IN THE FUTURE, THERE WILL BE DEMOCRATIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!

Business will be more digital and automatic processes will be increasingly computerized.

Profile

Sofia Veríssimo is from Lisbon, married and has a three year old son, to whom she dedicates much of her free time.

After ten years as Country Manager of TomTom Portugal, she took over the management of the technology company throughout the Iberian Peninsula in 2017, becoming responsible for TomTom’s business and strategy in the Portuguese and Spanish markets, including distribution, marketing, pricing, control and optimization of budget and team management.

With extensive experience in brand management, particularly in the distribution industry, Sofia Veríssimo went through large multinational companies such as Mars and Nintendo, where she was responsible for sales strategy, marketing and business development.

She combines Engineering, Management and Marketing in her training, which gives her a complete and differentiating approach when facing challenges.

 

We thank you for the opportunity and the challenge of putting current issues in the especially volatile world in which we live, we suggest that we begin our conversation with your current challenges.

 

What are the main challenges of your current responsibility?

Currently, as TomTom’s Country Manager for Spain and Portugal, my duties are related to the management of the brand business in both markets, so the company’s objectives are always achieved in an exemplary way, ensuring the alignment of the strategy with the global company guidelines and the consolidation of market leadership and brand awareness.

Faced with these objectives, one of the main challenges I encounter every day is related to the management of teams that are in two countries that speak different languages ​​and have different work cultures.

This challenge, coupled with the fact that my time is increasingly divided between Portugal and Spain, means that my time management and organizational skills have to be strong.

Although Portugal and Spain look like similar markets, the reality is that they are quite different, which forces us to develop totally different strategies for both countries to know the local partners and the reality of the business very well.

In the specific case of TomTom, we talk about the Iberian Peninsula, but the strategies of each of the markets are developed locally and fully adapted.

Even though, throughout the Iberian Peninsula, car navigation systems are the segment of the consumer area that has the most impact on the business, we can see, for example, that the best-selling products in each of the countries are different, to which the whole communication strategy has to be conjugated with.

In your industry, what big current trends would you highlight?

In the automotive sector, and specifically in terms of navigation equipment, we have seen two major trends worldwide.

First, equipment come with larger screens, which allow drivers to view the maps and all other features in a more comfortable and safe way.

Also, equipment with an integrated SIM card and unlimited data consumption, allow the user to have no additional cost when consulting the traffic and real-time radars on their maps (whether used in the country or any other part of the world).

As soon as a GPS device has a SIM card included, the driver has great advantages in having this equipment since it does not spend the battery or the mobile data of your mobile phone.

At TomTom, our aim is for our entire range of equipment to adapt to more and more to trends with more intelligent and connected equipment for greater driver comfort.

From mobile data included in the device to the possibility to perform all the updates via Wi-Fi, through a Bluetooth connection to the mobile phone, drivers are able to receive calls and read messages aloud, or even add world maps with lifetime updates and updating speed cameras.

It certainly recognizes the current challenges faced by companies in the areas of Business Analytics (BA) and Business Intelligence (BI), which is also the core business of REBIS in the market and one of the main concerns of CEOs worldwide.

In the context of BA and BI, what is the relationship of your company with the data and the critical information for the business?

With the tools at our disposal, we can access and analyze data in a much more appropriate way, which gives us new approaches to improve business planning and performance.

Intelligently analyzed data allow not only more optimized management of the business and customer relationship at a micro level, but also a significant competitive advantage.

This is certainly why we see that many companies plan to accelerate investments in this area in the short term.

 What implications will such trends have on business and people?

It varies.

First, if companies adapt their business to a context in which they use Business Analytics / Business Intelligence to analyze the data they have and manage their business based on those results, we will observe that the services and information provided by each company will be increasingly adapted to each customer individually.

More than local or country strategies, we can talk about strategies for each segment of consumers, according to the uses they make of a given service and the needs they have.

For businesses, this intelligent analysis of data will enable them to optimize their business strategies, fully adapting them to each customer and thereby reducing costs and improving processes.

Obviously, internally, this paradigm shift will force the change of mentalities in organizations.

It is important for employees and managers to understand that some “traditional” processes – based on human knowledge – will have to be adapted and will force the inclusion of new variables and the analysis of data through new tools to support business decisions and strategies.

The relationship between business and customers continues to be a critical business challenge, from people to people and organizations to individuals.

In general, what is the distinguishing factor that stands out in the relationship between companies and their clients?

 I would say that, more and more, the distinctive factor in the relation with the client is verified at the human level and social relations.

Technological development is a constant in today’s world and access to specialized knowledge is becoming easier everywhere in the world.

Therefore, at a time when new companies and startups are emerging every day, with innovative tools that meet our daily needs, I believe that what distinguishes companies from the consumer is human relations: special attention in the celebration of a date, in the personalized delivery of a product or in exclusive access to certain campaigns, as well as an exemplary and flawless treatment with regard to customer service, especially in issues related to quality dissatisfaction.

“Innovation should meet a market need that contributes in some way to improving our life in society and facilitating people’s daily lives!”

For you, innovation is…

The development of an idea that aims to create a new product, process, technology, service or business model that should meet a market need that contributes to improving in some way, life in society and facilitating the day-to-day people.

And in the future, in 2030, what will companies be like?

Business will be more digital and processes  will be increasingly computerized and automatic.

There will certainly be a democratization of artificial intelligence and augmented reality, which will inevitably transform our day-to-day and condition the way we work and how we relate to others.

At the same time, I believe that companies will become more flexible and have the right tools to keep up with remote work, as well as new approaches to attract and retain talent.