Founded in 2008, Centric Solution is a company specialized in monitoring, management and curation for IT, offering solutions that help companies in the search for greater control, security and effectiveness in processes related to the Information Technology area. To serve its customers, Centric has partnerships with global companies such as ManagerEngine, Graphon, Eset, Sophos and ARCSERVE. Its revenue has grown in recent years, reaching the level of R$ 7.5 million in 2020.
To talk about trends in IT, market expectations for 2022 and the post-pandemic work model, the ABES Portal interviewed Otto Polhmann, President of Centric, a professional trained in Computer Science at UFPR and who has more than 42 years of experience in the IT field. Check it out below:
1- What are the 3 main trends for 2022 and which should attract more investments in Brazil?
In 2022, we believe that the biggest investment will still be in the migration to the cloud, as there are still a multitude of companies running on premise. For this reason, the cloud adoption trend will still consume most of the budget. Then, information security projects will be highlighted, due to the growing cyber threats and cases of invasion of large companies. These factors will increase the amount of investment in security projects. Adaptation to the LGPD is another area that will still require investments. Most companies made an emergency adaptation to meet the deadline given by the legislation, however, now they are deepening their adherence to be absolutely compliant with legal requirements.
2- What were the 3 main success stories of Centric in 2021?
In the last year, we have had some very important and significant projects for our clients that, unfortunately, due to confidentiality agreements, we cannot provide the name. But I can tell you a little about what was accomplished.
For a customer, which is one of the most reputable companies in the healthcare segment in Brazil, we provided the Desktop Central Enterprise solution with an Endpoint Security addon (on premises), as they needed to improve the management of desktops and servers, with a main focus on deployment software, remote access and security.
We can also highlight the case of a technology and payment means company, for whom we make the Desktop Central Enterprise product available in the cloud. The main challenge for this client was to improve Infrastructure Management, as it was all very manual, still done in spreadsheets.
Another client, under the guidance of CENTRIC, developed a web portal for accessing Client/Server applications, in order to promote standardized access. This portal aims to provide assistance to public managers of city halls of all Brazilian states. This is a project based on the GO GLOBAL client/Server application virtualization software. The joint implementation of this nationwide solution was one of Centric's highlights in 2021.
3- How do you evaluate the lack of professionals specialized in IT in the Brazilian market in view of the demand and what is Centric's strategy to overcome this challenge?
We have felt that the lack of IT professionals in the market has put greater pressure on salaries. There was a need to readjust salaries far above inflation rates to maintain both the technical and commercial teams. Because of this, Centric has invested in staff training and hiring interns to develop professionals who meet demand and turnover. Most companies, due to the pressing need for professionals, have approached the market in a predatory way, inflating the value of salaries.
4- What are the tips for companies that are adopting the hybrid work model, both to implement the model and to maintain it in the coming years.
We, like most companies, were forced to adopt the home office in an unplanned way and without management control tools, in the emergency of the pandemic. Over time, we have adopted control and management tools that have transformed remote work into a new way of working.
We are currently in the process of returning to “normal” work, but it will never be the same again. We will adopt a hybrid model, in which some teams will remain in the home office and others will return to the office, partially, some days of the week and, in others, they will work from home. We are yet to determine which activities will preferably be carried out centrally, with the possibility of strategic meetings. It is undeniable that both employees and companies have seen many advantages in remote work and it will be part of our routine forever.
