Boom time on horizon for Aeeris
CHINDERAH-BASED disaster warning service and ASX minnow Aeeris has inked a major deal that could transform the fortunes of the company.
Aeeris yesterday announced its subsidiary Early Warning Network (EWN) has partnered with geographic information systems (GIS) company Esri Australia, a subsidiary of listed Singaporean company Boustead Singapore.
Esri Australia is the Australian distributor of the ArcGIS platform, which Aeeris says is the most widely used platform of its kind worldwide within the government and private sectors.
In Australia, the company has a 72 per cent share of the market for GIS technology.
ArcGIS is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analysing mapped information, sharing and discovering geographic information, using maps and geographic information in a range of applications, and managing geographic information in a database.
Aeeris says its partnership is part of a plan to scale the business by delivering EWN risk data through established platforms.
Previously it supplied data through its own software, however, it found this was competing with customers that already had GIS applications, and was therefore limiting sales.
It says the partnership will be delivered via its application program interface, collaborating on solutions, tapping into the potential for ArcGIS users to access EWN technology for multichannel communications, and using EWN’s facilities management technology and experience.
Chairman and CEO Kerry Plowright said the deal, which is currently being implemented, could a have far-reaching impact for the business.
“There are two possibilities, the effect will be good or really good,” he said.
“This is a bit like we have a really good song and now we are putting it on iTunes and people can stream it.
“At the flick of a switch a council or government department can turn on our data.”
He said local government bodies, including the Gold Coast City Council, which is an ArcGIS customer, can choose to overlay EWN data on top of existing data sets.
“We have never had this option before,” he said. “Instead of us rolling around and talking to every council in Australia, all of a sudden people who use this application can turn it on and they do not need to talk to us.”
Mr Plowright said any customer can simply ask Esri for the data set, with Aeeris taking a cut of each sale.
“The Gold Coast City Council could tap into our data to see a cyclone approaching the Coast and then identify, not only what assets are at risk in real time, but also the likely impact.”
Aeeris was founded by Mr Plowright, an ex-farmer turned tech entrepreneur.
It listed on the ASX on April 1, 2015 after raising $3.5 million through an initial public offering at 25¢ a share.
It turned around a loss of $2.035 million in FY17 into a small $50,254 profit for the past financial year.
Shares closed down 6.25 per cent yesterday at 6¢.