Unused geo-information offers decisive competitive advantages
How do I optimize my security concept? Where do I need to increase my range of services for visitors? Where is the best place for my advertising space? These are questions that are of fundamental importance for event organizers or operators of locations with large visitor flows. "Location intelligence" is the magic word that provides answers.
The central commodity of our time is data. Packaged, bundled and analyzed, this data is the most important resource of today's companies - information. After all, its use now often determines a company's position in the market. And it is precisely the linking of information with locations that gives companies a decisive advantage in today's world.
Despite the great opportunities that geographical information brings, it has rarely been used by companies to date. However, many companies recognize the opportunity and the obligation to use it. Information such as the movements of visitors within their premises is not only essential for airports, shopping centers, train stations, amusement parks and stadiums. Whether it's routing, advertising space or security concepts - geographical data helps to optimize them.
The consumer perspective is different. They are already several steps ahead of companies when it comes to using geodata. Thanks to mobile apps, the majority of smartphone owners already regularly use location-based data. Be it for weather forecasts, navigation, tracking walking routes or finding stores in the area - locations and movement data already play a decisive role in private life. This wealth of data and the relevance of this information should not be underestimated by companies in the age of digital services.
How does location intelligence work?
A simple way to get started with location intelligence is to set up an infrastructure that records and evaluates the movement patterns of visitors. A simple network of WiFi access points that recognizes and registers the smartphones of visitors within range of the access points is initially sufficient as the technical basis for this. There is no intrusion into privacy; users remain completely anonymous.
However, data acquisition is only half the battle - true benefits only arise through visualization and evaluation, e.g. by means of a so-called "dashboard", which visualizes the data on an interactive map and thus makes it usable. Even a minimal but complete vertical cut from data acquisition via Wifi to storage in a database to a simple but user-friendly interactive visualization opens the door to the world of geodata and its huge potential.
Don't forget: big goals are achieved in small steps - in the first step, the goal is to use geodata for human decisions, and then to develop these further via analytics, machine learning through to an autonomous decision model.
The linking of geographical data and business intelligence creates unprecedented transparency for companies. This is crucial for future analyses, predictions and automation. Anyone who thinks that only mobile advertising and social media marketing benefit from geographical data is wrong.
Incorporating geographical data into business planning and action opens up a host of new opportunities and unimagined effects. Regardless of the industry, profitable applications are possible everywhere.
A few simple examples of location intelligence:
Nowadays, changes and optimizations to products or services can only be made by evaluating data. Geodata behaves like the last middle piece in a 100-piece puzzle: the picture is already recognizable, but something is still missing to be able to interpret it accurately. Where is sales strongest? In which regions does customer service need to be improved? Where are offers best received?
Geodata is therefore crucial for optimizing access to customers and a decisive step towards automating processes. Security concepts are another good example; locations with large streams of visitors are well aware of the complexity and problems involved in managing them securely. Location-based services provide a remedy here - they enable us not only to evaluate and react, but also to predict and automate.
In the example case of a forecast increase in visitor numbers, standardized scenarios are triggered that initiate all the necessary logistical, mechanical and personnel processes: For example, staff are informed about the opening of new entrances and cash desks and distributed to the respective locations. Electronic entrances are opened and cash registers are put into operation. New risk scenarios are identified for the increasing number of visitors and preventative measures are automatically initiated.
These decisions have to be made! Regardless of the industry and the deployment scenario. Be it for maintenance analyses and automation, location decisions, personnel assignments, risk management, emergency measures or planning and development projects:
Location Intelligence provides the right answers for every industry.
