Gasmig and SONDA sign a partnership to manage business management solutions

Contract includes AMS services covering CRM, ERP and Billing

SONDA, one of the largest Latin American IT service providers, is the company selected, via a bidding process, to manage the main management systems of Companhia de Gás de Minas Gerais (Gasmig), one of the most important distributors of natural gas in the country, serving more than 50,000 customers in Minas Gerais.

The project includes the management of Gasmig's entire SAP platform, covering customer relationship management (CRM), business management (ERP) and commercial management (Billing) systems.

The work involves more than 100 SONDA professionals, who work in the so-called AMS (Application Management Services) and in the development of projects, with both corrective and proactive support for the improvement of systems. It is up to Gasmig's IT area, together with a technology company, to manage demand and direct priorities to specialists.

The gas company already used the SAP platform. It was up to SONDA to map the points for improvement and analyze the backlogs to suggest improvements in the processes, at the same time that it started managing recurring demands.

Gasmig's CEO, Pedro Magalhães, explains that the company has been transforming its business and expanding its customer base and that SONDA is here to support this growth.

"With our entry into the retail market, we went from 300 to 50 thousand customers, with the expectation of quadrupling that number in the coming years. We are looking for a consolidated partner in the market because it is essential that we have strong and capable IT to accompany our expansion", says Magalhães.

Gasmig started serving the industrial segment in 1992, through the distribution of gas from the Gabriel Passos Refinery (Regap), in Betim. The company started serving the residential segment eleven years later, in 2013. In the same year, operations in the commercial segment also began, linking the Gasmig network to establishments such as restaurants, hospitals, hotels and gyms.

Although recent, the partnership has borne good results. According to Flavio Soares, Account Director for the Utilities segment at SONDA, the project could become a benchmark for the gas market. "This contract reinforces that it is possible to establish a partnership relationship, delivering services in an agile, intelligent and proactive way, without neglecting innovation", comments Soares.