A lot has happened since the launch of the Federal Small Business Specialty (FSBS) in 2016, as we will be celebrating the first anniversary of the program at the upcoming Esri Federal GIS Conference in DC on February 13-14, 2017. Here are a few of the highlights from 2016, and what to expect at Fed GIS from Esri’s small business partner community next week.
With over 70 partners in the FSBS to date (See our public storymap of the FSBS partners here), we have an amazing community of small business partners who provide a wide range of GIS services, including agile development of applications designed to meet Federal Government agency requirements.
A key part of the FSBS program is to enhance our partners’ technical expertise through a series of ongoing workshops as well as webcasts on emerging, newly introduced Esri technology, so they can deliver cutting edge solutions and learn best practices for implementation. In 2016, partners were able to experience hands on workshops in the areas of web apps, Portal for ArcGIS (which is now included in the newly released ArcGIS Enterprise), as well as developing mobile applications with ArcGIS Runtime SDKs.
Implementing and configuring Esri’s Enterprise GIS Portal is a common area of expertise partners wish to develop and have an opportunity to deliver to customers. John Steed, Director of Geospatial Services, Tesla Government Inc., explained, “We recently integrated Esri’s Portal into our information platform and the field users are thrilled. By implementing a web app presentation in our platform, we present all the widgets our users want while still controlling the information presentation with custom permissions.”
Esri’s Drone2Map for ArcGIS application was another big area of interest for partners to understand how they could work with this technology to tap into this fast growing market. “The Esri FSBS team’s commitment to partner growth has supported our entrance in the emerging industry of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) data collection. By providing webcasts, software, and technical expertise Esri and the FSBS team have enhanced our ability to deliver outstanding geospatial products and services to our clients,” said Adam Campbell, GIS Project Manager, Geospatial Consulting Group International, LLC.
Here is an image from a project GeoCGI performed in the Fall of 2016. The photo is an Archaeological Site next to James Madison’s Montpelier in central Virginia. The orthomosaic was processed using Drone2Map
In addition to the technical workshops and webcasts, the FSBS also hosted a number of in person sales events, including a bootcamp and a Federal partner meeting, where large and small business partners met one-on-one to find potential opportunities to team. This year the small business bootcamp will be held on February 15th, the day after the Federal GIS conference in order to build on the momentum and direction outlined at the conference, and prepare the community for the rest of the year.
Fed GIS 2017 will feature a new Small Business Pavilion area in which 12 of the member companies are exhibiting. This will showcase the following FSBS partners:
- New Light Technologies- S1
- Tesla Government – S2
- PTFS – S3
- R&K Solutions – S4
- GeoCGI – S5
- VESTRA Resources, Inc. – S6
- PenBay – S7
- Bad Elf – S8
- FireWhat, Inc. – S9
- Pro West & Associates – S10
- INCA Tech – S11
- True North Geographic Technologies – S12
Additionally, the following FSBS partners are exhibiting in other parts of the exhibit hall:
- Ardent MC @ the DHS Booth 549/A843
- Blue Raster – 222
- ClearTerra – 615
- Critigen – 417
- GISinc – 523
- Voyager Search – 515
We are also very excited to announce the winners of the first annual FSBS Awards at Fed GIS, on Monday February 13 in the categories of Partner of the Year, Innovation Partner, and New Partner. These awardees will share their stories during a session titled “Small Business Partners Fostering Next Generation GIS” on Tuesday, February 14th at 12:15-1:15p in the DC Convention Center EXPO Workshop 2.
To learn more about the Esri FSBS and upcoming events, go to our website at:
http://go.esri.com/federal-small-business-specialty