Startup bill with crew administration platform for complicated areas

Companies that manage the risks of their operations avoid possible losses and issues related to human error. This management is even more important when it involves sectors with complex operations, such as mining, steel and oil. With that in mind, Álvaro Antunes founded Intcom, HRTech that provides digital solutions for people management in these areas.

“In a complex operation, it is necessary to allocate people to different places, platforms and ships. In addition, there are issues involving logistics, training and skills. When you cross this into the system, you can optimize the cost of logistics, fines, extra bonuses and retraining”, explains the founder.

With experience in oil operators, Antunes had the idea for the business in 2011, when he noticed a lack of digitalization and solutions focused on human resources management, productivity and risk reduction in this type of activity. “At the time, we made a benchmark and we realized that there was a gap precisely in this part of planning, allocation and management of lives”, says Antunes.

To solve the problem, he developed a product called “people organize”, aimed at this type of internal management. “We had no money and no investment, we did it with customer funds. We looked for two of them, which are with us to this day, and we fostered the first version. We took it to the market and it grew”, recalls the entrepreneur.

In 2014, the solution attracted interest from Confrapar, a Brazilian fund that invested in the startup. In the same year, HRtech became a Public Limited Company. “Two million reais were raised, and this fund helped to evolve the product. A very positive aspect with the entry of Confrapar was the obligation of our company to become SA This requires compliance, governance and being audited annually. So, we have the compliance of a large company, even though we are a startup”, says Antunes. After the investment, Intcom developed a new version of the solution, called BlueOpex.

However, the oil crisis in 2016, when the price of a barrel was trading below $30, caused the startup to lose revenue as customers scaled back operations. “We lost almost half of the revenue, many companies closed. We had five people on the team, we thought about closing it too”, says Antunes – before the crisis, the team had reached 20 people. According to him, however, the scenario ended up bringing the opportunity for a change of concept, leading the startup to prioritize multimarket products, aimed at different industries. The entry of two investors also contributed to the restructuring.

In 2019, with this new focus, HRTech was selected in an SAP acceleration program. “It was a key issue in Intcom’s turnaround. We were accelerated and then we started to get closer to SAP.” Now, HRTech has managed to get its products approved to be offered on the SAP marketplace. “With this, we now have the SAP global sales team, which has around 10,000 salespeople. Our average ticket increases almost tenfold”, says the entrepreneur.

Currently, the company’s main product is BlueOpex, a SaaS focused on people management and team planning in complex areas. Another solution is BlueJV, which monitors, generates and controls data in real time to predict risks in operations. According to Antunes, BlueOpex corresponds to 80% of revenues. The average ticket for solutions is BRL 300,000 per year.

“The sales process is B2B, a consultative process with understanding of the business. We do not have a platform where any company arrives, registers its account and passes the card”, explains Antunes. Today, Intcom serves more than 40 companies. According to the entrepreneur, the use of technologies brings an average reduction of 30% in the operating cost of companies, in areas such as logistics, training and overtime pay.

The startup’s projection is to grow 20 times in three years. For this, Antunes says he is looking for international funds. The funds, when raised, will be allocated to the marketing and sales area. “I have forty-five employees, but in the sales area there are only three. SAP is already bringing me opportunities, so I need to have an after-sales structure to support this demand.” In addition, new products that incorporate artificial intelligence and blockchain are being developed.

Source: PEGN Magazine