João Paulo Carvalho, founder and partner of Quidgest; Maria Martins, VP Operations Quidgest Brazil; and Carlos Sacco, Head Commercial.
The multinational of Portuguese origin, Quidgest, a pioneer in the automatic generation of software, took a new step in its entry into the Brazilian market, with the hiring of the entrepreneur and international business strategist, Carlos Sacco, who assumed the role of Head Commercial of the company in Brazil. To talk about its internationalization strategy and the company's plans for the region, the ABES Portal interviewed Maria Martins, VP Operations Quidgest Brazil. The executive informs that meeting the demands created by the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) will be one of the priorities at this moment and that the company has a very diversified portfolio of clients, including Deutsche Telecom; the Governments of Jamaica, Timor-Leste, Mozambique and Cape Verde; and the 4th largest hydroelectric plant in Africa, Cahora Bassa. Follow our chat!
– When did Quidgest start operating in Brazil?
Quidgest began its approach to the Brazilian market at the end of 2018. After a period of creating our go-to-market strategy, with direct support from our right-hand man, Carlos Sacco, we started by establishing local and regional strategic partnerships. We closed the first projects at the end of 2019 and we believe that, in 2020, we will have a very successful year.
– What are the factors that attracted the company to the Brazilian market?
Quidgest has conquered in recent years, with projects financed by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the Inter-American Bank, a considerable number of clients in the Latin American market. In this way, to ensure the expansion of our positioning, also reaching Mercosur, we are looking for a country with considerable strategic positioning in the region. Brazil was, in this sense, an indisputable choice, especially after the significant changes in the country's political framework. The new breath of the EU-Mercosur Agreement has consolidated this decision.
At the same time, with the approval of the General Data Protection Law, inspired by the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union, we consider the Brazilian national market as strategic for the internationalization of our Data Protection solutions, pioneers in responding to the same challenge in the European space. We feel that Brazilian companies are turning to the European market in search of solutions, instead of following the North American model.
– What is the company's sales channels and partnerships strategy in Brazil?
We know that no company, by itself, regardless of its size, reputation or service, can effectively respond to all the challenges of its customers, especially when they are framed in different realities. Therefore, Quidgest's internationalization model has always involved the establishment of strategic local partnerships with companies that understand local challenges in detail. In Brazil, this model was also followed.
We started by establishing partnerships with companies that complement our activities in key market sectors and that have a deep understanding of the challenges present in these sectors. Through these partners, we were able to adapt our solutions to the specifics of each sector (the famous “tropicalization”) and reach customers with a ready-to-use tool.
– What is the role of Carlos Sacco in Quidgest's internationalization strategy?
When we started these studies, we were looking for someone who could be a “mentor”, someone with a deep knowledge of the market and with a strategic holistic view, responsible for identifying partners, mapping opportunities and supporting Quidgest's go-to-market strategy. We found this profile in Carlos Sacco, who brings together not only a vast knowledge of the technological market, but also experience in implementing go-to-market strategies. Due to his contribution and vision, Carlos became our right-hand man at the national level and was hired as our Head Commercial in Brazil.
To ensure that our solutions are competitive, establishing a distribution channel is crucial. We are, therefore, closing partnerships with companies that will be responsible for our sales nationally and for the implementation of our solutions, in addition to commercial representatives (sales agent in Brazil), responsible for promoting our solutions to potential customers, normally divided by specialization of market (business areas).
– What is the company's solution focused on protecting personal data and the differentials of this software?
Quidgest is a pioneer in responding to Data Protection dictates at an international level. Since 2016, we have had a certified team and one of the most complete tools on the market to prepare organizations to comply with international standards, especially the General Data Protection Regulation, which inspired the Brazilian LGPD.
Our solution, called GPD (acronym for Data Protection Management), is better known as the “Data Protection ERP”. It has helped companies from various sectors to comply with the Law, ensuring an efficient and automated management of requests from data subjects, being a consolidated solution managed by a team of certified experts who help our clients to implement best practices. from the market.
It is a complete solution: it manages and automates all processes for compliance (mapping, impact assessment, recommendation plan, etc.), but it goes further: it helps teams, with a step-by-step method, demystifying what is, after all, data protection and how it should be managed, in practice, on a day-to-day basis.
It also ensures daily monitoring, effective incident management, automatic reporting in the event of audits, and the entire lifecycle of personal data stored and managed by organizations. By automating these processes, it is possible to optimize internal resources and respond in real time to potential risks, whether monetary or reputational.
– What are the company's market objectives for the coming years?
We want to become a reference on the subject at the national level and help Brazilian companies to implement data protection effectively. We also want to expand our portfolio of solutions, investing in innovative solutions that drive the digital transformation of Brazilian companies, our business core for over 30 years.
About the Quidgest product portfolio
In addition to data protection, Quidgest brings to Brazil its integrated fleet management solution, a tool that brings together operational and preventive management and telemetry in a single system; a quality management tool, which guarantees the automation of any type of certification; and solutions for strategic human resources management, which follows the People Before Technology motto (the use of technology to personify experiences, captivate and automate management processes so that HR teams have time to be truly strategic). The company also plans to bring its portfolio of solutions to the public sector, in order to actively contribute to the country's Digital Government strategy, which includes programs for the Integrated Management of Public Works; the Dematerialization of Processes; the Balcão Único 360º – Single Window, which allows the centralization of services for the citizen; and the Digital Observatories (collection, treatment and visualization of public indicators).
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