Pitney Bowes MapInfo, Group 1 Bet on Integrating Customers & Technology

Here in "Sin City" there are discussions that will hopefully lead to a more "heavenly" host of ideas as this first, combined meeting of the user groups from MapInfo and Group 1 customers gets underway. MapWorld ‘08 is the first conference held jointly with those users from Group 1 Software since Pitney Bowes (PB) acquired MapInfo last year.

At this early juncture, each group appears to be trying to determine just where each fits within the new community. I spoke with one attendee from JC Penney who was from their IT department and a user of Group 1’s solutions. When I asked if she used any of the MapInfo software she kind of looked puzzled by the question and said that the "geo" stuff was done in another department. I imagine there were similar discussions elswhere.

And you can certainly see where the two entities acquired by PB might want to find that early adopter-type customer willing to offer itself as a guinea pig to determine the best workflow between each company’s technology. Ed Gandorf from PB MapInfo observed that the first day’s session had much cross pollination of customers. And indeed that’s exactly what this event is attempting to do, and rightfully so. It is absolutely necessary that each client base find commonality to let PB MapInfo/G1 better understand where synergy exists. I expect to hear more about vertical industry solution integration.

And what about a new name for the combined entity? More on that tomorrow.