Pitney Bowes Software CEO O’Hara Discusses Autodesk Relationship and Software Strategy

Yesterday I conducted a brief phone interview with Pitney Bowes Software CEO John O'Hara and he brought me up to speed on several initiatives at PBS and the positioning of the company.

On the PBS/Autodesk strategic announcement and that of other partnerships O'Hara said: "Now is the time to look at partners like Korem and more strategic partners such as Autodesk. Many Autodesk customers are dealing in the large construction projects but still have the need for GIS capabilities." O'Hara mentioned that Autodesk saw Esri moving into design space and therefore saw an opportunity to work with PB as a partner to go up against situations with Esri. Similarly, Autodesk and PB have some dependence on desktop software and largely don't play in the same space. PB is focused on business applications of GIS in markets like insurance, banking and retail while Autodesk plays in the planning , engineering and energy space. Autodesk's go to market model is through a huge network of partners; and PB has a more direct sales organization.

Information that was not provided in the initial press release about the partnership was that PB will sell Autodesk software through their channel and Autodesk partners will resell MapInfo through theirs. O'Hara sees high growth opportunities in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) where infrastructure opportunities exist. Currently the direct sales organizations of each company are coming together to identify solution where they have not been working together before.

O'Hara said that software has become a more important part of PB's overall strategy as the company undergoes a transformation  away from old mailstream business to the customer communication space. While clients have spent money with PB in the mailstream business, the company can now engage with them around more revenue creating capabilities such as leveraging the client's prospect database and helping them w/analytics. Because of PB's exceptional history and long-standing relationships with clients sales executives can get easier access to the C-suite. Typically, when PB discussed their portfolio of business intelligence and marketing solutions, their customer will say,  "We had no idea you were in this  space," said O'Hara.

Data management and quality assurance is a huge opportunity for PB according to O'Hara. PB is in this space and when combined with location-based applications PB is able to enrich the entire database. Clients like the idea of data enrichment  quality assurance according to O'Hara. PB can help cleanse and enrich customer databases and manage communications with customers. PB is hoping that their complete solution in the area of customer management will be a natural extension of their mailstream business.

And what barriers does O'Hara see for existing MapInfo clients moving to the cloud? O'Hara says that clients want on-premise and cloud solutions.  "We're betting on both horses and we're looking at the long tail of our products," he said.

And what about the MapInfo channel partners? "We're very much focused on partners; our revenues are still at 40% from the channel," said O'Hara. Most of this is from VARs selling desktop apps. "We're trying to do a better job with them," he said.

Foursquare, NFC - Location-based Check-ins Made “Easier”

ReadWriteWeb provided details on near field communication (NFC) might be used by foursquare to make it easier to check-in to certain retail venues without the need to open the app and manually perform a search. Using NFC, the user merely swipes the mobile device near an NFC tag. Since people merely forget to "check-in" this new option certainly facilitates the process and lowers the barrier to utilizing location-based apps. It might even further the benefits of location-based adverting. See also our coverage of Blue Bite (1, 2).

-- ReadWriteWeb

Navigating the Microgeography of Grocery Stores - The tablet is back on shopping carts

Several years ago, retailers tried putting small tablet devices on shopping carts to help (persuade?) shoppers navigate product choices and drive purchases at grocery stores. I can't remember the name of the device but it was truly ahead of its time and I believe it was using RFID technology. As carts passed by RFID sensors certain information would be displayed on the table screen.

Now comes word that SK Telecom is piloting a project in Shanghai, China with shopping cart-mounted tablets that uses Wi-Fi technology. According to an article in GottaBeMobile, "This way, consumers can get true location-based discounts and coupons as they walk past aisles of snacks and food." Dvice Magazine further explains that shoppers need to download a "grocery list" app to their smartphone that later syncs with the shopping cart. Once synched, the tablet can send the shopper location-based discounts depending on where you are within the store. Also within the article, it offered this, "For example, if you were in the dairy aisle, the tablet might use augmented reality to let you know that Ben & Jerry's ice-cream is on sale or that there's a new kind of organic apple juice in the juice aisle with a sampling booth near it."

So, we're beginning to see the confluence of indoor positioning, couponing, location-based advertising, augmented reality and microgeography. It's all a bit much to take in at one fell swoop, but you had to see this coming. Somebody is putting together the next killer app for the consumer that will revolutionize grocery shopping and as the articles suggest make the shopping experience a little less mundane. The pilot will be shifting to South Korea next but don't expect it in North America any time soon. We're all still trying to figure out foursquare.

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Changing the Conversation about Location Intelligence and BI #Alteryx

For the next few days I'm attending the Alteryx User's Conference. If you are not aware of the Alteryx solution for geospatial modeling it's likely you are a GIS geek, like me. In short, Alteryx is a location intelligence (LI) and geospatial modeling engine; a cross between LI and business intelligence (BI) More on this in a later post.

But the conversations I've already had at the event have been widely different than at other geosptaial technology conferences. I don't usually get to talk to executives from Walmart and Sprint and it was refreshing to get their take on why they are incorporating location intelligence into solutions for financial modeling and wholesale retail analysis. The answer is that the models are generated intuitivley and the answers come quickly.

But that's not the only reason these conversations are interesting.

I ask, "where do you sit in your organizatoin, IT or other" and the answer is "other" because dealing with IT can be "difficult." Not an uncommon response, right?

I ask, "how important has geosaptial modeling to your organization" and the answer is "its getting to be more important."

I ask, "do people get maps and geography" and the answer is "they are just charts."

And these are the wrong questions to ask...it shows too much GIS geekyness.

The right questions to ask are:

"Are your solutions hailed as innovative improvements on business performance?"

"Can you measure the cost effecitiveness when these models (geospatial) are employed?"

"To what level has the CEO embraced your analysis?"

These answers are more interesting and telling. It's "the analysis stupid" ... not the tool. Forget the maps. Getting to the answer quicker is much more important. And the folks that operate Alteryx...they're not trained in GIS. Those with whom I spoke are self-taught. It is more important to develop a model and to have access to a software solution that can take a person's vision and turn it into a framework for addressing a problem, much of which has a geospatial component, but not the only component.

So, I'm hopeful these conversations continue over the next few days.

[Disclosure: Alteryx has supported travel and expenses]