Roadcard Accelerates Development and Streamlines Payment for Logistics Providers

Founded in 2011, Roadcard is dedicated to improving payment systems for Brazilian logistics companies through innovative and sustainable solutions. Their automatic payment card system streamlines driver payments, escrow services, bill maintenance, audit regulations, and toll payments.

As Brazil’s logistics market continues to grow, Roadcard faces the challenge of keeping up with rapidly evolving payment methods and the need for compliance with government regulations—especially with 70% of the market failing to meet registration requirements.

To overcome these challenges, Roadcard adopted the Mendix platform in 2024 and teamed up with an expert implementation partner, TrueChange. Roadcard has since accelerated their development by over 25% and increased their customer base by more than 100% with their flagship low-code application.

Tackling Legacy Monoliths and IT Backlog

Like many FinTech organizations, Roadcard initially relied on traditional coding methods like Java, Javascript, Angular, and Delphi.

However, over time the team encountered issues such as:

• A growing backlog of business demands that couldn’t be met as developers were too bogged down in app maintenance and lengthy development times.
• A monolithic landscape of Java solutions that spanned over a decade becoming legacy systems.
• Potential security risks due to aging technologies and resource constraints around maintenance.

The team began exploring potential platforms by evaluating Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. During this process they were introduced to TrueChange, who created a web application in Mendix to demonstrate their capabilities as a proof of concept.

In comparison to a competitive evaluation against OutSystems, TrueChange’s expertise, deep understanding of Roadcard’s core business, and strong results with Mendix made them the clear choice.

“Mendix also stood out in comparison because of its cloud capabilities and clear business model,” Akira emphasized.

What truly set Mendix apart, however, was its rapid delivery and architecture, allowing the team to develop the same application in just one month – a stark contrast to the alternatives. Tiago Arioli, a development manager at Roadcard, was impressed with the results.

“Mendix development is much faster than traditional languages,” he said. “The visual development makes it easy to see an entire process or workflow, with a user-friendly interface that makes launching projects much easier as well. The learning curve is much smaller in comparison.”

Tony Firmino, CTO at TrueChange, noted that the productivity gain, along with faster development, was significantly higher. “Many features delivered with Mendix weren’t originally planned in the traditional approach, yet they added great value to Roadcard’s product,” he said.

Security was another key advantage. “Mendix offers top notch security out of the box,” Arioli said. “We use native features of Mendix to ensure industry compliance and data management.”

TrueChange then helped Roadcard prioritize projects, forming “squads” with team members from both companies, including product owners and UX designers.

Championing Low-Code Development

Following Mendix’s strong performance in the proof of concept, Akira challenged the organization to evolve its approach to collaboration and software delivery.

“Sidinei Akira is an innovator,” said Camila Trigo, account executive at TrueChange. “He is shifting internal mindsets and challenging preconceived notions about low-code development.”

Together, Akira and TrueChange implemented an Agile way of working to fully reap the benefits of low-code development.

Roadcard has since embraced a Mendix-first approach to development, with a clear criteria to define the right projects. According to Arioli around 90% of new projects can now be delivered using Mendix.

“We provided the boot camp, trained the team, and will continue supporting their future projects as they grow with the platform,” Trigo added. “Now, Roadcard prefers Mendix development, knowing it will bring their vision to life.”

Payment Automation Improves Reliability

Transportation organizations use Roadcard’s software to manage travel expenses for contracted drivers.

Previously, Roadcard provided a solution in partnership with a bank, but the product became stagnant and outdated. Refactoring it using traditional development would have taken too long and wasn’t a priority.

Roadcard needed to quickly create a new solution to ensure uninterrupted service for 130 of its customers. The Mendix application needed to provide:

• A secure and robust architecture
• Integration of several sub-applications
• Use of microservices architecture and APIs
• Enhanced security and performance
• A modern, user-friendly design
• Management of dynamic permissions

In 2020, Brazil launched Pix, a nationwide payment system that made QR code integration essential for transactions, replacing traditional methods like bank transfers. While the existing solution had no connection to Pix, Roadcard would become the first in its industry to integrate this feature into its Mendix application.

After just four months of development, Roadcard launched Pamcard Corporativo, a fully centralized solution for driver payments. Within two months, Roadcard saw a 50% increase in its customer base, which has since more than doubled.

The application not only tracks card usage but also displays how much money is circulating for each customer via a dashboard.

Arioli highlighted the project’s complexity, particularly in security, performance, data handling, and system integration. Historically, connecting their applications with other systems was a major challenge, but Mendix streamlined the integration process for this new application.

“By leveraging several REST APIs, it’s all much faster, intuitive, and reliable,” Arioli said.

The application now includes over 40 microservices, including a critical Marketplace connector for importing Excel data.

For drivers, a simpler process for expensing travel payments enhances both their efficiency and overall experience on the road. “We’ve developed a method to load money onto multiple cards at once, instead of doing it one by one,” Akira explained.

The solution also allows users to directly export data from their financial systems, like ERP or TMS, and import it for quick processing. For added security, the team implemented role-based access through AWS Cognito.

Establishing Governance Practices that Scale

Microservices give Roadcard the flexibility to scale Mendix applications easily and quickly.

Eduardo Firmino, a tech lead at TrueChange, explained, “Once we complete a project for a client, we can encapsulate components like buttons or layouts for their design system and reuse them in new projects, saving time and avoiding refactoring.”

TrueChange also connects its South American customer community, fostering mutual learning, and has identified key focus areas to set them up for future success, such as solidifying strong governance practices.

With these insights, Roadcard is now focusing on:

• Establishing best practices
• Securing APIs and fast time-to-market strategies
• Developing modular, reusable, and maintainable code

“For the first project, TrueChange wrote the code and taught us best practices,” Akira added. “Now, we manage governance using those frameworks in new products.”

Internally, Arioli is leading the charge in establishing governance for Mendix development. Their plan is to continue evolving this approach and train their high-code developers in the Mendix model.

For Akira, fully integrating Mendix into Roadcard’s technology stack – rather than using it sporadically – was the key. The team is now equipped to do just that at scale.

The Fast Lane to Success

With Mendix, Roadcard has not only accelerated product development and scalability but also transformed its approach to problem-solving and collaboration.

With a solid foundation in place, the team is now poised to tackle more ambitious projects. One goal is to rebuild one core solutions – PAMCARD – Roadcard’s system for managing the electronic cards distributed to truckers.

Roadcard recently hired a dedicated Mendix developer to work alongside a traditional developer, with plans to further expand the team.

TrueChange expressed immense pride in seeing their customer’s success. “Roadcard saw firsthand how rapidly we could deliver on their vision, and that’s something we’re all incredibly proud of,” Trigo shared.

Ultimately, Akira’s leadership has been instrumental in overcoming internal resistance and driving Mendix adoption across the company. His determination to integrate Mendix into Roadcard’s core development process has been a game-changer and will continue fueling their success.