Written by Ben Johnson on December 19, 2018
What’s the history behind IMS?
IMS was started in 1991 by Mike Ryan, an accounting consultant in the architectural community since 1980. He was inspired to create Integrated Marketing Systems as a result of attending a Board of Directors meeting of one of his clients. The client was based in Southern California and wanted to open a branch in Sacramento. Mike asked them, “What about the 500 miles in between?” The answer was that monitoring such a large territory was too vast an undertaking for a single company. Mike decided he would produce a publication that would track public agency projects and engineering and architecture leads in different areas. This publication would act as part of the market research effort of any size consulting firm.
How would you describe the culture at IMS?
Employee wellbeing and its direct correlation with product quality are at the heart of our culture. By promoting teamwork and investing in the development of our employees, we ensure the best quality and the best service for our clients.
How did you end up in your position as General Manager at IMS?
I started at IMS in 2005 in a research position covering Northern California and Nevada. After several years and promotions, I became a Sales Representative and spent two years in that role before using my combined knowledge of the organization to become Director of Operations, and then President. With the Dodge acquisition of IMS, my title became General Manager of IMS.
What does your role at IMS entail?
As General Manager, I am responsible for the P&L of the organization, overseeing all functional aspects of the organization – from new hires and employee relations to research and sales. In addition, I am the site leader in San Diego for Dodge.
Why do IMS’s customers value your products and solutions?
We deliver timely, accurate, comprehensive and relevant engineering, construction consulting and architecture leads to firms supporting their business development needs. Our competitive advantage is our agency-verified and highly accurate market intelligence about current and upcoming consulting opportunities to the AEC community.
How will working with Dodge improve your customers’ experiences?
Dodge’s resources and expertise will allow IMS to generate additional high value content and provide deeper insights for our clients.
What effect will the acquisition of IMS have on Dodge’s data?
The additional market intelligence provided by the IMS early stage (pre-design and design phase) project intelligence facilitates a more thorough and complete tracking of projects by Dodge reporters, leading to better, more accurate data.
So, is the IMS office (two blocks from the ocean in San Diego) the best location of all the Dodge Data & Analytics offices?
If office locations are ranked by best climate or least annual precipitation–then yes!
Learn more about IMS here, or read an article about Dodge Data & Analytics’ acquisition of IMS here.