The rainmaker here is none other than Tom Partleton, a fourth-generation driller who started as a driller’s assistant in his teenage years for GeoDrill, then under his father’s ownership.

In 2017, clashing visions between Tom and his father forced Tom to make a defining decision: either buy the business from his father or leave the industry altogether. "We went through some difficult times of me wanting to move the business forward, and dad not wanting to retire out of the business", Tom recalls.

If there's one common trait among entrepreneurs, it's their readiness to always bet on themselves. Tom and his wife, Emma, took over the business in the same year. Meanwhile, Tom’s dad retired to live his absolute dream of fishing and camping, content with the legacy he passed on. Since then, they have navigated GeoDrill Australia to become a 70+ person organisation, solidifying their reputation as a household name for Tier 1 customers.

But the entrepreneur has no plans of slowing down. From winning the biggest contract in GeoDrill Australia’s history to launching GD Water Solutions, Tom and his wife are on track to secure their family legacy.

When custom software couldn't keep up

As GeoDrill Australia's trajectory soared, the demands on their fleet and team intensified. Tom quickly realised that sticking to the old manual ways just wasn't cutting it anymore—the strain it was putting on his team and the drag on the company's momentum were too big of a risk to ignore.With foresight and resolve, Tom invested six figures into building a customised electronic plod software to streamline drilling and maintenance records for his business.

This innovation was initially a beacon of progress. But as GeoDrill's popularity grew with top-tier clients and business started booming, unexpected challenges popped up. The reliance on a single in-house developer became their Achilles' heel. The bespoke software, whilst pioneering for sure, struggled to scale under the weight of the company’s growing needs and complexities. Finding a solution that was both user-friendly and flexible became a crucial puzzle piece for GeoDrill Australia’s growth.

‍A turning point for scalability

This is why Tom made another defining decision to abandon his custom software solution and partnered with CorePlan to scale with GeoDrill Australia. "It was a simple decision for us”, Tom explains. “We don’t want to be burdened with excessive admin.”

"We were completely blown away with the analytics part of CorePlan and the ease of use of the software."

Tom Partleton, Managing Director

How data insights are fuelling GeoDrill's growth

Taking GeoDrill Australia to new heights is more than just removing excessive admin. CorePlan’s analytics are becoming a vital part of Tom’s strategic toolkit, helping him chart an exciting course for GeoDrill Australia’s future.

GeoDrill Australia uses CorePlan to boost transparency and service quality by sharing real-time project data with clients. Tom adds, “We can provide our customers with the data that we use in-house to really hone in on the performance of the drillers and the machines overall versus each other.”

CorePlan also revealed a crucial insight for GeoDrill Australia: the mechanical utilisation of their rigs. This data helps Tom and his team proactively manage workshop operations, allowing for timely maintenance and tune-ups. By reducing potential downtime, they enhance customer satisfaction and profitability while lowering operational costs and minimising losses.

'I'm all about numbers. So it's really nice to see that different data across the board”, Tom notes.

Using CorePlan to access granular performance insights allows Tom to ensure the resources and hard work his team is putting into the business yield exponential returns, scaling the company’s profitability significantly for many years to come.

"We don't want to be burdened with excessive admin. With CorePlan you just check the boxes and it's done, no going through spreadsheets and everything else."

Tom Partleton, Managing Director