The name of Indra, Every two years you hear among Argentinians that a Spanish company with a turnover of almost 5,000 million US dollars is the company that dealt with this technological management of the last 15 national electionsexcept 2019 and including October. And it is present in the less visible ways Air traffic management across the country or at train hubs.
Globally, it is focusing on other areas, such as defense, and two years ago it came up with a plan to do this Doubling sales between 2024 and 2030Entry into new areas, such as Aerospace Services (This year it bought satellite company Hispasat with a presence in the region) and accelerates its international expansion.
Spain and Europe remain central, but to reach this level of growth they need to add companies in all their markets, including Latin America. They put the Brazilian at the head of this region last July Marcelo Bernardinoan economist with more than 10 years of experience in the group. Your task: Find out which business areas adapt best to each country Increase income by 50% by 2027. Today the region, with 19,000 employees, contributes 20% to sales.
“Some countries need to grow more. For example, in Brazil and Argentina we need to double sales. In Mexico and Colombia a little less. Latin America plays a key role because it is the company’s largest international business and also the oldest: Argentina was the first international office in 1993,” he clarifies.
Bernardino traveled to Buenos Aires complete the projects by 2026. Argentina is currently a candidate along with Peru, Chile, Colombia and Brazil you get one or more specialized hubs in the implementation of JUICE (the German management software), Artificial intelligence, from cybersecurity, from comprehensive security and development of software of systems. For the Argentine subsidiary, which currently employs 250 people, there would be around 100 more jobs in 2026.
The country is also fighting for it Chance to install an industrial process. “There are some factories here where it is very interesting to see whether the technology we bring with us can be built here,” enthuses Indra’s local CEO Hernán Araya. “You have to see that the fiscal and tax issuesays Bernardino.
In the region, Indra expanded the group’s original businesses (essentially 80% of which are technology and consulting), and now they want to grow in defense, where in Uruguay they only sold radars; urban mobility (tolls, traffic control), information technology for banks and in public administration.
-But in Argentina we know that there is no money for projects in public administration.
-It is true that there is no money, but they are solutions that, if implemented, bring benefits to the state. And we have experience in building public-private alliance models and are already trying to advance some financing for structural things like education and health with some multilateral banks in Latin America.
-How do you see Argentina as a country?
-We have a pretty strong commitment to Argentina. Although we realize that there are always discussions and economic or political situations, we are impartial. We held the elections independently of the incumbent government. As a Spanish company, we are aware of the economic, political and security context of each Latin American country, and Argentina is no different. We must pay attention to economic and political changes and manage risks. We are absolutely calm about the situation in the country. And beyond that, we have an important issue here, namely human resources. For some sectors, they have quite powerful capabilities.
– At some point they had a software factory and it closed.
-Yes, but now we will create four or five hubs distributed throughout the region: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, SAP (management software implementation), comprehensive security and system software development. One in Colombia, one in Brazil, one in Chile, one in Peru and one in Argentina. We still have to define what will go to each country. Everyone will also serve the rest. And there can be two countries that have the same thing, or one country that accepts two things. We will certainly have cybersecurity here. We address the issue of personnel training. For me, and this is a personal opinion, not Indra’s, Argentina has, on average, a better level of staffing than other countries. And that contributes a lot and speeds it up. The global HR agent accompanied me on this particular trip because we have just finished setting up the training budget.
-What is Argentina’s sales in the region?
– Be careful, because income and social benefits do not have to match. I can’t give the numbers, but Argentina and Uruguay offer significantly more advantages than other countries in the region. Here we have grown into more valuable businesses.
-What part of the industrial process could take place in Argentina?
This is just an example: making a radar takes 18 months. And there are three or four very long and complicated processes. Then the third and fourth parts of the process could be carried out in another country. In fact, we will begin installing radars in the United States next year. We also have Internet of Things (IoT) products and solutions. We recently bought a Spanish company called Deuser, with software and hardware, and it doesn’t make sense to import these things from Spain. Another option is anti-drone equipment.
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