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APRESENTAÇÃO > CASE STUDIES
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A NEW VISION For Public Attendance
www.newvision.pt
A company specialising in technologies for public attendance became leader in Portugal. The world follows. "This is a fascinating area and is of great public utility". The words of Paulo Costa, leader of NewVision, describe perfectly what motivated ten people to quit their jobs and start their own company. "The company where we were working had stopped dealing with these areas, but we felt we had the same vision and a common interest in public attendance technologies. That's why we decided to create NewVision, which started May 2000", he tells us. With an investment of 200 000 Euros and an important partnership with the company they had previously worked for, where they were responsible for a few high profile projects such as attendance at the Lojas do Cidadão (civil assistance centres), the founders of NewVision embarked upon the conquest of the Portuguese market. In the first year, business volume rocketed to a million Euros and this success motivated the company to enter new fields that will complement the postal service line of products. NewVision is somewhere between a hardware and a software house. "When it comes down to it, we are a company which develops complete systems, including both the hardware and the software components. The purpose of these systems is to improve the interaction between institutions and citizens", says Paulo Costa. Right from the start, the company divided its activities into three types of systems: self-service, where citizens may purchase certain products (stamps, envelopes) using only machines; the personal attendance, usually known as queuing, where there is human intervention; finally, the third component which consists of all software that runs in backoffice and runs all the statistical and commercial control of these systems and equipment. "The objective is to improve the quality of the attendance", assures José Martinho, managing partner of the company. The Postal service is one of the areas of reference in NewVision's activity. "We are present at CTT (Portuguese postal service), both with self service equipment and personal attendance. In fact, we are leaders in this area, since we are the only company providing the Portuguese mail service with stamp sale systems (ePost 2000)". This way, the company was able to meet the needs of the postal service, with which it has developed the products, perfectly adapted to those needs. CTT became this way a decisive partner for NewVision's growth. Meanwhile, this product evolved into another much more innovative product called ePost Multimedia 2000. This equipment can process tasks which usually take place at the counter, such as paying the water or electricity bill, or collecting information. From this point on, the company grew and gained new clients, namely in the area of personal attendance. In its customer portfolio one can find names like Hospital S. José, the Social Security, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Vodafone and a number of medical centres. The next step will involve extending this and other kinds of equipment to small and medium-sized companies, Polytechnics and Universities. "In fact, for this type of client we have developed a less complex solution, adapted to the specific needs of these organizations", adds Paulo Costa. Venturing into the global market
But NewVision does not live of Portuguese clients alone. "Since the beginning, we have the ambition to become global leaders in public attendance systems. For this reason, we have invested heavily on our presence abroad, namely in trade fairs, where our products have been very well received", explains José Martinho.
At the moment, they have several contacts on the table that they hope to turn into business deals during 2002. Last year was marked by a contract with the Norwegian postal service, which are now clients of the Portuguese company. The truth is that the technical competence of NewVision has attracted various institutions. The best proof of this fact took place a few weeks ago, when a foreign competitor proposed a partnership to the Portuguese company, in order to use NewVision equipment in an important international invitation to tender. The investment in foreign markets will be constant, especially because "we can see that the Portuguese market is very small and will not grow any further", he continues. The preferential markets are the Spanish, North African (Morocco and Tunisia), and Arab countries. Today, with a will to expand their activity to new clients as well as new countries, NewVision faces the future with confidence. Indeed, those in charge are the first to admit that "the company did not suffer from the slowdown of the economy". 2002 shows promise, and the expectations with regard to business volume ascend to 2,5 million Euros. Despite this growth, Paulo Costa affirms that mission is the same: "To develop complete public attendance systems that serve both citizens and institutions well". NEWVISION - Sistemas Inteligentes para Soluções de Atendimento, Lda. |
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