Tech UPTechnologyValtteri Bottas present at KIO THINK & TRANSFORM 2022

Valtteri Bottas present at KIO THINK & TRANSFORM 2022

Unlike the first edition, KIO THINK & TRANSFORM 2022 was held in person, in addition to being broadcast via streaming . The large turnout left evidence of the great acceptance that the forum dedicated especially to decision makers in Mexico already has.

At the event, representatives of large corporations shared their experiences in the complex process of digital transformation. But, the guests of honor were the F1 driver, Valtteri Bottas, and the director of the Alfa Romeo F1® Team ORLEN, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, who presented the contribution of technological advances to Formula 1.

“As a Formula 1 team, we are a large group and the most important thing for us is the efficiency of processes, where technology occupies a key position for the development of the team and for decision-making in all our areas,” he said. Alunni Bravi.

Giving the starting signal for the event, Jorge Sapién, CEO of KIO, highlighted the role of the company as a strategic partner for organizations to accelerate their digital transformation, through the addition of the most advanced technological tools.

“Formula 1 gives us the perfect context to talk about acceleration, changes and quick movements. Concepts that it shares with technology, since technology never stops accelerating, generating innovations”, explained Sapién.

Entrepreneurs and the promotion of financing

Vincent Speranza, Managing Director Endeavor Mexico, moderated the forum “Is the startup era over? The path to profitability”, in which they discussed how start-ups have been ahead of many large companies in the digitization race, and how these ventures must mature to become large companies.

Courtney McColgan, CEO and founder of Runa, celebrated the focus on profitability today. “Before everything was focused on the rate of growth, no matter how much it costs you. Now attention is being paid to data such as how much it costs you to get a client and how much you get from that client”.

The leader of the digital enterprise dedicated to payroll administration, added that it is healthy that profitability is already being discussed in meetings, since this provides greater clarity and, therefore, is helping to raise financing rounds.

Along the same lines, Ricardo Weder, CEO of Jüsto, highlighted the fact that as of 2020 and in 2021 there has been “an excess of capital and therefore of liquidity”, for this reason —he maintains—, currently the best time to start a business, because only 4 or 5 years ago access to capital was very difficult in Latin America and historically access to credit was limited to large companies.

“In the last two years, it has been seen how all the big international funds are turning to Latin America, which has always been an undervalued region in terms of risk capital. For this reason, a greater union of the entrepreneurial ecosystem has been encouraged and a lot of talent has been motivated to start entrepreneurship”, Weder remarked.

For her part, Mónica French, Head of New Business Talent Solution, Hispanic LATAM Linkedin, stated that, during the last couple of years, they have seen a 5% increase in profile updates on the social network. “This reflects that professionals are changing from one company to another and are not necessarily being left out of the labor market.”

French considered that the multiple changes that have occurred in the last two years have to do with the fact that the workforce “is evaluating who and where they work, in addition to what is the purpose of the company in which they work.”

Large companies go full throttle in a lethargic environment

In the segment called: How to accelerate your business in a slowed-down world, decision makers from large firms shared the experiences their companies experienced during the pandemic and the lessons it taught them.

Karla Berman said that collaborative technologies have taken center stage, since companies have had to adopt innovations that facilitate remote work. This trend will continue and, in fact, “there are currently those who quit their jobs when companies want them to return to face-to-face work.”

Juan Ignacio Casanueva, Chairman of the Board of Directors at INTERprotección, said that the pandemic made it clear that companies that say they invest in technology actually do. INTERprotección made a strong investment in digitization, assuming risks.

In its strategy, the Mexican firm focused on accelerating the process of acquiring automobile insurance and managed to increase its market share by going from selling 200 policies per month in 2020 to selling 25,000 policies per month in 2022.

“We went against the current, which said that the ideal was to cut expenses and cut personnel. We chose to invest a lot in digitization and adding talent”, Casanueva highlighted.

In his speech, Gabriel Morales Becker, Global Technology Director of Cinépolis, shared that, prior to the pandemic, the group already had a significant adoption of digital tools, especially focused on facilitating customer service by digitizing dynamics such as the acquisition of tickets. .

However, by stopping all its main activities for the last two years, the movie theater chain faced a major challenge that led it to break its paradigms. For example, you decided to accept the sale of takeaway food. “Before we thought that we should defend the face-to-face experience. Today you can order any of our food through any platform”.

Morales said that today there are many technological options, so companies must avoid losing focus on their digitization strategies. To do this, the ideal is to focus on the basics: people and processes.

Santiago Ontañón, Business Information & Transformation Officer at Coppel, pointed out that thinking about success is usually an obstacle to transformation in organizations, more so for a company like Coppel that has had more than eight decades of constant growth, during which time it has added all kinds of technologies.

“At this point, systems architecture becomes very relevant. Paying attention to this point has led Coppel to become a platform of platforms, integrating financial, insurance, e-commerce, and logistics services, among many others, which must be connected to provide the best service to 15 million active customers.”

Therefore, he agreed on the importance of investing “seriously” in digital transformation. For example, Coppel, due to its large size, decided to invest in an agile factory to meet its digital needs, undertaking the most ambitious digital transformation project in the region. “We are the largest private company in Mexico, with 114,000 employees, and of these, some 5,800 make up our technology team.”

“Digitalization is a contact sport in which you must be willing to invest. Companies that allocate 4 or 5% to technology must invest the same amount to allocate it exclusively to transformation. You need a lot of enthusiasm, optimism and hope”, he concluded.

Who pays for the Mexican Grand Prix? This is your financing

The Mexican Grand Prix has been held for several years at the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome, although, since the 4T arrived, it has been done without public resources. This is how F1 is financed in CDMX.

Never give up: Where does Checo Pérez's phrase come from?

In December 2020, after his first victory in Formula 1, the Mexican driver coined one of the most remembered phrases of his entire career.

Improve the B2B buyer experience in the digital world

Creating a positive customer experience between companies begins with being empathic with their needs and goals, says Luiz Reis.

Disruption, the future of digitizing payment methods

New payment methods have redefined the use of cash, which is why Fintechs play an important role in defining the path towards a digital economy.

Kyndryl, the partner that guides your company towards Industry 4.0

The key to the fourth Industrial Revolution lies in data and its management to achieve greater efficiency in business processes.

More