Aldo van Tonder, CEO of FOXit.

This is the view of management directing FOXit, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and service provider focused on project and portfolio management (PPM) in business.

The mining industry is considered a key focus area for the company and strategic to its objective of driving home the benefits of Microsoft Business Productivity stack, cloud-based enterprise project management and advanced mobile project management infrastructure, among a growing arsenal of hi-tech products.

To date, FOXit solutions are used within 16 mining operations nationally, including a platinum mine in the North West Province, a gold mine in the West Rand, and a mining engineering company.

For example, the company's METROit solution, an embedded mobile application for devices and operating system, is used by managers on site to approve work, log issues and risks associated with projects.

In the mining environment, solutions must be easily deployed, should add immediate and measurable value to existing processes, and require minimum training or customisation.

FOXit has also deployed Nintex products that automate business processes. In practice, this means that everything from daily work schedules to administration and document management is automatically processed. Progress can be tracked and actions executed according to prescribed deadlines.

“This means the business is saving time and money in fulfilling basic operations, the principle behind innovation in project management technology,” explains Aldo van Tonder, CEO of FOXit.

Van Tonder confirms that while the mining sector, as a whole, has traditionally been considered 'risk averse' as far as new technology is concerned, there is a renewed appreciation for what strategic solutions can do.

“We have integrated solutions within the mining sector that provide an entirely different view of data,” he continues. “One of our products, PIVOTit, a data visualisation solution, eliminates the need for old tables and charts. It is based on Microsoft's PivotViewer technology and offers users a panoramic view of data in real-time. One of its core advantages is that users can view thousands of items simultaneously.”

PIVOTit can be used to quickly source and retrieve information that is typically archived in secure and extensive databases.

For mining operations technology that allows the user to source information quickly, to manage and apply data quickly but accurately, represents true value.

According to management at FOXit, there is every reason to believe that as the relevance and significance of mining increases within South Africa's economic landscape, so too will the importance of using next-generation project and portfolio management, mobility and workflow solutions.