The management of public funds, and European aid funds in particular, is a complex business. In Portugal, Axians has developed eFundos, an innovative subscription-based SaaS solution to simplify the task facing national public bodies.
In July 2020, the European Union launched a historic €750 billion recovery plan – Next Generation EU – financed through shared borrowing. Its objective is to support recovery efforts by member states, especially those most affected by the Covid-19 health crisis, and also to encourage massive investment in ecological and digital transition. Central to this scheme is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a temporary instrument for making funds available to member states. However, the management of this facility is extremely complex.
How can a scheme such as this European Union plan be simplified? How can technology help? In Portugal, Axians has developed an innovative solution with the Portuguese authorities in mind: eFundos.
“This SaaS platform has been operational since November 2021,” says Cláudia Cristóvão, Business Development & Innovation Manager at Axians Portugal. “It was developed by the Funds and Investment business unit at Axians in Portugal, which has more than 30 years’ experience in the European funds sector and a team of 104 consultants currently developing or maintaining 32 different solutions for 17 customers.”
Comprehensive subscription-based solution
Compared with competing solutions, the main advantage of eFundos is that it is a complete product, including the management platform, cloud infrastructure, operation and maintenance, all available through a monthly subscription.
“We are working to develop this solution internationally.”
Filipe Cerqueira, Project Manager & Innovation Lead at Axians Portugal: “This is a comprehensive fund management solution, from the publication of calls for applications and the responses from public bodies, state agencies, etc. to the back office, where technicians fully analyse all the applications before they are approved or rejected. The platform also provides monitoring and reporting tools for all users, in line with their access permissions.” He also emphasises “AI’s considerable contribution to the analysis and reprocessing of the information contained in the masses of documents involved in cases like these.”
Scalable maintenance and environmental benefit
Another notable advantage of the eFundos solution is its scalable maintenance, which allows continuous platform updates and improvements, and makes it possible to enhance or add to existing functionality. “We can meet our customers’ needs without them having to worry about implementation, which gives them a better experience,” says Cláudia Cristóvão.
The Business Development & Innovation Manager also highlights the environmental benefits of this solution: “Before eFundos, analysing the requests used up a lot of paper. As a SaaS solution, eFundos is hosted on cloud platforms, reducing the carbon footprint of the entire process. Axians handles everything.”
The platform meets the needs of large funds management authorities with a need to delegate and optimise the management of community funds, but is also interesting for small public organisations lacking the resources to manage this type of project.
“We currently have two customers using the eFundos, and one of them has two separate entities,” explains Cláudia Cristóvão. “We are now working to develop the solution internationally via the Axians network, particularly in European Union candidate countries.”
07/15/2025
