Engineering design software specialist company Autodesk, which made its debut at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, says the event has proved to be a great platform for the company to interact with mining company managers and showcase its software solutions.

Autodesk application engineer Imraan Lambat tells Mining Weekly that a plasma screen showcasing the company’s highlights and solutions at its indaba stand attracted much interest, as it displayed how Autodesk’s software can improve efficiency in actual mining scenarios by between 30% and 40%.

He also addressed delegates with a forward-looking thought leadership presentation, entitled ‘The Future of How Things Are Made’.

During the course of the four-day-long indaba, which was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 9 to 12, Autodesk met with several potential customers and discussed how Autodesk’s software solutions could benefit their companies.

The company also had several interactions on increased efficiency, document management and cloud collaboration with existing customers.

“Our strategy going into the indaba was to focus on customer challenges and to demonstrate how our products helped to solve these issues. “We did not have a preplanned agenda, as we knew that this would deter us from clearly understanding clients’ needs,” he says, adding that several of the clients to whom Autodesk had showcased its services have requested further contact after the indaba to discuss a way forward.

Lambat notes that Autodesk’s approach to the indaba forms part of the company’s overall strategy to engage with existing and potential customers, focus on their feedback, and improve and find solutions suitable for the unique needs of each customer.

He highlights that the indaba was an opportunity to expose the greater mining industry on the African continent to other solution offerings available from Autodesk, in addition to its AutoCAD software. “It will also potentially enable Autodesk to expand the footprint of its customised mining-related solutions to the greater mining industry on the African continent to enhance productivity and collaboration,” concludes Lambat.