Posted by Lianne Stewart
In a time when budgets are getting tighter, it is important to maximize the return on existing investments to make the most of them. When purchasing a large system, such as an ESRI GIS-system, it makes sense to determine other ways to use the investment within your organization.
One way is by using ESRI business partner applications, like Clearion. Clearion is an ESRI Gold Tier member in the ESRI Partner Network and uses ESRI technology as the underlying framework for our applications. This makes us natively compatible with ESRI and able to easily fit into an ESRI architecture that exists within an organization.
When deploying Clearion for your enterprise solution, you can use your existing software, such as ArcGIS Portal, ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Desktop. Extending the use of your investment to manage varied workflows. This allows you to take your ArcGIS database and add in additional layers to support your goals without the need to purchase additional server licenses. If you have users with existing ArcGIS Desktop licenses in place, you can leverage this and install Clearion on top of the existing application. You have the opportunity to extend the license for use with additional applications designed for easy field-work tracking.
Another option that more companies are taking advantage of is to extend Clearion with ESRI Collector. If you have Named Licenses and are using Collector in other areas of your business, you can use the Named User licenses and create a workflow-specific Collector configuration. We encourage the use of Clearion’s technology to manage and track work execution in the field digitally. Users are capable of having multiple Collector projects with the same Named License to support additional workflows, such as Damage Assessment and Storm Restoration.
We choose to take a configurable and adaptable approach to allow you to implement other department workflows while using the same Clearion licensing and knowledge base. An example of this includes tracking equipment, damage, and pole inspection in a separate configuration of Clearion within a management-specific work group. The users can easily swap between different configurations while using the same license!
When deploying a new solution, organizations make a large investment in training to support internal staff so that they understand the solution and grow over time. This is definitely the case with ESRI, and, more often than not, your organization has a group of trained GIS professionals who help to manage and use the mapping software by providing internal help desk support and training. You can leverage the in-house expertise that you develop over time for ESRI and Clearion to support multiple business units that are using the same underlying technology.
Having the same solution across multiple business units can help with staffing when employees are familiar with a consistent application suite that is used throughout different business units. This helps reduce downtime or on-boarding time when employees transfer between different groups as part of cross training or during times of need. In addition, the application contains a familiar look and feel for users that have experience using the global market leader in GIS software. The support team that you assemble to support your ESRI applications is the same team that is able to support your Clearion deployments throughout the organization. Since you are able to use the same team members to assist with multiple systems using the same underlying technology, it facilitates adoption and reduces staffing costs associated with maintenance and ongoing support.
By using the same ESRI data format, you can easily exchange information throughout your organization. If you are creating a data extract for one group, it can easily be distributed for use in the Clearion deployments. An example includes information distributed from your land or environmental groups to assist with planning in the vegetation management program. This helps ensure that everyone speaks the same language and has access to the same current and accurate information. In addition to exchanging data, having a standard format allows you to integrate systems in a more streamlined fashion.
Clearion can fit within your organization’s current ESRI deployment and allows you to extend and maximize the investment you have made. Distributing standardized technology throughout multiple business units enables teams to share training, support, and hardware/software resources.
Please let us know how we can help you make the most of your investment!