From the IT Administrator, GIS Staff, Network Engineer, Procurement Officer, and Whoever Else Isn’t Around That Day
Let’s stop pretending this is a team sport. It’s not.
In small utilities—and especially in local government—“IT Department” is often a fiction. It’s a polite way of saying one person who knows how to reboot things. That’s me. I’m the sysadmin, the GIS guy, the helpdesk, the accidental database admin, and yes, the procurement officer for all things vaguely digital.
So when Esri introduced the Small Utility Enterprise Agreement (SUEA), I didn’t smile. I didn’t cheer.
I just said: Finally.
GIS Without Chains? I’ll Take It.
ArcGIS Pro. ArcGIS Online. Enterprise. Field Maps. Dashboards. Survey123.
Unlimited.
Let me repeat that for those in the back—or the ones who still think GIS means “printing maps”: Unlimited.
No per-seat license count. No “submit a justification memo for an extra user.” No waiting for a retirement just to scavenge their ArcGIS login like a vulture circling a budget carcass.
It’s as if Esri looked at our reality and said, “You know what? Let them work.”
I Am the GIS Department. And the IT Department. And Procurement.
In bigger organizations, there’s a workflow for everything. License requests. Software approvals. Training programs. Budget forecasts. Job descriptions with clear boundaries.
Here? It’s me.
I build the servers. I install the updates. I write the memos. I request the quotes. I get them approved. Then I deploy the thing I just bought. And when it breaks, I fix it. There is no next level. I am the next level.
So when software licensing gets in my way, it doesn’t slow me down—it breaks everything.
That’s why SUEA matters. It replaces a dozen bureaucratic speed bumps with one very simple truth: It’s covered. Go.
The Field Doesn’t Wait
Try telling a field crew they can’t map assets today because there are no licenses left. Try it. I dare you.
With SUEA, I don’t have to ration access like bottled water after a disaster. I can hand out Field Maps and Survey123 without a second thought. That’s how it should be. Not a negotiation. Not a strategic compromise. Just tools for the job.
It’s called operational sanity. Look it up.
Training for the Ones Still Standing
Want resiliency? Want modernization? Start by giving people the means to learn.
SUEA includes full access to Esri’s e-learning platform—a huge library of web courses, training videos, and technical learning paths.
But let’s be clear:
❗️It does not include instructor-led (paid) training or Esri Technical Certification exam vouchers—unless you negotiate those separately.
So if people don’t learn, it’s not because training wasn’t available. It’s because no one logged in.
And if I’m the only one logging in at 2:00 a.m. because I have to be both the trainer and the trainee? So be it. That’s what duty looks like when there’s no one else.
Final Word: A License That Doesn’t Fight You
Let me be clear: SUEA is not revolutionary because it offers something radical. It’s revolutionary because it doesn’t waste your time.
It treats GIS like a utility, not a luxury.
It respects your role—even when that role includes wiring network switches, troubleshooting Outlook, and updating the ArcGIS server between back-to-back board meetings.
It assumes you’re not trying to cheat the system. You’re just trying to keep it running.
For the rest of us doing it all with duct tape and discipline, SUEA is the first license that feels like it was written for us, not for the procurement officer we don’t have.
Disclaimer
This isn’t a sales pitch. I don’t work for Esri, and I’m not being paid to say any of this. These are first-hand insights from someone who actually uses, manages, maintains, licenses, patches, and explains the GIS platform in a real-world utility—not from a demo, not from a keynote, and certainly not from a PowerPoint deck prepared by someone who’s never rebooted a server.