Australia-based Oniqua Enterprise Analytics is expanding its footprint onto the African continent, opening a branch in SA, according to the maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) analytics software solutions company.
The Sandton branch will service SA and the entire sub-Saharan African region, and skilled local staff members will manage local operations.
The company says Neil Pollock, a business associate and partner of Oniqua, has been appointed vice-president of Oniqua Africa and will head up the new operations.
“Oniqua has been operating in the African market and thought it made sense to offer better services to clients here,” it says.
The expansion recognises the growing size and increasing importance of the mining, oil and gas industries throughout the African continent, says president for Asia, Australia and Africa Chris Wright.
Vice-president of marketing and strategic alliances Steve Herrmann says the African MRO environment is maturing and with this comes a need for more sophisticated business analytics capabilities.
“Africa is slowly moving from a labour-oriented economy to a knowledge-based economy, and business analytics technologies will allow organisations to achieve significantly more with their resources, and consequently become much more competitive.”
He adds that some 100 years ago miners used a pick and shovel; today they use sophisticated machinery, along with transactional IT systems to support the business.
“The local software market is currently lagging behind general industry best-practices and standards. In order to ensure that end-user businesses will benefit, there is a real need for the local market to begin investing significant resources to try and meet the standards, breadth and sophistication of business analytics that other regions across the globe enjoy.”
Hermann says a first-mover advantage will help the company achieve its market leadership goals.
The company serves mining, oil and gas utilities companies. Existing clients in Africa include tier one mining companies such as Rio Tinto, Exxaro, Goldfields, Newmont Gold and BHP Billiton. Oniqua also has operations in Asia and the Americas.
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