One of the key challenges facing the mining industry is determining how technology can be leveraged for greater efficiency and better decision making. From calculating stockpile assets, inventorying mining operations, and planning future mining activities, there are many challenges to optimizing these complex tasks. For 30 years, Firmatek has provided software solutions aimed at stockpile measurement and mapping, and have now announced a cloud-based version of their platform that takes that software to the next level in Firmatek Cloud.
The cloud-based upgrade offers a collaborate environment that can be customized for users to make the decisions that are most relevant to their specific operations. It is touted as an improved way for Firmatek to provide the insights and results that they have delivered over the last three decades to mining, solid waste, construction and utility industries.
In a blog post from Firmatek president Lauren Elmore, she emphasizes that the decision to move to the cloud was motivated by the challenges their clients face.
“We believe that our clients’ complex operational workflows and ever-changing physical environments make decision-making difficult. We exist to provide them with the data, insights, and confidence they need to make those decisions. Firmatek Cloud is a way for us to fulfill our purpose and serve our clients. It is a collaborative environment that delivers intuitive customizable solutions for our clients that enables them to make better decisions.”
In addition to moving to the cloud, the new Firmatek Cloud includes some updates in the user interface, including a suite of premium features and new tools. The data and deliverables can be viewed in a single location, and there is the ability to enter an interactive visualization of all client sites. Stockpile markups can be performed online, and there is an improved message center and notification that helps with project management. The Cloud will also be leveraged for data processing, with users having the ability to upload the data captured from drones into the Firmatek Cloud for processing, stitching the images into high resolution 3D models.
Elmore said the decision to launch the cloud was the next step in the evolution of the software.
“[The release] wasn’t just about an update to our client experience or coming up with creative ways to solve the biggest challenges facing our clients. Building Firmatek Cloud was partly about those things, but that wasn’t the reasoning behind our efforts. Firmatek Cloud is a necessary part and evolution of Firmatek living our purpose and values and making sure that our clients get the best solutions and tools available.”
And, unlike current business models, Firmatek Cloud is deployed as a SaaS addition available to everyone instantly at no extra cost, reducing the need for time-consuming manual software upgrades. The Firmatek Cloud was released in December as a free upgrade to existing clients, and more additional features are planned for early 2020.
“As we look to build out Firmatek Cloud into an environment that truly enables better decision-making for our clients, we will continue to work with our clients to create and optimize user-driven workflow solutions, create deliverables and new ways to visualize data that are clear and meaningful, and facilitate collaboration and communication both with our team and internally within our clients’ organizations,” adds Elmore.
“These are just a few of the guiding priorities that we believe make Firmatek Cloud a unique platform in the industries we serve and a new offering that is in line with our purpose and values at Firmatek.”
