ConectCar Accelerates on the Road to Savings: Strategic Partnership with Nexforce Delivers 10% Reduction in Foreign Software Costs

Every Brazilian company that imports software faces the same dilemma. The dollar contract looks reasonable at signing. But the cash that leaves the bank by the end of the quarter is systematically higher than the number in the commercial proposal. The gap is not in the software price. It is in the import architecture.

ConectCar, an automatic payment player for mobility backed by Itaú and Porto, lived this dilemma for over four years. In 2025, it decided to solve it.

The result: a 10% reduction in annual costs for international software managed through Nexforce. No contracts were renegotiated. No suppliers were switched. No commercial discounts were requested.

"The partnership with Nexforce marked a milestone in our pursuit of efficiency. Beyond the remarkable savings on our international software costs, we gained agility and fiscal security that allows us to direct even more energy toward what we do best: innovating in mobility. Nexforce's expertise and transparency were crucial to this success."

Michelli Santos, Supply Chain Coordinator at ConectCar

What Drives Up the Cost of International Software in Brazil

Importing software into Brazil is not expensive because of the license price. It is expensive because of what happens between the signed contract and the money that reaches the supplier.

An international software remittance crosses at least four cost layers that do not appear in the commercial proposal. The first is tax-related: withholding tax with gross-up, PIS/COFINS-Importação at 9.25%, IOF at 3.5% on every remittance, and municipal ISS ranging from 2% to 5%. The second is foreign exchange: the bank spread adds 3% to 6% above PTAX on every transaction. The third is operational: the approval cycle for an international invoice crosses IT, procurement, tax, and treasury departments, consuming hours of senior professionals on manual entries. The fourth is compliance: every manual tax calculation carries the risk of a wrong code, an outdated rate, an incorrect factor on the tax filing.

None of these layers generate credit under direct import. They are pure, recurring cost, invisible on the income statement.

The Brazilian corporate software market is predominantly supplied by international vendors. Thousands of companies operate under this model because it is the standard. Not because it is the only path.

The Diagnosis at ConectCar

ConectCar is at the forefront of urban mobility in Brazil. Backed by the strength of its shareholders Itaú and Porto, it delivers payment experiences for tolls, parking, and fuel stations that process millions of transactions. Sustaining this operation requires international CRM, analytics, security, and cloud infrastructure tools. Dollar contracts, global suppliers, annual renewals.

The procurement team managed multiple active contracts with international suppliers. Each contract had its own tax regime, supplier jurisdiction, currency of origin, and ISS municipality. For every invoice, the approval cycle crossed four departments: the IT manager validated license consumption, procurement checked contract validity, tax manually calculated the charges, and treasury executed the foreign currency payment.

Three parallel spreadsheets tried to consolidate what the ERP could not capture: cost projections by contract, remittance tracking and due dates, and accumulated FX exposure. The CFO received a consolidation that was always behind. IT budget decisions were made with two-week-old data.

Annual disbursement for international software was in the hundreds of thousands of reais. For a single contract.

Nexforce's diagnosis was direct: ConectCar did not have a price problem. It had a fiscal architecture problem.

The Solution: Local Licensing and Payment Nationalization

Nexforce implemented its licensing and payment nationalization solution across three fronts, in under 30 days from diagnosis to the first processed invoice.

Front 1: Fiscal restructuring. Nexforce took over the import as fiscal counterparty. The international supplier kept receiving in dollars, with the contract intact. ConectCar began interacting with Nexforce as a local supplier, receiving invoices in Brazilian Reais. The local licensing structure is designed to reduce import costs legally and in full compliance with Brazilian legislation.

Front 2: Operational simplification. The approval cycle that previously crossed four departments and took days was reduced to hours. The NF-e issued by Nexforce is read automatically by ConectCar's ERP. Fiscal documentation arrives ready. The tax team shifts from being a manual tax calculation operator to being a reviewer of an automated process.

Front 3: FX lock. With payment in Reais, dollar exposure went to zero. The IT budget is now approved in Reais and executed in Reais. If the dollar rises 10% in a month, ConectCar's software cost does not move.

Onboarding each contract took a few weeks: legal registration, compliance validation, payment flow mapping, and integration with the accounts payable ERP and the NF-e reception system. No contract with any international supplier was altered at any stage.

The Results

The 10% savings were achieved exclusively through optimizing the licensing and payment structure. No discounts were negotiated with suppliers. No tools were replaced. What changed was the fiscal layer of the operation.

The savings are structural: not a first-purchase gain. Recurring, month after month, as long as the contract is active.

What Changes Day to Day for Procurement

Approval. The cycle dropped from days to hours. The IT manager approves the NF-e in Reais in the accounts payable system, and finance settles via Pix. Compliance is automatic.

Reconciliation. Each international contract that previously generated multiple fragmented accounting entries now generates a single entry, in Reais, with explicit taxes. The software cost management report comes directly from the accounting system.

Treasury. FX hedging dropped off the agenda. Software cost predictability no longer depends on the dollar exchange rate.

Compliance. Under the direct model, tax calculation is reactive and error-prone. Under the Nexforce model, the invoice arrives validated. Exposure to fiscal risk on international software: zero.

Why This Result Is Replicable

The ConectCar case does not depend on special conditions. Three operational factors make the result replicable for any Brazilian company that imports software.

1. The supplier contract does not change. Nexforce acts as a fiscal counterparty, not as a reseller. The commercial relationship between client and international supplier remains the same. Onboarding a new contract takes a few weeks.

2. The structure works for any size. The percentage gain is consistent, whether a small or large contract volume. Companies under Lucro Real capture the maximum gain. Companies under Simples or Lucro Presumido capture the FX lock and operational simplification.

3. The existing ERP is sufficient. Nexforce's NF-e is read by the accounts payable system the company already uses. No need to hire additional headcount, switch systems, or modify internal processes.

FAQ

Did ConectCar need to switch suppliers?

No. No contracts were terminated. No suppliers were replaced. The only change was the fiscal structure of the procurement.

How long does migration take?

A few weeks from diagnosis to the first processed invoice. The contract with the international supplier is not altered.

Can any company access this model?

Yes. Companies of any size that acquire international software can benefit from Nexforce's licensing and payment nationalization structure.

Is the savings guaranteed?

The savings percentage is determined by the fiscal diagnosis of each contract. The gain comes from optimizing the import structure, not from supplier discounts.

References and Further Reading

• How to Nationalize Imported Software in Brazil
• Taxes on Imported Software: Calculation Guide
• Nexforce Marketplace