In Summary

• According to Daniel Gomes, before the Masterlink Platform, much of the Fundo Ambiental’s operation was spread across different platforms, emails, Excel spreadsheets, and parallel tools.
• In five years: over 100 calls for applications launched, more than 300,000 applications managed, and the first calls published in just 10 days.
• The operation grew from a very small initial scale to billions of euros in budget.
• The lesson of the case: when information is structured, teams follow up better, data is more reliable, and reporting requires less effort.

The Fundo Ambiental Challenge

Watch in video, 00:00

For Daniel Gomes, the Fundo Ambiental is one of those cases that clearly demonstrates the difference between digitising a task and transforming an operation. The challenge was immense: managing different programmes, different calls, different rules, thousands of applications, evaluation teams, payments, and reports, with a vast amount of information that had to be accurate.

Because managing public support is more than just receiving applications

Watch in video, 00:21

When discussing public support, receiving applications is not enough. It is necessary to know who submitted, when they submitted, the status of each process, who evaluated it, what decision was made, what payments exist, and what information can be reported.

What happens when the operation grows

Watch in video, 00:45

Before the Masterlink Platform, much of this reality was scattered: different platforms, emails, Excel spreadsheets, parallel tools, and significant manual work to gather information. Daniel Gomes explains that this may work when the volume is small, but it is no longer sufficient when the operation grows: data fails to reconcile, reports take longer, the team wastes time consolidating information, and management loses a clear view of the operation.

The introduction of the Masterlink Platform

Watch in video, 01:12

The Fundo Ambiental needed a common base to manage different programmes and calls without having to start from scratch every time a new need arose, as each call could have its own rules, deadlines, fields, criteria, and evaluation flows. A rigid solution was not suitable, but creating yet another isolated tool made no sense either.

That is where the Masterlink Platform came in, as a digital base to manage the entire cycle of the calls: publication, application submission, evaluation, monitoring, payments, indicators, and reporting.

The numbers over five years

Watch in video, 01:27

Over the course of five years, this base has supported the growth of the Fundo Ambiental itself:

• more than 100 calls for applications launched;
• more than 300,000 applications managed;
• first calls published in just 10 days;
• an operation that grew from a very small initial scale to billions of euros in budget.

What changes when information is structured

Watch in video, 01:45

When information is scattered, everything requires more effort. When it is structured, teams follow up better, processes become clearer, data becomes more reliable, reports are generated with less effort, and decisions are supported by solid information. At Masterlink, says Daniel Gomes, what they seek to build is not just another portal or another application, but a common base where different processes can grow consistently.

The lesson from the Fundo Ambiental case

Watch in video, 02:16

Today it might be one call, tomorrow another programme, then a new rule. For Daniel Gomes, the organisation should not have to start from scratch whenever the context changes: it should be able to evolve on an existing base. When scale increases, improvisation is no longer enough. Structure, flexibility, and control are required.

Managing one application is one thing. Managing hundreds of thousands of applications, multiple programmes, teams, payments, and reporting is something completely different. This is where technology stops being just a tool and becomes an execution capability.

Frequently asked questions

O conteúdo Fundo Ambiental: From Dispersed Platforms to Integrated National Management aparece primeiro em Masterlink.

Video in Portuguese, with Portuguese subtitles.

In Summary

• According to Daniel Gomes, most organisations have many systems, but few processes managed end to end.
• Each system solves only part of the work. What falls between them still depends on email, Excel and informal knowledge.
• A common digital foundation doesn’t replace the ERP, the CRM or the other systems, and it isn’t one giant application: it organises what happens between them.
• With structured processes, artificial intelligence no longer encounters scattered documents and can identify where the process stands, what rules apply and who can decide.

Why we have so much technology and keep working the same way

Watch in the video, 00:00

Daniel Gomes’s answer is simple: because there are many systems, but few processes truly managed end to end. If you walked into most organisations today, he says, you would probably find dozens of applications: ERP, CRM, document management, human resources, finance, portals, collaboration tools. And yet people still work by email, exchange files, keep parallel Excel spreadsheets and ask one another: “Where does this process stand?”

The problem: each system solves only part of the work

Watch in the video, 00:31

The problem, he argues, is not a lack of technology: in most cases there is even too much technology. The ERP handles one part, the CRM handles another, document management stores the documents, email ensures communication, and Excel ends up being used to track what fell in between. But no one is truly managing the process end to end.

The real process runs across all systems

Watch in the video, 00:52

A real process starts with a request, goes through several people, has validations, rules, decisions and documents, may need information from different systems, and ends when someone executes an action and what happened is recorded.

What a common digital foundation is

Watch in the video, 01:07

Daniel Gomes calls it a common digital foundation. It does not mean replacing the ERP, the CRM or the systems the organisation already has, nor putting everything inside a single giant application. It means creating a consistent way to manage what happens between those systems:

• a request comes in through the right place;
• the necessary information is associated with the process;
• each person knows what they have to do;
• validations and approvals are clear;
• systems communicate when needed;
• it is possible to know where the process stands;
• the full history of what happened is preserved.

It can be an invoice, a commercial proposal, a hiring process, a job application, an internal request, or an interaction with a customer, supplier or citizen. The context and rules change, but there is a structure that repeats: information coming in, people involved, decisions that have to be made, and an outcome to achieve.

Where many organisations still get stuck

Watch in the video, 01:55

It is this space—the work that happens between systems—that many organisations still have not been able to solve. They have the systems, but that work remains dependent on email, Excel and informal knowledge. That is why, despite all the investment in technology, many people continue to work in practically the same way.

Masterlink’s role

Watch in the video, 02:14

At Masterlink, Daniel Gomes says, this is very much the work they do. They do not come into an organisation intending to replace everything that already exists: they take the processes that run across people, departments and systems and help organise them end to end. They connect the information, define the steps, clarify responsibilities, integrate with existing systems and create a common foundation where new processes can be added, without always starting from scratch.

The ERP, the CRM and document management continue to fulfil their function, but they stop working as isolated pieces and start taking part in a complete process. What already exists is not thrown away: it is made to work better together.

And it is also the foundation that artificial intelligence needs. According to Daniel Gomes, when there is a structured process, AI no longer encounters only scattered documents or information without context: it can identify where the process stands, what information is relevant, what rules apply, who can decide, and what should happen next.

The answer to the initial question

Watch in the video, 03:17

We keep working the same way, Daniel Gomes concludes, because we bought systems to solve parts of the problem, but often still lack the connection and organisation of the process as a whole. When that connection exists, two things happen: the organisation gets more value from the technology it has already invested in, and the conditions are created for artificial intelligence to bring real value to operations.

Frequently asked questions

O conteúdo Common digital foundation: why having many systems doesn’t make a company digital aparece primeiro em Masterlink.

Video in Portuguese, with Portuguese subtitles.

In Summary

• Forms, workflows, reports, and approvals end up in the same IT team queue, alongside security, integrations, and strategic projects.
• For Daniel Gomes, the problem is not the IT team. It is the model.
• The solution is not to give more work to the IT team, nor to let each department create its own solutions. It is to give autonomy to the business, but within rules.
• The question the organization should ask: are we using the IT team for what truly only they can do?

Everything ends up with the IT team

Watch in the video, 00:00

“We have to ask the IT team for that.” This is a phrase Daniel Gomes says he hears often in organizations. Creating a form, changing a workflow, producing a report, automating an approval, or adapting a process that has changed: it all ends up in the same queue.

Why the backlog never stops growing

Watch in the video, 00:15

The IT team already has a lot on its hands: ensuring security, integrations, infrastructure, support, and strategic projects, while also responding to the needs of the entire organization. That is why the backlog never stops growing.

The problem, Daniel Gomes argues, is not the team. It is the model. Organizations have been built where almost every digital need, even the most operational ones, depends on technical resources that are scarce, expensive, and hard to free up. It is then no surprise when digital transformation moves slowly.

A simple process that should be quick

Watch in the video, 00:49

Picture a department that needs to create a form, define a workflow, assign responsibilities, and track the process. None of this involves any major technological innovation. But if everything has to join the IT team’s queue, it can take weeks, not because it is difficult, but because there are competing priorities.

An organization caught between two realities

Watch in the video, 01:05

The business knows exactly what it needs. The IT team cannot respond to everything at once. And the organization is caught between these two realities.

The solution: autonomy within rules

Watch in the video, 01:20

The solution, according to Daniel Gomes, is not to give the IT team more work. Nor is it to let each department create its own solutions, because that leads to more Excel spreadsheets, more applications, and more isolated processes, until, after a while, no one knows where the information is.

The balance lies in between: giving business areas autonomy, but within rules. This is what is now called Citizen Development. In practice, it means allowing teams to create and improve processes without depending on the IT team for every small change, but always in an organized, integrated, and secure way.

How the Masterlink Platform makes this possible

Watch in the video, 01:35

The Masterlink Platform allows business areas to create and evolve processes with autonomy, without writing code, without opening requests to the IT team for every change, and without creating new isolated applications within the organization. Everything happens on a common basis, with defined rules, integration between systems, security, governance, and total visibility for the IT team.

The result, in Daniel Gomes’ words: the business gains speed, and the IT team gains time for what truly creates value.

The question your organization should ask

Watch in the video, 02:03

At its core, the question is no longer “do we need more people on the IT team?”. It is this: are we using the IT team for what only they can truly do? When the business gains autonomy and technology stops being a bottleneck, digital transformation no longer depends on a queue of requests and finally starts to gain speed.

Frequently asked questions

O conteúdo Citizen Development: why the IT team should not solve everything aparece primeiro em Masterlink.