Geospatial products distributor Aciel Geomatics has attributed its start-up success to the company’s approach to business and its focus on being more of a service provider than simply a products provider.

“We recognised that the future of this business would be to enter into a contractual service- level agreement with our customers, whereby there is a two-way standard against which both parties are measured,” says Aciel Geomatics MD Helgardt van Heerden.

The company was founded in 2011 by mining metallurgist and now company chairperson Locksley Pege to fill a perceived need for a company that would customise its services and product offering for each client’s specified needs.

Aciel Geomatics stocks geospatial products from Swiss geosystems equipment manufacturer Leica Geosystems and sells them to mining companies and geol-ogy firms in Africa.

However, the company’s reach is not limited to the geology sector – it also supplies products to the construction and engineering industries, besides others. Its main products include global positioning systems construction tools and laser scanners.

Van Heerden says what sets Aciel Geomatics apart from its competitors is that, after selling a product, a team from Aciel keeps in contact with the client to provide maintenance services and customer field support.

He adds that the company has a fully resourced workshop at its offices in Midrand, South Africa, where it services and maintains the products that it sells. “We run the only Leica-approved workshop in Southern Africa and it is best equipped with modern Leica maintenance equipment,” says Van Heerden.

In just over two years, Van Heerden says the business has “more than doubled”, adding that, “in fact, we’ve tripled it”. He attributes this growth to clients’ having come to rely on the company’s advice on how to best use geospatial equipment.

Aciel Geomatics, which considers itself a middleman between mining companies and mining equipment manufacturers, has a staff complement of 11, comprising geologists and engineers, who not only advise industry but also offer maintenance and service plans to all customers.

Van Heerden says this staff complement and their industry knowledge enables the company to understand the industry and promptly assist clients.

“One of the challenges the mining industry currently faces is that labour is no longer cheap, while skills are very difficult to find, so mining companies are working with less qualified people in a field that has to do more. Therefore, the technology that we’re providing enables labourers to do more in their job and make it easier for them,” he says.

Van Heerden adds that, as a service provider to all sectors of the mining industry, Aciel Geomatics has insight into the industry as a whole, enabling it to provide a quick turnaround of solutions to its clients.

“When you’re working for a mine, you’re focused on your problems in a high-production environment and don’t have time to look at the global picture of the whole industry. However, because our employees are exposed to a variety of sectors and visit several mines worldwide, they can advise clients on how best to implement geospatial systems,” he concludes.