Do you know your building's carbon footprint?

Most companies don't know how energy-efficient their buildings are. In some cases, they don't even know how many assets they have. And this is precisely where Nextbitt comes in. The company provides a platform that, in real time, gives you all the information you need about your building. This makes it possible to take the necessary measures to achieve sustainability goals. Prio is one of its clients.

With sustainability becoming ever more present in everyday business, the management of physical assets - given their weight in energy consumption and the targets set by the European Commission - is (finally) starting to be viewed with greater rigor. Rigour at the level of centralized and integrated management, capable of providing the necessary data to know exactly what the ecological footprint of each building is. This is Nextbitt's promise.

Diário de Notícias spoke to one of its founders and partner, Miguel Salgueiro, who not only explained the idea behind the platform and how it facilitates and enhances sustainability, but also revealed the company's financial health and plans for the future. These plans include the acquisition of more human resources and internationalization (which in five years' time will account for more than 50% of turnover).

Along the way, Miguel Salgueiro revealed that, in 2020, the company managed more than one million euros in assets and that the next step, in terms of innovation, involves defining each person's carbon footprint. And there's nothing better than having the customers' "version", in this case Prio's, in the words of Tiago Cachim, Information Systems & Technology Director at Prio Energy.

Management and optimization of physical assets. How do companies benefit from having a solution like this?

Miguel Salgueiro: Increasingly, the management and optimization of physical assets is proving to be fundamental for organizations in today's ecosystem. Initially, it allows them to have a permanently updated register, with the aim of managing their useful life cycle, allowing organizations to have an integrated view of it, acting whenever possible on the basis of data generated by alarms from different types of sensors. The Nextbitt team has developed several projects aimed at controlling our clients' equipment and installations, whether they are geographically dispersed or gathered in the same facility. In this sense, our solution takes advantage of the latest technologies such as NFC or geo-referencing to ensure complete traceability of an organization's physical assets throughout their life cycle. Both in terms of cost control and the operational aspect of the availability and operation of each piece of equipment. Our clients now have an integrated view of all the interventions on all their assets, spread across national and international territory. In this type of project, our platform manages all periodic inspections, certifications, repairs and infrastructure modifications. On the other hand, the disappearance, theft and damage of physical assets has been a major business expense for organizations for many years. In this sense, by implementing a platform that enables real-time management and control of these physical assets, the costs allocated to these expenses will be directed towards needs that are more relevant to the development of the business.

What makes Nextbitt different?

M. S.: Nextbitt technology is a comprehensive platform when it comes to managing organizations' assets, from registration to maintenance management, facilities, audits, IoT [Internet of Things] to the sustainability component, with the EMS Environmental Management System and the EMS Energy Management System. In many cases, the technology is the basis of organizations' operational command centers, as it is a platform that, in addition to its comprehensiveness and complementarity, integrates both the different ERPs and the different hardware, from GTCs, electric chargers, switchboards, etc. In this way, the end user only needs to use the Nextbitt platform to manage their assets, without having to use any other solution, thus having data or indicators in real time.

What is the link between physical asset management and sustainability?

M. S.: Sustainability, the new digital of organizations, has been creating a strong dynamic and an increasingly environmental culture in a whole new strategy of the different industries, based on ESG - Environmental, Social and Governance. In this sense, by including a platform that manages and optimizes its physical assets, an organization can keep a permanent record of all its assets, as well as managing the useful life cycle of each physical asset. However, with the Nextbitt platform, in addition to managing and optimizing physical assets, an organization can bring together the Environmental Management System and Energy Management System modules, which simplifies environmental compliance and sustainability reporting in a top-down view, from departments to infrastructures to physical assets, in a single application. This solution guarantees the management of the carbon footprint calculation, based on all the physical asset management information: energy quality metrics, water, gas, fossil fuels and tracking of hazardous waste produced, as well as the indoor environment of buildings. In addition, it also allows organizations to see consumption in real time, in a simple and low-cost way, which was not previously possible.

Does Nextbitt specifically target any market sector? Which one and why?

M. S: Nextbitt's technology is a transversal platform for managing physical assets. With this in mind, we operate in different industries, including energy, banking and specialized retail, the transport sector, the metalworking industry, healthcare and stadiums or concert arenas.

What are the prospects for this year?

M. S: For the last six months of 2022, in terms of human resources we plan to increase our team by another 30 talents for different areas of activity. software tester, net fullstack developer, BI, Environmental Engineering, digital marketing, are some of the profiles that the company is still looking to recruit. In terms of turnover, we aim to achieve a 30% increase in turnover and ten to 15 new clients in Portugal. Since we operate mainly in the large organization space, the growth of projects with this type of client should not be seen in isolation, as for us it means new points of invoicing, and here, in the first six months of 2022 alone, we have already grown by 35%.

What impact has the pandemic had on the digital transition of Portuguese companies?

M. S.: The pandemic has abruptly accelerated the focus on the digitalization of national companies, forcing them to become more agile and digital, or else risk being overtaken by their competition. In this sense, from what we have seen of the market, the management of physical assets is an increasing concern for national companies and transversal to the digitalization of different industries, insofar as it is seen as an integral "part" of the value chain of any organization's daily work activity.

What was the company's turnover in 2021? Has there been a positive trend? How much do you expect to make this year?

M. S.: In its 2021 balance sheet, Nextbitt recorded its best year ever in terms of turnover, with a value of three million euros, thus enabling it to record its turnover record. This result represents growth of 60%, which proves the consistency and perceived quality of the organization's products and services, as well as the assertiveness and relevance of its offer and its commitment to human capital as a fundamental pillar of the company's development. As previously mentioned, by 2022 we aim to achieve 30% growth in turnover and ten to 15 new clients in Portugal, as part of a strong commitment to sustainability.

What is the value of the foreign market? Is this an area where you intend to grow? How much and to which markets?

M. S: The focus on internationalization represents 12% of global turnover in the last year and is based on the development of projects in Spain, the United States, Angola, South Africa and Brazil. However, in view of the five million euro investment round by the Explorer Investments fund, Nextbitt intends to accelerate its international growth, with the aim of being present in four or five European geographies. Spain will clearly be one of them; the other geographies are still being studied. Given the growth to date, maintaining this pace means extending Nextbitt's presence to new markets, without ever neglecting the national base of operation.

What are the sales prospects for the end of 2022?

M. S.: To continue to grow at a sustained double-digit rate.

What is the relationship with Prio? What does the partnership consist of and what results have been achieved? Is it a replicable project?

Tiago Cachim: The relationship with Nextbitt has been, and continues to be, one of partnership, in which the success of the company implies that our investment in the platform has had an effect, so we have done everything we can to help that growth, within this aforementioned logic of partnership. The results speak for themselves - we have achieved something that we initially thought would be very difficult, which is to have the group's various maintenance areas under the same umbrella, with the specific configuration of each area on top. The success of the project was the result of a number of factors, of which I would highlight the human factor. The various teams played a fundamental and decisive role, so replicating a project of this magnitude and complexity doesn't seem easy.

What led Prio to choose Nextbitt's solution? What is the added value of the solution?

T. C.: We were looking for a solution that would be transversal to the various maintenance areas at PRIO, ranging from factory maintenance, with in-house teams and stocks of consumables, to gas station maintenance, whose model is based almost exclusively on suppliers, with careful management of service levels and high geographical dispersion. We had a solution that didn't meet this requirement, so we consulted the market, and after a complex procurement process, we chose Nextbitt for its ability and flexibility to be transversal enough to succeed in the project. It's a cloud-based solution, scalable to the client's needs, with a roadmap of functionalities that will be developed and delivered on the platform through periodic upgrades.

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Source: Diário de Notícias