I had lunch with a business partner yesterday. He asked me where I thought GIS was going, and whether there was money in municipal GIS. I thought of the perfect analogy to illustrate my response – in the evening. So I present it here now.
From a GIS consultant’s perspective, a municipal GIS is like harvesting cherries. The process takes a lot of time, it is labor-intensive, and has a low profit margin. You can’t reproduce it on a mass scale, just like you can’t pick cherries with a combine harvester. This is especially true of New Jersey’s municipal market, significantly influenced by New Jersey’s Home Rule.
Large companies – software vendors or consultants – do not fare well in this environment. Large companies need to produce at mass scales, and generate mass profits. ESRI’s dramatic shift towards server GIS architecture is but one example that proves my point. Another is the ongoing onslaught and subsequent retreat from the New Jersey municipal GIS market by various giant national and international engineering-planning-architectural-surveying-landscaping-GIS-GPS-plumbing-and-fashion-design companies.
Back to the original question – there is definitely money in municipal GIS. But it takes a nimble organization to collect it. You have to be patient and focused, provide personalized attention, keep the client happy, and be satisfied with a modest profit.
If you are a New Jersey municipality – go small for your GIS implementation needs. You’ll thank me later.
Disclosure: I am the owner of ENTCHEV GIS Architects, a nimble organization.
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