Case: Open Innovation for Digitizing Inspections
Discover the successful case of the startup Confirm8 and how it implemented the digitalization of inspections and equipment at Equinor.
Confirm8 , a startup founded in 2014 in São Paulo, innovated by creating a monitoring platform , which delivers digital transformation to corporations that demand the structuring of inspection and audit processes related to routine maintenance, asset management, engineering and work safety .
Through field maintenance management , the startup’s solution helps in tracking teams, automating processes, validating information on tasks in real time, increasing work safety, automatic reporting and reducing costs with contractual fines, indemnities and paper usage.
Today, with 20 employees, the startup has served big names in the market, from different segments, who need automation and process improvement for maintenance and asset management.
Case Confirm8 and Equinor: Open Innovation for digitizing inspections on EX Equipment
Equinor has been operating in Brazil for more than two decades, focusing on oil and gas exploration and production and renewable energies. The corporation, headquartered in Norway, operates in another 30 countries.
The open innovation connection between Confirm8 and Equinor emerged after the corporation identified the need to implement end-to-end digital transformation, with the aim of reducing hours and costs, in addition to improving its processes for digitizing inspections and equipment.
Among the pains of the corporation were the high consumption of hours and the guarantee that the inspections followed 100% the IEC 60079–17 standard (Explosive Atmospheres) to carry out equipment inspections. Consequently, these problems generated a lack of standardization of processes, lack of history and great difficulty in finding equipment in the field.
The relationship between the startup and the corporation began in 2021, in Bridge, Equinor’s open innovation program, and the results are already being recorded. According to the startup, Equinor had a 500% increase in employee productivity , in relation to hours worked. In addition, through the startup’s technology, Equinor was able to greatly optimize its processes.
Today, they work with 100% standardization of processes and have complete automation of equipment inspection . With the implementation of the solution, the corporation was also able to reduce the time of people on board on the platform. Inspections take place at offshore units, on a fixed platform, located in the Campos Basin, approximately 85 km from the coast.
According to Otavio Yamanaka, CEO and Founder of Confirm8, the success of the solution implementation was total, and the startup will continue to serve Equinor for the next 8 years, helping to solve new problems for the corporation.
Open Startups and Open Corps: the importance of collaboration in open innovation processes
For the startup, by participating in open innovation programs and initiatives, the chances of doing business with large corporations increase a lot. This type of relationship makes it possible to break paradigms that only suppliers of traditional technologies that are already well established in the market are able to provide or have robust products and services, says Otavio.
For Confirm8, startups are able to collaborate with corporations in countless ways, helping to reduce costs, increase competitiveness and also improve processes through the innovative products and solutions developed.
Confirm8 was awarded in the Ranking 100 Open Startups 2022 , guaranteeing the TOP 3 in the Water and Sanitation category. Otavio reinforces that participating in the Ranking provides support and risk mitigation for the acceptance of the startup and the innovative product developed.
