ROK Technologies Stays at the Cutting Edge of GIS Cloud Services with Esri Training and Certification

Synopsis: For Esri partner ROK Technologies, LLC, staying up-to-date with ArcGIS capabilities and cloud technologies is critical to the company's business. Esri training and certifications are key tools used to keep staff’s technical skills on the cutting edge.

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Esri partner ROK Technologies, LLC (ROK), based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, specializes in helping organizations harness the full potential of geographic information system (GIS) technology in the cloud.  

Cloud and hybrid (cloud and on-premises) implementations and managed GIS cloud services are popular with organizations whose enterprise GIS requires high performance and the ability to seamlessly scale to meet demand for GIS services and applications.

“Our clients need a resilient system, and they need to be able to expand their GIS on demand,” said Alex Coleman, ROK’s chief executive officer. “They also need a partner who can bear the brunt of the administrative work so they can just get creative and do great things with GIS,” she added.

ROK architects and manages cloud solutions tailored to its clients’ needs. Clients can use Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure cloud platforms to host their enterprise GIS or explore nontenant options. By providing cloud architecture design, implementation services, and ongoing management of cloud deployments—all supported and delivered by staff with deep expertise in Esri software and services, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform technologies—ROK offers a complete solution.

“We were first to market to do only managed cloud services,” Coleman stated. “Our brand is very much about word of mouth and being able to support our clients and their growing GIS.”

ROK's clients include wide-ranging organizations in areas such as local and state government; utilities; commercial businesses; and architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms. Regardless of size and sector, GIS deployments can vary greatly.

“The organizations that come to us either feel restrained by their existing on-premises implementation or they’re short on staff and they don’t have in-house knowledge to expand or upgrade their complex GIS,” said Coleman. “There is no single GIS blueprint that covers every organization. We assess each organization’s GIS, we architect out a cloud environment to support them, we migrate their content into that new environment, and then they’re off and running in the cloud. At that point, our managed services take over and the ROK team is doing the ongoing management and support of the client’s software and infrastructure.” 

ROK’s technical staff is organized into an implementation team that supports clients after their ArcGIS cloud deployment is launched, and another team that specializes in AWS and Azure technologies. For Coleman, maintaining staff expertise and staying up-to-date with ArcGIS product capabilities are business imperatives.

“It’s extremely important that we are at the cutting edge and that we know exactly what’s going on with the software we support,” Coleman stated. “If we don’t maintain our expertise with the latest technology, the clients will see it and it will affect the business.”
 

In addition to earning the trust of its clients, ROK’s commitment to maintaining a high level of technical expertise has earned the company five Esri partner specialty designations: ArcGIS Cloud Services, State and Local Government, Federal Small Business, ArcGIS System Ready, and ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes (ROK was the first Esri partner to achieve this specialty).

To be eligible for a specialty, among other requirements, ROK must offer defined solutions, services, or content using the latest ArcGIS capabilities and train its technical staff on the latest ArcGIS versions.

To ensure that its technical staff have skills aligned with the latest ArcGIS product advancements, ROK leverages Esri webinars, Esri Academy e-Learning, and training plans developed in partnership with Esri training consultant Marc Weniger.

Weniger worked with Coleman and ROK client success director Rudy Ruvalcaba to develop role-based training plans. Each plan includes a set of ArcGIS courses that teach the skills relevant to each technical role.

Ruvalcaba credits a company-wide dedication to technical excellence for ROK's success . "A large part of ROK's culture is our commitment to continuous learning and innovation in GIS, which I believe distinguishes us as a leader in the industry,” he said.

Coleman added, “We’ve looked at each of the different roles here at ROK and identified which training plans apply to each role. When new staff come on, they have a very specific training plan. The more organized we are about training, the better it is for everyone.”

Training plans are also used to help staff achieve Esri technical certifications.

“With Esri certifications, our staff can validate their years of technical expertise in deploying and managing enterprise GIS,” said Ruvalcaba.

“We built out training plans to help individuals achieve the certifications, which in turn enables ROK to maintain its current partner specialties and prepare for new ones,” Weniger explained.

Coleman believes the strong focus on validating staff’s expertise with certification gives ROK a competitive advantage.

“Certifications are extremely important for us,” said Coleman. “Everyone on the technical staff has some level of Esri certification. We put Esri-certified staff front and center at events and in our marketing collateral.” 
 

To support certification achievement, ROK pays the cost of certification exams and encourages staff members who are preparing for an exam to dedicate time during the workday to study.

“As we set goals every year and the goals for each of our staff members, there’s a whole section around certification, specifically Esri technical certification and AWS and Azure certifications,” said Coleman.

She emphasized that staying current with ever-changing technology directly impacts ROK's ability to meet client needs.

“Our key services are maintaining the client’s enterprise environment and installing and configuring new ArcGIS products that the client wants to use, such as ArcGIS Image Server and ArcGIS Monitor. We must know what [products] our clients need, before they need them, and deliver them in the best fashion possible,” Coleman stated.

When asked to define success for ROK, Coleman shared that over 80 percent of its clients have expanded their GIS since migrating to managed cloud services.

“I view success [as being] when we have a new client and a year later, their GIS has expanded,” she said. “They’ve achieved that goal. Are they adding services, servers, new capabilities? Are they doing those creative things that they hoped for? When they are, that’s success for us.”

According to Coleman, ensuring that ROK's technical staff stay at the cutting edge will continue to be a top priority as the company looks to expand internationally.

“It’s all about our brand and being the best at what we do. Without that training, we could not do those things.”