The example of driver Ayrton Senna, even after 30 years, refers to everything we do in our customers’ daily lives
Swiss cloud software solutions consultancy SoftwareOne brought together partners and the press this Tuesday morning (11) to talk about the impact of technology on companies’ businesses. As expected, artificial intelligence stole the show at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, in Interlagos (SP), showing that speed, dexterity and strategy are not characteristics inherent only to motorsport.
“The example of driver Ayrton Senna, even after 30 years, refers to everything we do in the daily lives of our customers”, says Otávio Argenton, country leader at SoftwareOne in Brazil. With more than eight million users and 3,500 cloud experts in 150 markets, the operation chaired by Eronildes Junior wants to go beyond the cloud. “We want to be an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) business management company by 2026”, plans the executive.
Microsoft, Google Cloud, Adobe, IBM, Pars, Quest, Veeam, Distec, Ingram, Suse and Amazon’s AWS cloud computing service are among SoftwareOne’s current partners. During the ‘SoftwareOne Experience’, participants were able to travel around the Interlagos track aboard racing models.
Sonia Caso, president of SoftwareOne for Latin America, guarantees Brazil’s relevance for the company’s growth. “It is the engine of Latin America, with investments, acquisitions and increasingly more technologies driven by artificial intelligence”, she says.
The search for data has turned into a real treasure hunt, including in advertising. But before investing in artificial intelligence, it is necessary to organize the cloud infrastructure. One of the benefits is the scalability of the business, which gains more muscle to promote sustainable growth.
“There is no point in capturing a gigantic mass of data if the company cannot convert it into decisions”, says Eronides Junior. The warning is not new, but it remains latent. “You need to understand what technology can do for the company. With the evolution of artificial intelligence, we have entered the era of prompts and no longer search”, insists Junior.
Economist Ricardo Amorim, who led one of the panels presented at the event, remembers that opportunity comes when people don’t believe in it. “Use artificial intelligence. The lessons will prepare the business for advancement,” he recommends.
According to the consultant, the transformation promoted by technology follows the favorable moment for investments in Latin America, which has been attracting resources previously directed to Russia and China. “Wars changed this context. Investors want to avoid the risk of disruption,” he explains. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, changing global geopolitics, worsened by Hamas’ attack on Israel in October last year.
During this period, the currencies that appreciated the most were those of Latin America, especially Brazil and Mexico. More jobs with rising purchasing power and less inflation anchor the situation, also supported by the improvement in the country’s competitiveness. Tax reform, which ends cascading taxes, encourages the market.
Brazil still has an advantage in the global energy market. One of the country’s most promising resources, biofuels stand out in the energy transition process. Clean energy sources gain importance alongside the opening of the free energy market, today it is advancing in the corporate market and could reach the end consumer by 2028. “People will be able to choose their energy provider”, points out Amorim.
With the largest global economies weakened, the international scenario is pushing the growth of the Brazilian market. “Brazil is winning by WO”, compares Amorim, referring to the expression usually used in sport, which comes from the English walkover and defines a victory against an opponent prevented from participating in the dispute. “The favorable winds depend on the direction the government will choose for the country”, considers Amorim.
For the expert, the challenge is to sustain rising confidence in order to maintain market optimism, which also impacts the advertising market. According to data from Cenp-Meios, media purchases reached R$4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 23.1% compared to the same period of the previous year. The boost came from the out-of-home (OOH) medium, with a 2.85% increase, followed by the internet (2.39%). Television recorded a drop of 3.89%.
Although positive, the signs leave a warning for the agency market. Clients like SoftwareOne need specific knowledge about the B2B market, “which is lacking in the sector”, points out Renata Mello, marketing director at SoftwareOne in Brazil.
Follow the interview with the executive in the printed edition of June 17th.
