Winner of many prestigious awards, geoAMPS is the technology leader in the land rights and infrastructure management industry. In an interview with insight success, the Founder and CEO of the company Yogesh Khandelwal who is committed to providing quality products and best-in-class service; gave some insightful answers. Below are highlights from the interview with Insights Success:
IS: Brief us about the journey of geoAMPS – origin, inception, early challenges, success stories, major milestones, to name a few.
I developed the original geoAMPS software out of my home as a side project before quitting my day job and formally launched geoAMPS with my wife, Leena Madan in 2011 in Columbus, Ohio. Leena is the COO of geoAMPS and I am serving as President & Chief Executive Officer. geoAMPS initially served only the land rights industry, also known as the right of way (ROW). The first product we launched was the powerful and robust rowAMPS software platform that provides end-to-end management of ROW projects, housing all data in one central repository that grants individual end-users access to only the specific documents they need to perform their duties while restricting access to sensitive or irrelevant documents.
geoAMPS was founded on a simple notion: Offer the best technology solutions while forming lasting relationships with our clients. That premise has served our company well. Today, geoAMPS is the premier provider of software solutions to manage land rights and infrastructure assets. Our product line has grown considerably to encompass land management needs in a number of industries. Today, in addition to rowAMPS, there are 10 industry-specific software products, that include a geographic information system viewer (GIS). Because we standardize and automate processes through a proven software solution, geoAMPS has become the go-to software solution in the market. Our products are available across multiple technology platforms – Web, mobile, offline/detached and GIS – for optimal flexibility and deployment. Our Web platform is the core component of the suite of products. geoAMPS products and services are constantly being advanced through a research and development process that engages clients and industry experts. Our clients are leaders in their respective industries and include some of the largest oil and gas producers in the world. Our software has been proven effective in saving costs, with clients reporting operational savings of over 35 percent. With our software, oil and gas companies are able to manage fast-paced lease acquisitions and costly drill schedules, as well as workflow of crews onsite. In addition to the oil and gas industry, geoAMPS serves organizations in land services (right of way), utilities, transportation, and alternative energy industries.
geoAMPS’s flexibility, innovative products and openness to new technology has helped us win notable awards in the field of Technology, including 20 Most Promising Utilities Technology Providers, Smart 50 Awards, Offshore Excellence Award, Who’s Who in Energy and many others. We have been the Healthiest Employers of Central Ohio for three consecutive years since 2016 and ranked 1646 in Inc 5000 America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies list in 2016. geoAMPS, COO, Leena Madan has been named as one of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Ohio by The National Diversity Council.
IS: As the Founder and CEO of the company, tell us a little about your journey.
I am involved in each aspect of company operations, especially on product development, serving current clients and cultivating new clients. I am an engineer with a diverse background in technology across various industries, with more than 20 years of experience in database customization and implementation. I have done my Master’s Degrees in Civil Engineering, from the University of Toledo in 1997 and The Ohio State University in 1998. We, at geoAMPS, help companies implement standardized processes, bringing efficiency and optimization within project and asset management.
IS: Kindly talk about the exclusive services offered by your company that distinguishes you from your competitors?
geoAMPS introduced mobile technology to the land rights industry. That capability is available today to all clients in all of the industries we serve, including the oil industry. Our company wanted to bring mobile capability to replace predominantly paper-based processes in the land services industry. Now, mobile capabilities are the market standard. Introducing this capability has positioned geoAMPS well ahead of the competition. geoAMPS’ mobile capability accelerated growth of our client base. Because geoAMPS software is Web-based, field agents can access and update project information on mobile devices. This capability enhances project efficiency, contributing to the ability of geoAMPS to help our clients realize project cost savings of 35 percent. Projects, especially in the oil and gas industry, are oftentimes in remote areas, many miles from the company office. Through our offline/detached platform, agents working in the field still have the ability to access the centralized Web database to receive and upload information. They need to be able to receive notifications of inspections and other workflow. They are able to complete work in the field, saving travel time and eliminating work duplication. The offline/detached platform provides the ability to access the Web database even in areas that lack Internet access. The system provides sync-on-demand once connectivity is restored. This also is a capability that set geoAMPS apart from its competitors.
IS: What is the vision and mission of your company?
Guided by our Core Values, our mission is to remain the technology leader in the land rights and infrastructure management industries. geoAMPS is committed to providing quality products and best-in-class service to our clients. Each of our clients is provided with dedicated product support, training and business analyst professionals. All of these professionals have the support of the entire geoAMPS team to assist the client. We offer 24/7 product support. Our training team provides comprehensive training, as well as ongoing free webinars, by which clients can gain more knowledge about how geoAMPS products and services increases their ability to compete in the marketplace. Working in tandem with the client and our product developers, our business analysts ensure that geoAMPS is providing the software solutions that meet the client’s needs.
IS: Kindly introduce us to the current project/projects you are working on?
We are continuing to invest in automation to better leverage our constrained resources. As such, we are looking to bring automation to come key areas that have been eating up our resource time. This is an area that I am most excited about in the coming year.
IS: What kind of industrial as well as regulatory level challenges do you face today?
Large industries tend to be cyclical in nature. It is widely known that the oil industry is currently going through an extreme cycle, as lower oil prices have led to bankruptcies, mergers, layoffs and the shelving of plans for new projects. Despite that industry upheaval, there continues to be annual growth in the amount of oil being produced. That is in part the result of technology that has increased E&P efficiency and increased the life of oil wells. The technology provided by geoAMPS, including our landAMPS software, is part of that industry solution. Ours is a proven technology solution that has reduced project completion schedules by weeks and even months. That amounts to savings in the millions of dollars on each E&P and midstream project. These levels of savings help oil companies succeed in a volatile market.
New legislation and changes in law have made an impact on the industries we serve. The oil industry in the United States, for example, faces new environmental guidelines associated with hydraulic fracturing. Tax credits for alternative energy industries have fluctuated on an annual basis in the United States. Hopefully, those tax credit provisions have stabilized and will remain in effect for the next several years, allowing our clients and other companies in the industry to proceed with new alternative energy projects.
IS: How has the IT industry evolved across the nation in the last decade?
One additional factor that has had a critical impact on this company’s growth was our decision to keep software development in-house. While it is common practice in the software industry to outsource development work to India via a third party vendor, geoAMPS has opened an office near my hometown of Pune, India, where a team of roughly 30 developers work in close conjunction with company headquarters in Powell, Ohio, to provide best-in-class product and service. This allows geoAMPS to stay competitive in the global marketplace with lower costs while retaining tight quality control standards.
IS: Kindly elaborate about the distinctive services relate to GIS.
gisAMPS is the geographic information system (GIS) viewer that can be integrated into any of the geoAMPS suite of industry-specific products. It is a broad tool for end-to-end tracking of client’s all land and infrastructure data. gisAMPS can remarkably reduce the need for software deployment and increase efficiencies. This option greatly enhances the amount and quality of information about any organization’s projects. It offers an intuitive geospatial view that is compliant with popular mapping technologies.
gisAMPS can be leveraged to integrate with the client’s current data-gathering system to add mapping capability. The geoAMPS product provides dashboard-like capability to monitor the client’s projects and assets through color-coded maps and layers. It simplifies and speeds what can be time-consuming processes, such as project area selection, route planning and selection reroutes, cost analysis, environmental assessment, 3-D visualization and project management. It can work in conjunction with any of geoAMPS’ other products or with existing in-house data-gathering systems. The application is also strong as a stand-alone product.
IS: How are you providing solutions to organizations that helps them to transform as ‘Eco-Enterprises’?
With geoAMPS, companies no longer need to rely on the use of paper documents– making their projects completely paperless. Not only does a paperless environment cut down project costs significantly, but it also greatly reduces the negative impact paper production, processing, and distribution has on the environment. geoAMPS software reduces duplication of efforts across departments, reduces time for workflows and approvals, increases compliance and increases retention of knowledge. Clients report operational savings of over 35 percent.
IS: How are you moving forward or contributing to keep the environment clean? Kindly talk about the CSR activities.
The entire geoAMPS team is committed to community outreach. Our team members take an active role in this through their donations or through volunteer work. The company encourages community outreach, as well as health and fitness. The company has committed company resources for a number of worthwhile causes and encouraged philanthropy among company employees. geoAMPS has sponsored local charities and donated to philanthropic events. We support the American Red Cross, Humane Society of Delaware County, Veterans of Foreign Wars Ohio Charities, Mid-Ohio Foodbank, American Federation of Suicide Prevention, Columbus Literacy Council and the Salvation Army in Franklin County.
IS: How do you portray the future of geoAMPS?
Innovation is of critical importance at geoAMPS. In order to further advance the company’s reputation as an innovative organization, we intend to further develop our R&D program that advances our products and services to keep up with the changing needs within each industry. This entire process starts with listening to each client. We get to know their needs, concerns and pain points. Working closely with them, we provide technology that meets their needs and alleviates their concerns. We listen to experts in the oil industry and other industries we serve. That helps us proceed with R&D that advances our products and services to keep up with the changing needs within each industry.
geoAMPS: An Easy Solution for Land Management
