Digital transformation can impact every aspect of our lives. At work we see how processes can be improved, communication can become more effective, people can better interact, safety can be better managed. Outside work digital transformation can also help us live better. Sports and other activities that are essential for a better mind and a healthier body can also be prompted with technology. We have focused on two vehicles that can address just that. Lastly, we have invested in a database through our Offshore Business Area which has now become the largest marine vessels and units database in South America. The goal is to transform this effort in a spin off company within our current 7 years’ business plan, with global coverage in the offshore support and oil and gas industry
In our Ventures Business Area we have invested in a company that was originally involved in people shift management. We saw in that early-stage tech adventure great potential, both from the extraordinary technical knowledge delivered by the technical team as well as the humble and prodigy leadership of one of its founders.
Westhon dove in the company and quickly assumed the administration of the I.T. vehicle. It was no later than 6 months after we entered management, we collected a few depositions from clients and business partners, we realized that the tool was transforming lives of at that time approximately 2,000 lives directly managed and most especially the lives of those managers responsible to manage the workforce.
It became the most ascertain decision for our invested company to diversify from a simple people shift management tool to a multi-complex suite of applications that could help better manage those people work shifts, but also track and confirm their authority to enter spaces, training programs, certification, logistics, payroll information, overtime calculations and payment authorizations, etc, etc.
2 years later from our first investment we see ourselves further injecting in the company to sponsor the participation on a digital challenge from an oil major and win it. We see the capability of a fantastic team to deliver solutions also on process management of workflows having as basis what we use for people.
The invested company history becomes a true success with our vehicle becoming the 26th company in Brazil to enter the category of Partner Built with SAP and in 2021 the first company in its segment in history in Latin America to become SAP Industry Cloud. It is time to go global now.
At the same time as of when we start investing in people management, one of Westhon’s partners decides to make a change: work to promote a different lifestyle where sports and technology could become aligned. The method chosen was that of digital media coverage to bring to the ordinary men and women out there the benefits of cycling and the transformation of life.
Having transformed his own life through cycling and sharing this experience with a large audience, Westhon’s vehicle for quality of life quickly becomes a reference in the cycling activity in South America.
2 years later the media channel grows to become a trademark and cover cycling competition and daily leisure and exercising as a business model. The result is recognition with the top-ranking competitors and the beginning of a massive enlargement of the public interested in the topic.
The pandemic comes and the world gets shut in. There has not been a more compensating period for the channel as so many followers start having in that channel their escape valve to being outside while being inside. The reviews of past events and past daily cycling with the hope to soon be returning to any activity has been simply good shared with and to so many people across the globe.
When the world starts returning to normal, the channel returned to full activity and those home followers boom in number and in engagement to make the channel the largest specialized cycling channel in the country. It is time to go global now.
Yes, it is a less appealing I.T. investment but the fact is: niche operations such as offshore vessel and units in a global market and those professionals that are knowledgeable enough to secure contracting the right equipment at the right cost are becoming rare.
To address this situation and facilitate the work of those younger sourcing professionals in multiple chartering desks we have decided to invest in a more robust and constantly updated database that can be available to many types of industry professionals across the industry.
As finding a vessel, its location and some characteristics are rather easy with certain public databases even linked to vessel location systems, knowing the commitments of those vessels or their readiness and availability, featured equipment, characteristics, current day rates and projections of future day rates, etc, well that is another challenge nearly impossible to find in one single place. Soon enough, this will no longer be a challenge.