NB Surveys

"Scottish Development International (SDI) was key in providing market intelligence and financially supporting travel and accommodation expenses"

NB Surveys is a family owned company in Aberdeen offering industrial laser scanning, dimensional control, 3D CAD and digital photogrammetry. Having concentrated purely on the North Sea oil and gas industry the company has recently opened up international markets.

As a traditional and family owned company NB Surveys had reached a crossroads with the realisation that sustained growth could only be achieved by branching out from its traditional Aberdeen market.

To reach international markets the company had to redefine its strategy and its structures.

Gordon Niven, Chairman of NB Surveys, said:

"We undertook a formal International Strategy Workshop. This helped on several fronts: we put together a business plan, with structured formalised planning, and identified areas for key performance indicators. The whole exercise really made us think.

"Scottish Development International (SDI) was key in this, providing market intelligence and financially supporting travel and accommodation expenses. We had existing contacts in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and India to start us off and SE then helped with the recruitment of a Business Development Manager to work in those areas for a year."

How SDI helped

"With focused help from our SDI Middle East specialist facilitating multiple introductions to target clients, we have recently progressed to a crucial prequalification stage for a very important tender.

"We were also conscious that, despite our unique market position and expertise, there was limited emphasis on innovation. Once again SE assisted, not only with an innovation grant but also by reinvigorating our appetite for an R&D project.

"We were able to take on a top class dedicated resource for a year. The prototype is now about to be tested on a platform in the North Sea."

The results have been positive with NB Surveys now employing 57 people, 22 of them overseas and with turnover increasing by 25 percent in 2010 and international turnover predicted to grow by 30 percent in 2011.