acQuire Celebrates 20 Years of Technology and Team Integrity
Mining software company stays resilient despite boom and bust cycles
It’s been 20 years since Geoscientific Information Management (GIM) software was first launched. The GIM Suite from acQuire Technology Solutions provides a single source of truth for resources companies all over the world. Despite regular volatility in the resources industry and technology sectors, the values-based company behind the GIM Suite has paved the way for a resiliency not often seen in software companies.
PERTH, Western Australia (2 March 2016) – It is 20 years since acQuire Technology Solution’s award-winning Geoscientific Information Management (GIM) software burst onto the market, forever changing the way the mining industry manages its information.
acQuire was founded by Bill Withers in 1996 and the company’s products are now used at more than 450 sites around the world.
The GIM Suite from acQuire incorporates people, processes and technology. This overarching commitment to data management gives resources companies the ability to share a single source of truth especially suited for exploration and mining. In turn, geoscientific information becomes a durable and reliable business asset, providing a clear picture of what lies beneath the ground to empower companies to manage their resources efficiently and responsibly.
In an industry where buyouts, mergers and flash-in-the-pan business ideas are common, the acQuire team has built a sustainable, values-based business that has weathered economic ups and downs and industry fluctuations across two full decades.
Bill Withers handed over the role of Managing Director to Dave Stephen in 2014 as part of the natural succession planning in place for every role in the company. He remains as involved as Chairman of Metech Holdings, the parent company of acQuire and ADAPT by Design. Last year Bill was awarded Austmine’s “Champion of Innovation” award for the GIM Suite, a recognition by the industry of the contribution he’s made to the mining industry.
It is during acQuire’s twentieth year of operation that the team has chosen to celebrate the achievements of the entire company.
Dave Stephen said the company’s longevity and success is proof that a company focused on employees and values over revenues and profits can survive.
“We wanted to build a company as much as we wanted to build technology,” he said.
“We believe if we help our people pursue and achieve excellence, profit will follow for everyone. Work should be a place where employees feel supported, inspired, nurtured and respected. Why would anyone create an organisation that people don’t want to work in?”
Stephen said acQuire is a company where the employees don’t climb a “career ladder” but are helped up the ladder by mentors instead. He said each employee works to an individual plan, rather than a set career pathway, because no two people share the same aspirations for their personal and professional life.
acQuire has 116 staff working in seven offices around the globe. More than 27 per cent of the company’s employees are shareholders in the company.
Stephen said that kind of integrity underpins not just how acQuire treats its people, but also how it innovates and improves its technology, including its GIM Suite products. The company reinvests between 20 and 25 per cent of its annual revenue into research and development each year. While the software industry might view this commitment as extravagant, Stephen said it is absolutely necessary to ensure acQuire’s resilience.
“We’re a technology company. If we don’t have a technology renewal strategy, then we’re incurring technical debt,” he said.
“That also means our customers are incurring technical debt because the software they use to make business decisions is ageing. That’s not ethical. Business isn’t doing enough auditing of tech partners.”
aQuire’s first customers back in 1997 — a year after the company (then Metech) was founded — were Rio Tinto, Lihir Mining, Boddington Gold Mine and the now defunct Eagle Mining. Two years later the technology was rolled out across Africa by the African division of Anglo American. By 2004 acQuire had diversified into the energy sector, including coal and oil sands. In 2010 acQuire introduced web-based technology into the product and in 2014 the GIM Solution — containing all acQuire’s technology, support, and learning pathways — was released.
About acQuire
2016 marks the 20th anniversary of acQuire. In 1996, acQuire launched Geoscientific Information Management (GIM) software solutions for the natural resources industries, focusing on exploration, resource development and mining assets. Due to an ongoing commitment to excellence, acQuire reinvests 20-25% of their annual revenue into research and development. The company currently employs over 100 staff working in seven offices around the globe, with support centers operating in each major time zone. More than 450 sites benefit from acQuire GIM solutions.
For more information, please contact:
David Stephen
Managing Director
acQuire Technology Solutions Pty Ltd
Telephone: 08 9316 6600
info@acquire.com.au
www.acquire.com.au
