which would've been easy, quick money. We didn't want to be the village champion.
Dentistry seems like a field where interesting things happen. Got any stories for our readers?
Dr. Marko Krmpotić: Years ago, back in the analog days, we had a patient scheduled for implants. Let's call him, I don't know, John Smith. In the exam room, I pulled up his X-ray, looked in his mouth, and said, “Oh, I see you already had this done somewhere else.” But he kept insisting he hadn't been anywhere and wanted the implants we'd discussed. After some back and forth, we figured out I'd been looking at the X-ray of another patient with the exact same name. Funny mix-up that we laughed off, but it really shows why you need a clean database, proper software, and a CRM system so stuff like that doesn't happen.
"There was a mix-up. I was looking at an X-ray that didn't belong to the patient in the chair. That's a perfect example of why you need a solid database.– Dr. Marko Krmpotić
Številka 4 | DECEMBER 2025
GAME CHANGER
INSPIRING BUSINESS STORIES OF REMARKABLE PEOPLE
