As a company that delivers data management solutions to mining companies around the globe, what is the strategy to develop Expedio, and what sets it apart from its competitors?

We have several competitors that are much larger than us, so the goal is to grow our business to become more well-known and to be the first choice for data management solutions. The larger established software houses have been around for 20 years or more and our challenge is to carve out a niche within that very specialized, tight market. Our OCRIS software solutions are advanced and user friendly so we are aiming to raise awareness and get the products out there. I believe the advantage of our products over some of our competitors is the flexibility and streamlined workflows. OCRIS can be used for collecting environmental data, water management or process management, whereas the age of some of our competitors’ fixed model products limits what they can do. We consider that to be one of our key advantages as well as advanced functionality and these features deliver significant operational cost savings to our client’s data handling procedures.

How does the cyclical nature of the industry impact you as a service provider, and what trends have you observed recently in terms of demand for your products?

Previously we had quite a large client base exploring for iron ore, and like most service providers, we were hit pretty hard by the last downturn. We are slowly rebuilding from the loss of clients that either became inactive or entered administration. Some of our existing clients are  now actively exploring again, which is great to see after the holding pattern we all experienced in previous years. However, the key change for us in the past 12 months has been increased activity in the gold exploration sector. Generally, our client base has grown through gold explorers or gold miners, and their increased ability to raise money on the market.

What are the advantages of the data management solutions that Expedio offers?

The Expedio interactive daily dashboards have been a popular reporting feature as they can be accessed ‘on the go’ from any mobile device. The user can keep track of drilling progress, QAQC performance and budgets via any web browser and interrogate their own data without the traditional heavy IT infrastructure requirements. We have received enquiries from the majors about using Expedio’s interactive reports as an overriding corporate reporting tool. With each project acquisition, many of these companies have inherited different data management models and software, so different sites are running three or four different products. Our dashboard reports provide a common reporting format spanning multiple projects,data models and products

Accurate and reliable resource data is a critical foundation for every resource company’s project development. The reporting standards for data management compliance in Australia and many other countries are becoming more stringent as the industry now recognizes the importance of data veracity. Particularly at the resource estimate stage or if a client is looking to present their projects for mergers or joint venture agreements, there is a need for a clean data room to present to potential buyers. Compliant data gives technical users, managers and financiers confidence to make pivotal decisions at every stage of the exploration and mining cycle.

For many of our clients that experience a total changeover of staff — from exploration managers to geologists to field assistants — Expedio is the one constant chain of knowledge in understanding the data that they have collected over the years and how it is managed.

Consultants here work closely with the software development team to provide feedback that comes from a very practical point of view. We are geologists and computer scientists, and we really pride ourselves on streamlining the whole process, minimizing frustrations  and making the data management process as user friendly as possible.

How does Expedio navigate the challenges of dealing with big data, and how does it optimize innovations in Internet-based storage opportunities?

Often when we are tasked with compiling data for clients, we are given a hard drive with hundreds of gigabytes of historic data, and  it is a real challenge to sift through and find the specific data that we need. We have a number of search and software tools to help us, and believe experience is also key in recognizing what is useful and what is not. The technology is constantly evolving, and as we host data on behalf of clients using our own IT infrastructure security is a big issue and very important for us all. Increasingly we utilize cloud services. And some of our clients are now operating entirely within the cloud. Expedio is also investigating how big data analytic products can be made applicable to the mining industry.

As you mentioned, security is a significant concern in relation to big data. What measures has Expedio taken to guard against the risk of cyber threats?

We take our security very seriously as we host and manage data here on behalf of our clients., so we have regular penetration testing and cyber security protocols in place to ensure everything is kept safe. We have solid IT support to advise us on the best possible practice for cyber security. We picked up cyber insurance last year for the first time, which now seems more commonplace with service companies, to protect against hacking and other kinds of security breaches.