The growing demand for greater efficiency in decision-making processes using geographic information—across both the private sector and Public Administration—is driving a paradigm shift and a renewal in a sector that is already mature and where the lack of investment has been evident in recent years.
The ability to visualize, interpret, and use data that reveals relationships, patterns, and trends is becoming increasingly essential for companies and for central and local public sector organizations, which are under pressure to make better decisions in ever-shorter timeframes. Market competitiveness demands it, as does the need to respond more efficiently to customer expectations—even when those customers are citizens and businesses within a country or municipality.
This pressure is leading to a transformation of geographic information systems, where the guiding principle is now ‘intelligence’ and the integration of information with corporate systems, providing spatial visualization and analysis capabilities, access from different devices, and the benefits of an agile architecture for sharing, mapping, visualizing, and analyzing data.
‘The use of GIS has become so intuitive in recent years that it is no longer exclusive to specialized users; it is accessible to anyone within any organization,’ says Nuno Pereira Leite, Business Director at ESRI Portugal. ‘This represents a paradigm shift, enabling faster, more complete, and more effective analysis, capable of responding to the need to process vast amounts of information and improving the efficiency of decision-making processes.’
The strategic importance of geographic intelligence is also emphasized by Focus BC, which sees it as ‘a value-creating instrument for organizations, improving revenue, optimizing costs, and supporting better decision-making.’
Sandro Batista, managing partner of the company that began operating in Portugal in February 2012 and expanded to Madrid last year, explains that the combination of business consulting and location intelligence enables Focus BC to offer clients ‘the ability to increase returns and reduce expenses, thus improving profitability and sustainability,’ combining the flexibility of Google Maps Enterprise platforms with the GIS tools already in place within organizations.
The development of vertical solutions—often delivered as turnkey models—is another driver of sector growth and is being explored by SmartGeo, a startup created by former Novabase staff and backed by Novabase Capital. ‘Since its inception, SmartGeo has always focused on vertical solutions, with telecommunications as our main business area,’ explained Pedro Reino, the company’s Chief Technical Officer, to Semana Informática.
‘The development of vertical solutions is certainly one of the paths forward, as it addresses the specific needs of all types of organizations, which increasingly require fast, targeted, and effective responses,’ notes Nuno Pereira Leite. ESRI is following this path, developing solutions that support organizational workflows and decision-making processes. One example is the availability, through the ArcGIS platform, of ready-to-use resources (maps, data, applications, and other geographic content), with the aim of giving users greater autonomy. The company also provides APIs and SDKs allowing the development of tailored vertical solutions.
The path leads to the cloud
In a relatively mature market—where geographic information systems have long supported public-sector development of cadastral and georeferenced information databases—this expansion of scope is significant for renewing the sector, adding value to information management and improving public and private services, while leveraging technological advances in cloud computing and mobility.
The demand for faster decisions and for reduced dependence on vendors—combined with the need for autonomy and responsiveness to constantly changing business requirements—is driving the adoption of software-as-a-service and cloud models in geographic information systems.
ESRI already offers the ArcGIS platform in a cloud environment, with SaaS operating as a complementary model through applications that allow organizations to process large volumes of information without requiring substantial upfront investment. ‘This principle underpins the success of the cloud. Its elasticity enables large-scale processing efficiently and cost-effectively, without the limitations of on-premise infrastructure,’ explains Nuno Pereira Leite.
Pedro Reino of SmartGeo shares the view on the importance of cloud and big data in GIS evolution. ‘To achieve geographic decisions as quickly as alphanumeric ones, it is essential to ensure convergence between GIS and the cloud, reducing information response times, bringing us closer to real-time decision-making and adapting it automatically to service levels. Otherwise, we will have fast analytical responses in contrast with spatial responses that cannot keep up,’ he argues.
Mobility naturally emerges as another highly relevant driver. ‘As the saying goes, the future is mobile—and GIS is at the forefront, providing the ability to locate ourselves or find what we’re looking for. With more and more people using their phones everywhere (including in the shower), the location of mobile devices essentially reveals the exact location of individuals—information that is extremely valuable for contextual marketing,’ notes SmartGeo’s CTO.
The use of location in support of the Internet of Things and a network of sensors is equally becoming part of an increasingly near future, where GIS will play a crucial role. ‘Monitoring everything happening on our planet will create a new dimension of knowledge and the ability to make better decisions for planetary sustainability,’ says Sandro Batista.
Growth through internationalization
The pursuit of international markets has long been a reality for some Portuguese GIS companies and has intensified given domestic market dynamics. Experience with successful projects in Portuguese organizations serves as a bridge for replicating initiatives in other countries, particularly in Portuguese-speaking nations where GIS needs are similar.
Gismédia has followed this path, and the innovation developed in the field of disaster prevention and management has been a key driver of internationalization, particularly in Mozambique, notes Carlos Pereira, the company’s Marketing and Sales Director.
At Esri Portugal, the distribution territory includes other Portuguese-speaking African countries, which naturally supports international business expansion. The company has strengthened this strategy to meet growth needs. ‘Our internationalization efforts have intensified as part of a strategic priority-setting process aimed at leveraging existing resources to sustainably develop market opportunities, always in pursuit of greater competitiveness and growth,’ explains Business Director Nuno Pereira Leite.
For PH Informática, which develops municipal GIS solutions, internationalization represents a strategy with strong growth potential. Sandra Silva, the company’s Commercial Director for the area, anticipates that in 2014, with several opportunities underway—particularly in PALOP countries—the international business will have significant weight.
SmartGeo, one of the sector’s newest players, founded by former Novabase staff, has also had a clear focus on internationalization from the outset. Although little more than a year old, the startup—focused on turnkey solutions for large enterprises—has already taken ‘the first steps in creating foundations that support our presence in international markets,’ explains CTO Pedro Reino, albeit still without significant scale. But for 2014, following identified projects and markets, the expectation is that ‘international operations may account for 40% to 50% of the business.’
Although not viewed equally across all companies interviewed by Semana Informática, outsourcing is also seen as a growing business area. This is the case for Gismédia, which recently began developing this line of business and is already experiencing ‘rapid growth, partly due to the implementation of successful GIS solutions,’ notes Carlos Pereira. He adds that the company’s GIS consultants and expertise have been requested by clients for participation in international projects requiring high-level GIS specialization. In 2013, outsourcing represented 34% of the company’s business, and expectations are that it will double in 2014.