Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Flanders.
Kevin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started PeopleGIS seventeen years ago as a consulting company specializing in mapping systems for municipalities. I quickly learned that the Internet was going to eventually be the platform of choice, so I dedicated all of my time and resources towards that approach. I also learned that the typical mapping systems that municipalities were buying were not enough on their own. A data management toolset was needed as well.
In addition, this data toolset had to be simple, practical, expandable, and “comfortable” for end users. Given your average end user in a municipal staff has little or no data management training or support, this was not a simple task.
I created PeopleForms to address this idea. Today there are over 17,000 forms in PeopleForms, and we are supporting municipalities across MA and NE. The idea appears to have been a good one, and our company is building more and more capabilities on our Internet software platform.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not smooth at all. Pursuing an idea that has not been accomplished before is dangerous.
There is no road map, and there are plenty of people that will tell you that you are wrong.
There are also many times when you start to believe you are wrong. We had to stick with it.
Only now, all these years later, do we see that we were indeed right. Now, our task is to grow what we have built.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am the President of PeopleGIS. I am in charge of our direction, decisions that affect our direction, and I build all of our new software interfaces. Software interfaces is a specialty of mine because I understand workflow and I believe that every software should account for its end users first above all other factors determining success. I believe this focus on our end users is what separates us from the rest.
What were you like growing up?
I had businesses as a kid, selling night crawlers to fishermen, building picnic tables and selling them to anyone who drove by our house and saw my “business sign”. I always liked working for myself.
Contact Info:
- Address: PeopleGIS
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3900
Woburn, MA 01801 - Website: www.peoplegis.com
- Phone: 617.625.3608
- Email: info@peoplegis.com
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
