11 November 2011
Is SaaS-based GIS the Cinderella of the geospatial world?
We recently participated in a survey on GIS and cloud computing for Directions magazine.
In the survey, our CEO Philip O’Doherty said SaaS-based GIS software is “the Cinderella of geospatial solutions” (view all responses to the survey here).
Sceptical? Then consider this:
Like Cinderella, SaaS-based GIS is constantly dismissed as not worth considering.
In the story, Cinderella’s stepmother does her best to hide Cinderella from Prince Charming – instead, she pushes forward her favoured children, the ugly stepsisters.
In real life, geospatial industry heavyweights constantly push forward server and desktop GIS solutions, and they sneer at SaaS-based GIS.
The broader business community – like Prince Charming – doesn’t want what’s offered to him, but is intrigued by the glimpse of SaaS-based GIS.
The fairytale has a happy ending – Prince Charming finds and chooses Cinderella, and they live happily ever after.
It’s definitely too soon to write the ending in real life.
But every day we speak to people – both experts and newcomers to GIS – who are enthusiastic about our SaaS-based GIS offering. That gives us confidence that the real-life ending will be as happy as in the fairytale.
