AEROLASER SYSTEM S.L. is a company that provides technological and innovative solutions. It ideals with projects and the development of the systems of the most advanced sensors regarding the Geospatial Technology. As a consequence of the effort and the commitment in research, development and innovation, it has achieved the development of its own technology. Thus, it has generated highly competitive geospatial system and services worldwide.
«The key point has been to invest in technology and research, which lead us to progress and create a product that have allow us to be competitive abroad. It has not been easy, but due to the effort and work, we have been taking one step after another until we could get where we are.»
What is it the main activity of the company nowadays?
Aerolaser has two aspects. On the one hand, the services it provides, in which it has run more than 60,000 kilometres as LiDAR corridor and photogrammetric projects. These services are applied to the inspection of roads, power lines, railway, pipelines, urban development, land registry, flood studies, landslides, maritime works, etc.
On the other hand, due to the experience gained from the work done and the commitment to invest in R&D, in 2012 it started the commercialization of our technology through the integration and the sale of highly competitive products in the geomancy market worldwide
Nowadays, Aerolaser is specializing in the inspection of the power lines, so that our technology is helping to monitor the conditions of the high power lines as a safety preventive measure.
Why is it interesting for business development to look at foreign markets?
Broaden one’s horizons makes you grow, it opens up new doors and business markets. In short, it gives you new opportunities and it forces you to be always updated, to innovate and to develop new solutions to problems or projects.
The fact of being in the Canary Islands, isolated form the continents, limits us a lot in geographic terms. In our case, it has been a crucial factor for the development and the improvement of our company. This situation forced us to be more creative when it comes to solving transport problems and it caused the development compact system which is easy and light to deliver. It has made us expand and compete in other foreign markets.
What projects are you currently carrying out abroad? In what countries and why?
Nowadays we are carrying out LiDAR and photogrammetric projects in Chile, Nigeria, Bolivia and Spain. In the short term, it is possible that we start projects in Panama, New Caledonia, Turkey, Portugal and Colombia.
Wherever the country is, when a sale or service opportunity arises we study it and, if we consider it interesting, real and viable, we get down to work. Thus we have completed different projects in Germany, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Kenya, Mauritania and Sierra Leone.
Due to the participations in the most important exhibitions of cartography and geomatics sectors, it has helped us to put us on the map and to achieve greater international recognition.
What products or services seems more interesting for their internationalization?
Generally, LiDAR and high definition aerial photogrammetric services. More specifically, power lines and its inspections in order to search elements that must be checked or replaced, study and optimise crossovers, angles, vegetation to chop down, access or identification of hot spots in the infrastructures in order to avoid possible fires.
As far as products are concerned, the commercialization of the AeSystem and the development that it encompasses. The AeSystem is a system specialized in LiDAR and photogrammetry, which is achieving excellent results.
What problems have you faced when going abroad? How have you solved them? Have you received any support?
The main problem is the search for partners or associates in order to carry out large-scale projects abroad. It is not easy to stablish trade relationships from distance, which implies a higher cost and makes the expansion processes much more difficult.
Another difficulty that we have encountered more than once is the search for aircraft to carry out projects outside of Spain. The price, the availability, the management of flight permits are factors that affect and delay the execution times.
In the future, we hope to find ways for collaborations in countries where PROEXCA can provide a key factor when developing new opportunities.
Have you achieved any achievement abroad?
We consider our greatest achievement the sale of our product AeSystem, a technological and specific product of the market, which is having very good acceptance. At the same time, AeSystem has allowed us to carry out different projects successfully, which are distributed to different countries across the three continents. As an indicative of this achievement, currently the 70% of the annual turnover comes from the international market.
Has it been easy to internationalize? How did your experience begin?
The key point has been to invest in technology and research, which lead us to progress and create a product that have allow us to be competitive abroad. It has not been easy, but due to the effort and work, we have been taking one step after another until we could get where we are now. Because of this investment, nowadays we have an important service fee in Germany, Austria, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, France, Georgia, Kenya, Mauritania, Panama, Portugal and Sierra Leone.
Why would you recommend internationalization?
Mainly for not focusing only on a single market. Going outside allows us to expand the business, to open new markets and new possibilities, to allow to scale the dimension of the projects, to force us to be updated and to grow up.
Tomás Herrera Azorín
CEO and manager of Aerolaser System S.L.
Tel.: +34 928 261 451
Email: therrera@aerolaser.es
Web: www.aerolaser.es
Translated by Haridian Suárez González, Junary 14th 2019
