Prix Tech is a Brazilian company that develops georeferenced data analytics solutions for B2B and B2C businesses, with a focus on social, environmental and economic sustainability. Its goal is to develop and apply cutting-edge technologies, offering solutions in monitoring, georeferencing, AI, data mining and big data that improve decision-making and drive growth for its clients.
The partnership with Google Cloud
After trying 3 different cloud solutions, Prix decided to adopt Google Cloud, with Maplink Cloud supporting it along the way. In its early days, Prix relied on a VPN, which limited its infrastructure. As the business grew, however, the company realized it needed to scale and gain more flexibility in a cloud that could keep pace with its expansion. That is when it found in Google Cloud the chance to get everything it needed in one place. The platform migration took place in August 2022 and was quick and easy.
“Integrating with our three previous providers was difficult and we ran into some problems, while migrating to Google was simpler and easier to set up. We didn't have the know-how to configure every step, and Maplink was essential, quickly helping and guiding us whenever we had questions”
Mateus Calza — Co-founder and CTO, Prix Tech
Overcoming challenges
Prix Tech's entire architecture was built to integrate seamlessly with Google technologies, and together these solutions made the infrastructure fully scalable. The Google Cloud architecture helped reduce operating costs, especially server costs. The serverless environment made it easier to process heavy data workloads, and servers that used to run 24 hours a day now only spin up when they receive a request. The isolated architecture also improved response times across the board and allowed the company to mature and quickly scale its customer base and database. The previous server, hosted abroad, was prone to sudden outages; today, with the architecture hosted in Brazil and built serverless, it responds reliably, providing a more stable and secure environment. Google also made it possible to increase the volume of data managed, from hundreds of records a day to thousands. Google Cloud's protection features also reduced errors and slowdowns.
The icing on the cake
Prix Tech built its own geoprocessing capabilities and complements them with the Google Maps Dynamics Maps API to present analyzed data to its users. The map is essential for presenting all of its data analyses, such as outbreak testing algorithms and guidance for vaccination campaigns. Google Maps and Google Cloud services are managed on the same platform by the technology team. Another advantage of contracting Google services was local billing.
“We gained a lot of productivity when we started using Google. The platform's security features are ready to go; we just have to connect, configure and apply them. Since we use Terraform for infrastructure as code, we only need to design once and replicate across our test, staging and production environments”
Mateus Calza — Co-founder and CTO, Prix Tech
Everyday collaboration
Rapid expansion and a growing team called for new collaboration tools, and Prix Tech purchased Google Workspace licenses in February 2023. Its previous email service was based on web hosting and was no longer meeting the company's needs. The migration of old emails, which had been the company's biggest concern given the large history of stored information, was completed quickly. The Google Workspace suite brought benefits, convenience and integration to employees' daily work: Gmail ensured emails arrived on time, Google Drive made it easier to share information, and Google Calendar kept the whole team organized and in sync.
“We used to pay in dollars and now we pay in reais, so we no longer have to worry about exchange rate swings”
Felippe Petry — CEO and Co-founder, Prix Tech
Recognition for a job well done
Prix Tech received the Prêmio Catarinense de Inovação – Professor Caspar Erich Stemmer in the Process or Service Innovation category for its prixNeuron platform. The award aims to recognize and support the development of entrepreneurship ecosystems in the state of Santa Catarina. Developed by Prix Tech, the prixNeuron platform uses Google's cloud APIs to deliver solutions that help public authorities manage information in real time, with maps, charts and insights based on AI and georeferencing, ensuring better monitoring of municipal public health. Prix Tech plans to expand and grow steadily in the market. Next steps include broadening its use of the cloud by implementing BigQuery to manage and analyze larger volumes of data, and exploring the range of products available on Google Cloud.
