Switching From an Older Site Selection Technology ▼

• How difficult is it to switch?

  GIS WebTech makes switching easy! In fact, so many economic developers have switched to GIS WebTech in recent years that we’ve automated a large part of the process. We can have your Guru live and ready to go minutes after we sign a contract.

• Guru is much more advanced than my older technology and I have no GIS training. Is it difficult to use? How much training is provided?

  Guru is much easier to use than legacy apps because it is much newer and was built with the latest app design tools. Guru is so easy to use that we provide unlimited training for you, your team and even your local business community. Very few of our clients have any GIS training and none is needed. Guru makes things simple and easy!

• We invested a lot of time training local partners across our territory to use our current technology. I don’t want to have to go through that again.

  Guru is much easier to use than legacy apps because it is much newer and was built with the latest app design tools. Guru is so easy to use that we provide unlimited training for you, your team and your local partners. Many state and regional EDOs have made the switch to Guru and can testify to how easy it was to get local partners trained. We’d be happy to provide references to economic developers who were in your situation!

• Guru is a better technology. But if I switch I will not be on the same platform as my state EDO. And I get a low fee through my statewide program.

  Even if your state EDO is still using an older technology your community will benefit from switching to Guru. In fact, Guru’s Esri data, clean user interface, and advanced tools will help your community stand out from others still using older technologies with clunky user interfaces, confusing navigation, and demographic data from sources you (and site selectors) have never heard of. If you have a low fee through a state program, give us a call and we can explain how we have helped other communities in the same situation.

• We need a proposal management tool to work with our local economic development partners across our state/territory.

  Good news! Guru has a built-in proposal management module with the latest features, so you can collaborate with colleagues both inside and outside your organization. You can maintain a content library to house information used repeatedly on projects, invite colleagues to participate in a project, share project materials, set automated email reminders ahead of project deadlines, utilize project Q&A, and much more.

• Is Guru mobile responsive?

  Guru has the most advanced mobile version available. For example, only Guru includes full 3D functionality in mobile, allowing you to host virtual site visits on the go, showcase 3D virtual buildings while hosting a site visit, pull up a 3D property use case in an impromptu discussion, and more.

• We’ve used our current technology provider for years. But in the last few years they seem to have slowed or even stopped innovating. What assurance can we have that GIS WebTech will keep us on the leading edge?

  We love this question! From 3D virtual buildings to virtual site visits to analytics to workforce data, nearly every innovation in online site selection in recent years came from GIS WebTech. Guru is the only app with the latest innovation: full workflow support across all of your property-related activities, including analytics on your outbound campaigns and RFI/RFP responses. In fact, GIS WebTech is the only provider to come out with a new site selection technology in many years - and we’ve done it twice since 2017! How are we able to do so? Two reasons. First, Guru is the only technology built natively on the Esri platform, so we get access to Esri’s continuous innovations and add them regularly for the benefit of our clients, at no charge! Second, innovation is in our company’s DNA and we are relentless in our commitment to keeping our clients on the cutting edge.

• I have months left on my contract for an older technology and I cannot afford to pay twice. Do I have to wait for my existing contract to end?

  This is a very common situation. We have dealt with it many times in helping hundreds of customers switch from older technologies to Guru. Give us a call and we will explain how we can help.

• It was difficult to get my local data layers into my current technology and I do not want to have to track down a bunch of shapefiles again just to watch them get out of date.

  Good news! With Guru you do not need to ask your local GIS department to produce shapefiles, email them around, hope they work, and then watch them get out of date before doing it all over again. Because Guru is built on the same Esri platform that your local GIS departments use, adding local data layers is as easy as a few clicks. Not only that, Guru uses the Esri platform to point back to the source data, so you never have to worry about that data getting out of date. Guru always loads the latest data.

Adopting Site Selection Technology for the First Time ▼

• Why do I need a site selection technology on my website?

  The days of businesses and site selectors calling you to get basic information are long gone. Research by IEDC has shown that virtually all preliminary site selection work is done anonymously and online, so if you are not providing the data and tools on your website that site selectors are looking for – demographics, workforce, infrastructure, and properties – you are likely to get passed over without ever knowing you were under consideration.

• Guru looks great, but I have no training in GIS and I am not a tech wiz. Is Guru difficult to use? How much training is provided?

  Very few of our clients have any GIS training! Guru is the newest site selection technology and was built with the latest app design tools, making it very easy to use, with no GIS training required. Guru is so easy to use that we provide unlimited training for you, your team and even your local business community. With Guru there is no limit to the training we will provide and there is never a fee for training!

• What data is included in Guru?

  Guru Professional, our flagship version of Guru, is the only technology providing critical data from the premier providers: demographic data from Esri, workforce data from Lightcast, and data layers (infrastructure, incentives, and other data) from the Esri platform. Data in Guru is always the latest available, so you never need to worry about it getting out of date. Esri demographic data and Lightcast workforce data, for example, are accessed by users in real-time. Plus, it is very easy to add your local data, like zoning, parcels, sewer and wastewater, transit, and more.

• Can I add data layers from my local GIS department, like zoning or parcels?

  Yes! Because Guru is built on the same Esri platform that your local GIS departments use, adding local data layers is as easy as a few clicks. Not only that, but Guru uses the Esri platform to point back to the source data, so you never have to worry about that data getting out of date. Guru always loads the latest data, and once you load it you can forget it! No need go get shapefiles, email them around, and watch them get out of date.

• Is Guru mobile responsive?

  Guru has the most advanced mobile version available. For example, only Guru includes full 3D functionality in mobile, allowing you to host virtual site visits on the go, showcase 3D virtual buildings while hosting a site visit, pull up a 3D property use case in an impromptu discussion, and more.

• How difficult is the implementation process?

  We have written Guru using the latest in software engineering specifically to make implementation quick and easy. We can have your Guru live and ready to go minutes after we sign a contract!

Managing Property Data for Site Selection ▼

• Why should I license a site selection technology when I can just use a property viewer from my web developer or from a property data supplier like LoopNet?

  There are three major reasons why a simple property viewer from a web developer or property data provider is insufficient in today’s competitive world. First, property viewers lack the critical data businesses are looking for: Esri demographics, workforce data, infrastructure information, and incentive zones. If you do not provide this data directly in your property listing technology you risk being passed over. And providing limited data in pdf files or simple widgets somewhere else on your website just makes things difficult for site selectors. Second, property viewers don’t provide the tools you need to help your properties stand out. For example, you cannot stage properties for targeted industries, get analytics on RFI responses and outbound campaigns, add 3D virtual buildings, or host virtual site visits showcasing local assets. Lastly, property data providers and web development firms are not GIS technology companies and do not keep up with advances in GIS technology, so you will fall further behind.

• What are my options for including my property listing data?

  Guru provides lots of flexibility for adding your property data. First, you or your staff can enter and maintain your property data. Guru makes this very simple with our clean and well-designed data entry portal. Second, you can create password-protected accounts for third parties to enter and maintain property data. These can be brokers, local economic development partners, or any other people you choose. Lastly, you can license property data from one of dozens of firms we partner with across the US and Canada. And if you have a local MLS or other local provider we have not worked with before, we will integrate their data. Keep in mind that you can mix and match among these options, for example, licensing property data but supplementing it with some sites that you maintain, or maintaining some data yourself and having local partners maintain other property data.

• Can you get property data from my local commercial MLS? Can I have local brokers enter the data for me?

  If you have a local MLS or other local provider we have not worked with before, we will integrate their data at no charge. We do this today for clients across the US and Canada. You can also create accounts for brokers, or any other third parties, to enter and maintain property data.

• We have real issues with the quality of our property data, like out-of-date listings, missing pictures, incorrect data, etc. How can Guru help?

  Guru has advanced features for this very issue! For example, Guru allows you to require that properties be updated or confirmed on a set schedule in order for the property to be listed. Guru will flag properties missing critical data that you define, such as listing price or photos, and send notifications to you and the property data owner. Guru allows you to set required fields, so that a property cannot be saved into the database without the data you require. Guru has many other advanced features to help ensure property data quality.

• Can you sync my property data to/from my state EDO’s site selection database? How about my utility partner’s site selection database?

  We do this for many states across the country, including locations where the state or utility EDO does not use Guru. Give us a call and we will explain how we can help.

Partnering With GIS WebTech ▼

• How many of your customers renew?

  Our customer renewal rate is over 98%, the highest in the sector by a wide margin. Why do so many customers renew? Because we keep them on the cutting edge while providing incredible support.

• What type of customer support is available? Is there a limit on tech support? Do I have to pay for support?

  With GIS WebTech, training is unlimited and free. We will train you and your staff, your economic development partners, even your local business community. We will do so as often as you like. We sometimes get asked how we can afford to do this, and the answer is simple: Guru is so intuitive and easy to use that training is a breeze!

• Do you work with communities and economic development organizations like ours?

  We serve hundreds of communities of all sizes, all over the US and Canada, and organizations of all types. For example, our smallest client is a city government serving a community of 2,000 people. (We actually have several clients of this size, in several different states.) We also serve big states and some of the biggest multi-state utilities in the country. Our clients are governments, economic development corporations, development and redevelopment authorities, chambers of commerce, cooperative utilities, government-owned utilities, and investor-owned utilities. Whatever your community size and location, and whatever your organization type, we serve clients like you.