Mining Software Business Plan

The total market value for open pit, underground, and quarry mining software technologies has grown at an average rate of 22% over the past five years. Since there is no local engineering software producer in Indonesia, the imported software technologies account for 100% of all open pit, underground, and quarry mining engineering and geological software technologies in Indonesian mining industries. Total imports of mining software technologies totaled $75 million in 2000, 23.7% greater than 1999 levels of $60.6 million, which were in turn 26.3% greater than 1998 imports, valued at $48 million.

The demand for open pit, underground, and quarry mining software technologies is projected to grow at an average rate of 16.89% annually over the next five years. Demand will result from the expansion programs of existing mines and establishment of new mines, particularly for coal, gold, and quarry products. In the coal mine sector, the establishment of a new generation of coal mine companies is expected to be very active during the next few years. Growth in other mining sectors, such as quarry activities for clay, limestone, feldspar, kaolin, marble and other stones, ore and sand iron, will also have an effect on the demand for mining and geology software technologies.

Aside from the coal sector, there is continuous growth in civil construction activities, which requires increased production of building materials such as cement, sands, stones, and various products made from kaolin, limestone, and other quarry materials, such as tiles, bricks, etc. Export growth of these materials is also expected to fuel demand.

Future growth in the mining and geology software technologies market will depend on continued growth in the coal consumption in both global and domestic markets. Government policies will also play a role as the government has sought to support the mining industry through investment incentives and lowering tariff on technologies and equipment imports.

4.1 Market Segmentation

Demographics: During its first five years of operations, RTI will target large domestic coal, base metal, precious metal, and quarry mines. After five years of operations, it will expand to service smaller coal, metal mines, and quarries. This industry is comprised of local companies within every province.

Geographic: RTI will operate regionally in the Southeast Asia region, but will focus initially on the Indonesian mining market.

Technographic: In all cases, the target market is comprised of open pit coal mines, open pit metal mines, underground coal mines, underground metal mines, and quarry mines.

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

In its first five years, RTI will be focusing on large, domestic open pit coal mines, open pit metal mines, underground coal mines, underground metal mines, and quarry mines.

4.2.1 Customer Benefits

Clients do not buy features, they buy benefits. In selling and marketing its products and services, RTI will demonstrate its capability in delivering benefits (4Cs) rather than presenting the company’s marketing mix (4Ps):

1. Customer needs and wants: Mining companies are typically conservative and fiscally prudent. These companies are interested in cutting costs to improve the “bottom line” since it is difficult for them to manage the “top line” given that their final product is a commodity. Mine companies prefer a vendor to operate in a turn key fashion. They do not have the additional human resources to design, procure equipment, and install a complex system, such as the one RTI offers. They would prefer that an expert come in and do it for them. However, the MINER DELTA software system is an integrated system, so customers do have the choice to procure their own equipment and do have a large say in how to design and install the system.
2. Cost to the customer: RTI’s products and services costs reflect the advanced technology and comprehensive design and support. Mines operate in large volumes, not only of mined product, but also in dollars. The costs spent on the MINER DELTA software will quickly be earned back in the data generation and mining operations monitoring. The return on investment depends on the adjustments made by the mine operators once given the data. Payback period can be achieved within a few months.
3. Convenience: As an integrator, RTI installs the custom system and provides the design and installation know-how, as well as the specialized software.
4. Communication: In order to truly succeed, RTI will have to appeal to the heart of the market: the middle 70% of the market that will buy the product after its perceived risk is mitigated through colleague’s purchase and communication of satisfaction. Another important method to enhance MINER DELTA’s brand awareness will be technical papers by researchers involved in the development of the systems and mine engineers discussing process improvements made possible by the program. In addition, RTI will also offer the client long-term technical support, called the Productivity Improvement Perpetuation Program, and, in keeping with its mission to provide market driven products and services, RTI will keep in close contact with all clients and solicit ideas on improvements and necessary changes.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The mining and geology software market in Indonesia is one of the fastest growing segments of the computer industry and is estimated to have totaled $91.5 million in 2001. The greatest factors bearing on a software developer’s performance is the underlying strength of the markets in which the company’s products compete and the position of a given product in its life cycle. Interestingly, underlying markets that are experiencing downsizing pressures and networking pressures are the strongest markets for software. The mining industry is experiencing pressures to further automate and increase efficiency, so RTI is in an advantageous position. The fact that the MINER DELTA program is early in its development life cycle also indicates that revenue growth is promising, since its installed base has not even been established. The industry is characterized by rapid innovation and high gross margins.

4.3.1 Main Competitors

There are three other major players in the Indonesian mining industry that have developed and begun to market similar products and services. These companies are ECS International Pty Ltd of Bowral, Australia, Runge Mining of Australia, and Mincom of Brisbane, Australia.

4.3.2 Competition and Buying Patterns

Mining companies operate in large volumes, not only of mined products, but also in dollars. A small percentage increase in mineral recovery translates to hundreds of millions of dollars in increased revenue per year. Since mined products fetch fixed commodity prices, reductions in costs translate directly to the bottom-line. Any procedure or mechanism that can generate value through increased mineral recovery or decreased operating costs is of great interest to mine operators.

RTI must compete against the idea that mining companies should buy mining and geology software, and can get trained to operate it in one or two days; that they don’t need ongoing services, support, and intensive training to integrate the software system operation with the productivity control and improvement systems.

It is vital to build perception in the market that as an integration system, the MINER DELTA system is unique and improves upon current methods because of its three distinct characteristics;

1. Automatic
2. Non-disruptive
3. Accurate

Also, the MINER DELTA system saves money and increases mineral recovery by providing equipment operators with real-time data to monitor and adjust their work-in-progress production, as well as empowering mine engineers with a continuous operational data log with which to make operations adjustments of larger scope.