{"id":769521,"date":"2025-11-04T06:44:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T14:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&#038;p=769521"},"modified":"2025-12-12T12:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:24:23","slug":"webcast-15-gis-strategy","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/webcast-15-gis-strategy","title":{"rendered":"Fast Four ICYMI\u2014Taming the Unknown Unknowns"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[200462,479122,489602,474802],"department":[476792],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-769521","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-business-strategy","tag-fast-four","tag-fast-four-icymi","tag-geospatial-strategy","department-cxo-priorities"],"acf":{"short_description":"Three GIS strategists at well-known companies discuss what it means to create a flexible geospatial foundation.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"<strong>Snapshot<\/strong>: An insight-rich exchange with GIS leaders from AECOM, Citizens Bank, and Prologis turns the unknown unknowns into an asset rather than a liability.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In business, the term \u201cunknown unknowns\u201d usually means risks that can\u2019t be predicted. But sometimes surprise events work in a company\u2019s favor \u2013 if it has built the right foundation.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/webinars\/publications\/wherenext-webcast-15-the-art-of-geospatial-strategy\">A recent <em>WhereNext<\/em> webcast<\/a> brought together thought leaders from AECOM, Citizens Bank, and Prologis to discuss building effective geospatial strategies. Each panelist has seen the benefits of approaching a geographic information system (GIS) with clear vision and strategy.\r\n\r\nIn the three-minute clip below, Andy Wohlsperger of AECOM explains how his company turned uncertainty into an advantage. His fellow panelists add practical advice on creating long-term value and winning executive buy-in. It\u2019s worth watching for any GIS analyst, manager, or executive who works with location data or makes decisions based on it."},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_vzen7sp2","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Chris Chiappinelli, <em>WhereNext<\/em>: <\/strong>\u00a0I can imagine some of our audience members saying, \u201cYou know, we implemented GIS technology. We\u2019re using it to address this particular business challenge. What more is there? Why do I need to think about strategy?\u201d John, what would you say to them?\r\n\r\n<strong>John Sauvageau, Citizens Financial:<\/strong> Implementing GIS technology, that\u2019s a great start. Using GIS to tackle specific business challenges, that\u2019s how many organizations begin. [But] without having a broader strategy, you risk capping its potential a bit. A strategic approach helps scale your solution across different teams, avoid duplication of efforts, and focus on the highest impact use cases. It ensures that your GIS investment is aligned with business goals, delivering return on investment and long-term value. So having an end goal in mind as you\u2019re doing it is a really good thing to start with in addition to implementing that GIS technology."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"<strong>Related Read:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\/\/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/content\/dam\/esrisites\/en-us\/media\/ebooks\/geospatial-strategy-ebook.pdf\">Where to begin<\/a> with a geospatial strategy","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Dane Myers, Prologis:<\/strong> I think ultimately that's where you start\u2014you have a specific purpose in mind. I know that at Prologis, that\u2019s actually how we got started. But I think that there\u2019s a lot of other initiatives and challenges that geospatial ultimately can support regarding any industry or any business, just because of how flexible geospatial is and how many industries it does go in. And so, therefore, you could definitely find other uses for geospatial technology in your business. I think the biggest part is just developing a vision and just understanding how you can communicate to leaders and connect those dots to basically push that vision forward.\r\n\r\n<strong>Andy Wohlsperger, AECOM: <\/strong>My thoughts are similar to John and Dane\u2019s. Ultimately, I think it\u2019s a little bit of the unknown unknowns. As we\u2019ve seen over the last 20 years, the constant evolution and evolving of geospatial technology, and the data availability, and the ever-evolving business needs and use cases\u2014may they be fiscally constrained or geopolitically driven\u2014without a strategic approach, an implementation that\u2019s just solely focused on one business challenge can soon reach the end of its life. So it\u2019s a little bit about resiliency, about the unknown, and really extending that application life cycle to allow for, as John said, the scaling of things. But then, as also Dane said, the flexibility to benefit from newly available solutions, and then also integration with other solutions.\r\n\r\nWhat we\u2019ve seen is that the use cases of GIS have really exploded within our project delivery once we basically brought in the non-GIS professional. Once our engineers or scientists saw the value of GIS . . . those that were converted are bringing use cases that I think the GIS professional probably would not have seen."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Taming the Unknown Unknowns with GIS Strategy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A GIS program can prepare for the unknown unknowns with the right geospatial strategy. 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