Case Study
Bolstering the geological services programme of a Middle Eastern country
International benchmarking | Strategic research | Best practices study
Business need
- A Middle Eastern management consulting firm was contracted to build a financial model for a new company which could be owned and affiliated with the Government’s geological survey organisation.
- To create a financially sustainable company, enabling the mining industry and localising technologies, the client sought a macro analysis of the geological services.
- It wanted to gather international benchmarks of services income, study similar public entities operating globally and assess their expenditure.
- The client initially wanted to develop a prototype of the app to approach investors for potential funding and was initially planning to launch the app in the US market.
To benchmark international geological service entities and derive learnings for setting up a government affiliate.
The client outlined two key reasons for selecting RocSearch:
- Our proven capabilities and extensive experience in strategic research and benchmarking studies.
- Our wide exposure to collaborating on government mandates in the Middle East and advising them on international best practices.
Approach and Methodology
- Our strategic advisory team evaluated the market opportunity for traditional services offered by the country’s survey organisation, mapped into four categories: Geophysical, Geotechnical, Geochemical and Geohazards. We consulted several industry experts while ranking the top 50+ services shared by the client and identified the top 10 services that accounted for c.80% of the overall industry revenue.
We ranked the top global geological services agencies, benchmarked competitors and identified core services, particularly examining their artificial intelligence (AI) implementation systems.
- We benchmarked competitors offering geological services in the client’s country based on their service types and the end markets catered (mining and infrastructure), operational presence, recently completed/ planned projects and licences won.
- We profiled over 50 companies providing core geological services, such as geology & mine planning software, AI-based software platforms and virtual reality/ augmented reality visualisation platforms.
- We shared insights on the emerging global and regional market trends driving the growth of core services and various related themes. Further, we assessed similar global public entities, their operating models, implementation steps, expenditures and risks associated with the implementation of AI systems.
Business Outcomes
- The market study provided useful insights on opportunities in the geological services market –both traditional and core services.
- The benchmarking exercise equipped the client with key focus areas based on the market potential, leading services, key developments and application industries.
- The study of similar global public entities helped the client derive best practices on business models and conduct its financial planning for the implementation phase.
The study equipped the client with the best business models and strategic inputs for financial planning and implementation.
