A Word from The Boss

Bringing  together data, systems and people

Welcome to our Autumn newsletter for 2019!

The other day I was asked in a presentation how does everyone at Mipela get their work done? I replied we are a “dogfooding” organisation.

Eating your own dog food, also called dogfooding, occurs when an organization uses its own product.This can be a way for an organization to test its products in real-world usage. Hence dogfooding can act as quality control, and eventually a kind of testimonial advertising. Once in the market, dogfooding demonstrates confidence in the developers’ own products.

Wikipedia

From marketing and sales, to solutions, to support, to products, to admin, to the board, everyone at Mipela truly believe that using the X-Info suite makes them more productive, their work more enjoyable, and their workdays less stressful by connecting our data, systems and people. What is fascinating about the latest release of X-Info WebConnect, we believe that the web browser based Activities are allowing Mipela to:

• Encourage fact-based, decision making
• Empower individuals and teams to be inter-dependent
• Encourage productive use of valuable time and our resources
• Increase trust, accountability, and visibility of completing our daily tasks
• Create a good feedback loop of where we are at, so we can look to continuously improve

This also allows us to test the latest versions of our products in real life usage to validate before it’s released, enabling proactive resolution of potential inconsistency or dependency issues, which is a humbling process.

In closing, I’m excited to welcome Wil Waters who joins our Solutions Team in Adelaide and Erin Johnston as Support Specialist in Brisbane HQ and the new following clients Allwater, Ausgrid, Kestrel Coal Resources, Oilfield Pipeline Systems, Rural City of Wangaratta, The Shell operated QGC venture and TransLink to the Mipela Family as we continue with our purpose of Connecting People with Information. #wellplayed

Hayden McDonald

Managing Director

Simplifying how work gets done

With the next generation development of the X-Info suite underway, our measure of success and in turn our clients depends on our ability to change. The instability caused by globalisation and advance of new disruptive technology guarantees only the adaptable will survive.

Success in the digital age is not only defined by the formulation of good ideas but the ability to implement those ideas in a rapidly shifting environment. Technology is changing the world at an ever increasing speed. Disruptive business models (Airbnb, Netflix, Uber) are leaving established organisations in the wake of their more agile competitors. Change can only occur when people, process and technology are aligned/connected.

We need to empower people to alter their ongoing operations at the point they capture data while delivering outcomes in a dynamic environment. This is where changing business environments, ERP implementations, reorganisations and mergers, changing product and service offerings, changing laws and regulations are constantly in flux.

But we can’t do it alone. With our suppliers, our partners, our people, our clients’ teams, together we are committed to the continuous process of analysing, designing and monitoring our activities to perform tasks efficiently and effectively and look forward to sharing more on this in future newsletters.

Solving our clients’ needs

In this edition we provide a wrap up of the first Oceanic Damage Prevention Conference (ODPC) on the Gold Coast, our recent X-Info User Group meeting in Brisbane, a sneak peak of the X-Info Aware Version 2.4 release,  the development of the Australian Safety Management Study under AS2885 and Linbeck Contractor’s use of our X-Info Plans Management.

I would like to acknowledge and welcome our most recent new clients, Transport Canberra and City Services and Yarra City Council. August 2018 recently marked the 21st anniversary of the company’s founding. A warm thank you to all of our team (past and present), suppliers, partners and clients for your continued support.

In closing, Dean Howell, John Quigley and I really enjoyed catching up with our existing clients, learning lots and meeting some new people at the 2018 Annual Convention and Exhibition of the APGA: celebrating “Australia’s Pipelines: 50 years of safe and reliable delivery of energy and water” in Darwin 8 – 11 September. Congratulations to Stephen Ohl on winning the Scrabble Luxury Edition!

Hayden McDonald
Founder & Managing Director

Data Never Snoozes!

In this Summer edition read about the capability of our team’s expertise to meet the compliance needs in your organisation.

We touch on AGL Energy’s move to Mipela GeoSolutions’ innovative and responsive, cloud hosted solution to simplify how users can now easily interact with their critical property business information.

Data is the modern world’s new gold or oil. It flows and pushes everything in the global economy, spawning terms such as “big data”. And just like gold and oil, this resource needs to be protected and so data integrity has become a critical part of any business.

Data is on overdrive. Data is exploding faster than our ability to put our arms around it, so you’re going to have to adapt. It’s being generated at break-neck pace, flooding out of the dozens of connected devices we use every day, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

An effective compliance solution is essential to good corporate governance and risk management. If you would like to reduce the risk of oversight, substantial fines, and demonstrate compliance, then contact us today to see how Mipela can assist you.

I would also like to recognise, and welcome to the Mipela family, our new Clients, Farming Together, Gondwana Consulting, Hydro Tasmania and TasNetworks.

Finally, I thank you for your trust and support through 2017. On behalf of the team at Mipela GeoSolutions, we wish you and your family a happy Christmas and safe travels during the festive seasons. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the New Year.

Hayden McDonald Founder & Managing Director

People – celebration of purpose

To think it all started because of ‘US’!

August 2017 marked the 20th Anniversary of the company’s founding, an important milestone for the company as we reflect on our heritage and accomplishments. Mipela GeoSolutions is continually investing in our talented staff and we continue to celebrate long term business relationships with our valued clients.

The quality of our team and their highly skilled work continues to receive very positive feedback from our clients who highly value our service delivery.

On reflection, the major difference I see between “old” and “new” GIS technology is that today GIS is more than cartography. GIS first generation products were foremost an application for producing good looking paper maps and doing spatial analysis with the underlying data. The current-generation GIS technology (such as our X-Info Suite) are slightly different in that they offer a project/solution-based approach, meaning that a map is just one part of the puzzle. A map is no longer the final destination, but can be the starting point to greatly enhance workflows as what I would term a “GeoSolution” to systemise or automate a client’s business processes.

Today, Mipela GeoSolutions deliver an array of services committed to our purpose of “connecting people with information”. We have fully embraced the sectors progress with our focus on how technology can meet the needs of our clients using our X-Info suite of software.

A warm thank you to all of our team (past and present), suppliers, partners and clients for your support over the past 20 years.

Branch out ideas

A couple of our clients have kindly agreed to share insights of their recent success in systemising their business processes:

• Zinfra’s implementation of our new X-Info Plans Management solution integrated with their Field Services Job Management software
• Integrated Precision Viticulture’s use of X-Info Suite demonstrating the importance of having real time data mapping at your fingertips – and more importantly you client’s fingertips – to aid in decision making relating to the intricacies of grape production.

Firstly, thank you very much to everyone who responded to our Annual Client Satisfaction Survey. It was encouraging to see what our clients valued most: our knowledge, dedication to customer service, professional advice and that we endeavour to go to significant effort to understand requirements. We truly value the feedback and intend to focus over the next twelve months on:

• Continuing face to face Client interaction
• Fostering candour in our relationships
• Hosting regular X-Info User Group meetings
• Developing modular training components
• Upholding our ‘Continuous Learning Model’ to improve skills, knowledge, awareness of our product and service offerings to support the development, growth and performance of people.

Secondly, I am pleased to announce that as of 1 July, to continue the success of our three pillar approach in Promising, Delivering and Supporting our clients, we will be consolidating our Services Project and Implementation teams into a new team called Solutions. Our Services team will therefore comprise of three teams, Solutions who will be lead by Dirk Craigie, with business as usual in Support lead by Cirina Di Pierro and our Products team guided by our Product Architect Craig Williams.

As a business we are at the right end of the value chain to maximise value for our clients. As a “Professional Services” technology business, integrating our Clients corporate systems and data utilising our X-Info suite software and Location Information knowledge, allows us to increase value for our Clients. We do this by providing outcomes across an organisations’ network,
in the field or via the Internet from the desktop, tablet or mobile devices – on and offline.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter edition, I wish you all the best in your daily activities and would like to close by welcoming our new Clients – City of Stirling, ELGAS, First Gas (our first New Zealand client), Luminous Energy, and Transport Sydney Trains to the extended Mipela family and our common journey of connecting people with information.

Hayden McDonald
Founder and Managing Director

Grow your capability

Growing companies know that IT is not an afterthought – it’s a critical framework driven by a strong team and connected by technology and processes, and it’s all about creating harmony between these moving parts. Who has time to sift through heaps of data, compile repetitive reports and get each piece of information to those who need it?

If you are looking to deliver relevant data (when and where it’s needed), tailor the experience to meet everyone’s needs and collaborate in real time to make better decisions, please contact us today to find out how we can help you.

Tap Into Expertise

It starts so simple. You have a business problem and you need data to answer it. You find that data, copy it into a spreadsheet and then realise you need additional information, so you bring that in too. Then you commence formulating, formatting, graphing, until you have all the data you need in tiny rows and columns, then you share it with your boss and they love it!

Victory right? No, this is the worst possible scenario.

Now your boss wants the same information provided weekly, printed and stacked on their desk. You have now accidentally created a manual process that will consume 20% of your work week with no end in sight. Now think of it from your CEO’s perspective; this is happening in dozens of departments across the organisation adding up to truck-loads of inefficiency.

So let’s put an end to this and use X-Info Suite to enable your world. When you connect your spreadsheet with X-Info Suite, it automatically syncs your data into a centralised database as the single source of truth, keeping it up-to-date; it helps you turn columns and rows of data into powerful visualisation, making your data actionable, which makes collaboration and sharing simple; and most importantly it gives you the freedom to spend less time on manual reporting and more doing what you do best. If this sounds familiar and you would like to tap into our expertise to automate workflows and share the knowledge in your organisation please contact us for a demo.

Bring ideas to life

One of IT’s biggest challenge today is delivering all the new solutions that business users are demanding.

Fully integrated with backend systems (asset management, CRM, document management, finance, GIS, to name a few) and that work simply on any device. They need to be ready in days, not months. They need to be able to adapt to ever changing business requirements. Deployed in the cloud, on-premise, or in a hybrid environment, that work on and off-line, in the office or the field, even worse with scares resources and ever shrinking budgets, that’s why they say IT is not easy these days.

That is why more and more companies these days are turning to Mipela GeoSolutions for the suite of tools they need to rapidly deliver sophisticated digital solutions for desktop, Internet and mobile. With Mipela GeoSolutions X-Info Suite you can configure all sorts of business solutions in a fraction of the time and cost with the resources you already have.

You can quickly build incredible user interfaces with powerful business logic and workflows without having to master difficult technologies and languages. Plus all backend systems are integrated with X-Info’s powerful and simple connectors, tasks and reporting engine. You can configure native device applications that allows you to access Maps, GPS and camera, providing your users with amazing experiences that work out-of-the-box.

X-Info Suite data capture, management, visualisation and delivery software are your tools to collaborate, create, refine and deliver solutions. We have helped hundreds of companies in the Energy and Infrastructure sector, bring their ideas to life, faster and better than ever.

Striving for continuous improvement

Teamwork represents one of Mipela’s five Core Values, the others being Communication, Customer Service, Technical Competency, Innovation and Creativity. These values, I am sure you will agree, are essential to ensure the successful delivery of any project.

However, as a business we are always striving for continuous improvement. Therefore, we truly value the feedback received from our Annual Client Satisfaction Survey and intend to focus over the next twelve months on the following:

• Regular X-Info Group meetings
• Continue face to face interactions
• Foster candour in our relationships
• Develop modular training components
• Uphold our ‘Continuous Learning Model’