This neat palindrome can remind us how a champion with a vision, a good plan, and a commitment to execute can achieve great things. In the case of the palindrome, a canal across Panama. The same concept applies to other projects, including our ePropertyPlus implementations.

The history of the Panama Canal is too extraordinary to describe here. It starts with a vision that ships could efficiently (and more safely) access the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic by cutting across a narrow bit of Central America. The alternative- circumventing South America – was time consuming, fraught with peril, and expensive.

The French tried to build the canal first, but they lacked the proper plan and the wherewithal to execute it. The Americans, with Theodore Roosevelt as champion, ultimately succeeded where the French failed. It took 40 years and budgets far greater than anticipated; Roosevelt’s commitment to the plan and the American’s willingness to adapt were critical for success. Even today, the canal requires continuous upkeep. It’s been deepened and widened for ships that are much bigger and more numerous than when the canal opened. The Panama Canal is a vital lifeline in global commerce and trade, but it did not start out that way.

Our ePropertyPlus implementations often involve helping a visionary person apply data and (our) technology as part of a data-centric property strategy. Our case studies show some of these examples. Consider Cook County, for example, where the biggest challenge was keeping up with the flow of data and property across a sprawling county. For Syracuse, by contrast, it was more important to leverage the technology to extend efficiency over operations across the organization. At Omaha, they wanted to use data and ePropertyPlus as part of a seamless, highly integrated, and paperless operation.

"There is so much that goes into managing an inventory, even a small one. Investing in the software early in our process was the smart thing to do."
MARTY BARNHART, former Executive Director Omaha Municipal Land Bank

Successful executives are successful not because they have all the answers. They succeed because they know how to ask the right questions. They call on experts to provide solutions and they see things through to the end. This last ingredient, the commitment to complete the plan – is often the most ephemeral, yet it’s foundational. Lots of projects have the first two ingredients and succeed right out of the gate. As time goes on, key personnel leave, including sometimes the champion. Other times, current experience overtakes the original plan, requiring updating and adaptation. Other times, it’s a combination. Projects can falter when the commitment to the plan wanes.

At eProperty Innovations, we see ourselves as partners to our clients. We offer regular ePropertyPlus user education. We engage in continuous product development and new features. And we help our clients maintain continuity by sharing to new team members the original vision and updating their ePropertyPlus to meet new challenges.

We would be lying to suggest our projects are as exciting as building a canal across Panama. It’s not a stretch, though, to recognize three ingredients for success common to both. So if you are a champion with a vision, let’s talk about how we can help you make that vision a reality!

(The construction of the Panama Canal was officially completed on April 1, 1914).

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