Mining’s Digital Shift Begins with the Customer Experience

In the high-stakes, iron-clad world of mining, digital transformation often sparks visions of autonomous trucks, drone surveys, and AI-led exploration. These are exciting advancements, but they’re only part of the story.

What if the real digital revolution in mining isn’t happening underground, but at the surface, where minerals meet markets, and relationships are forged through seamless transactions?

For India’s PSUs operating in the mining or coal sector are the custodians of the nation’s mineral wealth. The most overlooked transformation is unfolding not with smarter drills, but with something far better: the customer experience.

Where the Real Shift Begins

In a sector defined by heavy assets and long timelines, “customer experience” might sound like a lightweight term. But ask any PSU managing hundreds of contracts, dispatch schedules, and grievance calls and they’ll tell you this is where the real friction lives.

And where there’s friction, there’s opportunity. Because improving customer experience doesn’t just smooth operations. It reshapes how public enterprises build trust, ensure compliance, and deliver on the promise of digital governance.

The Market Has Moved and So Must Mining

Mining Stockyard Management

Global signals are clear. The mining software market, once a niche, is now a $9.27 billion industry projected to cross $12.36 billion by 2026. That growth isn’t just about pit optimization. It’s about digitizing every node of the value chain, including the one most prone to delays: post-sale customer interaction.

Zoom in on India, and the picture becomes sharper. Odisha alone contributes over 40% of the nation’s mineral output. The scale is enormous. And so is the complexity.

Every ton of iron ore lifted carries behind it a sequence of on-boarding forms, approvals, contracts, payments, and dispatch orders. When these processes run on paper trails and fragmented systems, the result is predictable: delays, errors, and frustration on both sides.

So the question isn’t whether to digitize, rather it’s where to begin. And increasingly, the answer is once again: with the customer.

From Contracts to Confidence: A PSU Case in Point

Let’s take example of Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), a gold-category PSU and one of India’s mining giants. For years, OMC’s post-auction operations were weighed down by manual processes. Customer on-boarding was slow and tedious. Contract generation was fragmented. Payments took time. Grievances piled up.

And then, everything changed. A transformation that automated what once took weeks into almost minutes.

OMC partnered with CSM Tech to implement a platform designed not just to digitize workflows, but to rethink the customer lifecycle itself. What emerged was Customer Information Management System: a centralized system that connected the dots between registration, SAP integration, dispatch tracking, invoice automation, and more.

Delays were eliminated. Approvals moved faster. Payments became seamless. CIMS brought speed, structure, and transparency to what was once a slow, fragmented process. In the process, it enabled ₹1,10,000+ crore in revenue collection through secure, real-time digital payments.

CSM's CIMS for Mining

On the customer side, the results were just as transformative. Buyers no longer chased status updates or waited endlessly for resolution, everything they needed was just a click away.

With 560 e-auction, 116 long-term, and 436 premium customers on-boarded, the system also resolved over 588 grievances with trackable, SLA-bound workflows restoring confidence where once there was friction.

Not Just a Platform. A Blueprint.

CIMS is not just software. It’s a strategic layer for PSUs navigating the dual pressures of regulatory rigor and service delivery. Unlike commercial tools that struggle with public sector workflows, CIMS is built with PSU DNA:

Role-based access
Multi-tier approval workflows
Seamless SAP, i3MS, and MSTC integration
Auto-invoicing and refund management
Real-time dashboards with audit trails baked in

It’s not about selling licenses. It’s about unlocking a new way to govern digital customer relationships; and that to securely, efficiently, and in full compliance with policy mandates.

The New Frontline of Digital Mining

In mining, operational visibility has always been prized. But nowadays, visibility must extend beyond pits and plants and it must reach the customer dashboard.

When a plant owner logs in and sees their order status, dispatch history, payment confirmation, and grievance resolution in real time, that’s more than convenience. That’s confidence.

And in a sector where confidence is everything, platforms like CIMS are no longer optional. They are foundational.

The Last Word

Digital transformation in mining isn’t just about doing things faster. It’s about doing them better, with clarity, compliance, and customer focus.

For India’s mining, coal, and power PSUs, the path forward doesn’t begin underground. It begins at the interface where a new kind of customer experience is taking shape, one transaction at a time.
Because in future’s mining economy, how you serve your customers will matter as much as how you extract your ore.

AUTHOR:

Jyoti Prakash Mishra

Digital Marketing Expert