Handbook VIRTUALIZATION CLOUD DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION IT HEALTH NETWORKING ARCHITECTURE STORAGE CENTER MANAGEMENT DATA BI/APPLICATIONS RECOVERY/COMPLIANCE DISASTER SECURITY
1 EDITOR’S NOTE Mapping Out an Effective 2 WHAT LOCATION INTELLIGENCE Location Intelligence Strategy CAN DO FOR YOU Location intelligence technologies aren’t just for consumers looking for a good restaurant or vacation spot. Businesses can benefit, too: Analyzing location data 3 LOCATION ROLLOUTS NEED can help them boost revenues and decrease costs. CLEAR-EYED NAVIGATION 4 MOBILE BI APPS MAKE ROOM FOR LOCATION DATA EDITOR’S NOTE 1 Location Intelligence Takes BI to a New Place
Real estate, famously, is all about loca- detailed what it termed “the next stage” for Home tion, location, location. Business intelligence marketers looking to tap into location technol- and analytics haven’t reached that point yet, ogy: location-enabled predictive marketing Editor’s Note not by any stretch of the imagination. But loca- aimed at better assessing the future interests tion data is taking on a higher profile in BI and and needs of customers. What Location Intelligence analytics circles, enabling the development of But you can’t just arrive at your location in- Can Do for You location intelligence applications that let busi- telligence destination without putting in some ness users map, track and analyze spatial data, effort to get there. This guide is designed to Location Rollouts demographic records, logistics data and other help you get started on that road. First we delve Need Clear-Eyed types of information. In a report published by more deeply into location intelligence use cases Navigation The Data Warehousing Institute in September and applications to provide a solid idea of what 2012, consultant David Loshin cited a variety of the technology can be used for. Next we catalog Mobile BI Apps potential uses for location data, from assess- tips from experienced users on implementing Make Room for Location Data ing eligibility for government assistance after and managing location intelligence systems. natural disasters to optimizing transportation We close with a close look at the benefits and routing for product distribution. challenges of deploying mobile location intel- And more advanced technologies are enter- ligence apps. n ing the location intelligence picture. For ex- ample, mobile applications are fertile ground for location-based analysis. And in a June 2013 Craig Stedman report, consulting company Forrester Research Executive Editor, SearchBusinessAnalytics.com
2 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY BEST PRACTICES 2 What Location Intelligence Can Do for You
The term location intelligence is a growing enriching customer data with demographic Home part of today’s business intelligence and ana- or lifestyle data based on where people live or lytics lexicon, but what kinds of BI applica- by adding spatial data metrics—drive times Editor’s Note tions does location technology make possible? to stores, for example—for use in sales fore- Thanks to Google and other online information casting models. Location data can also aid in What Location Intelligence sources, nearly everyone is familiar with a mul- customer profiling, segmentation and pros- Can Do for You titude of consumer uses for location data—for pecting efforts, and in trade area and com- example, getting directions and finding restau- petitive analysis applications. Location Rollouts rants, hotels, hospitals, government buildings Need Clear-Eyed and just about anything else you might need to ■■ Retail site selection and expansion plan- Navigation find in a particular geographic area. ning. Location intelligence tools can help But can a business use location intelligence retailers find the best location for a new store Mobile BI Apps software to boost its bottom line? Absolutely. or suitable sites for an entire chain of stores. Make Room for Location Data There’s a wide variety of location-based BI ap- Potential store sites can be quickly evaluated plications in play in nearly every industry. Here and prioritized without the need for visits, is a sample of some of the most commonly based on local demographic and economic found ones: data and geographic factors such as trans- portation access, the location of competitors ■■ Customer analysis. Understanding the cus- and site sustainability. Companies looking tomer is critical for any organization, and to add stores to fill geographic gaps can also location intelligence can play a big role by use location-based analysis to measure the
3 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY BEST PRACTICES 2 potential for “cannibalism” of customers who different sites, the locations of customers already shop at existing outlets. with high buying potential and other factors can be brought together and analyzed to en- ■■ Advertising and marketing promotions. sure that territories are set up to reach cus- Efforts to reach potential customers with tomers both effectively and efficiently. targeted communications at the right place Home and time have long benefited from insight ■■ Supply chain management. In the global provided by location intelligence applica- economy, far-flung suppliers could be at risk Editor’s Note tions. And the possible uses are expanding of events such as natural disasters, politi- in today’s mobile-oriented world. Customers cal upheavals and even terrorist attacks that What Location Intelligence are no longer associated with only a mailing might disrupt their production and deliver- Can Do for You address or ZIP code and a home telephone ies. Companies dependent on those deliveries number but also with their location-enabled can use location intelligence systems to help Location Rollouts smartphones and tablets. Effective marketing design supply chain networks and then to Need Clear-Eyed messages must be tailored based on where identify risks, develop mitigation plans and Navigation customers are at a particular time. Location recover from disruptions when they do oc- intelligence applications can trigger ads and cur. Location-based applications can also help Mobile BI Apps promotional offers based on proximity to a improve distribution planning and execution Make Room for Location Data store or other spatial information. by supporting processes such as optimized multi-modal transportation routing and geo- ■■ Sales territory design and optimization. fencing, which creates virtual boundaries and Location intelligence can greatly improve provides alerts when vehicles or goods cross sales force productivity by helping companies them. design balanced sales territories to optimize coverage and customer service levels. Data ■■ Field service planning and tracking. Large on customer density, travel times between organizations such as utilities, telecom
4 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY BEST PRACTICES 2 carriers and oil and gas companies have ex- It’s said that 80% of the data in an organiza- tensive holdings and employ thousands of tion has a location component. And with more technicians to install and repair equipment and more workers carrying location-aware mo- in the field. Location intelligence tools have bile devices, the number and variety of location long provided the means to map assets and intelligence use cases is exploding. customer locations and help plan mainte- In addition, vendors of databases, business Home nance and service activities. Now tablets and applications and BI tools have begun to build smartphones add the ability to track vehicles support for storing, analyzing and visualizing Editor’s Note and workers in real time. The geofencing ca- spatial data into their products. As business pabilities in location intelligence software users become familiar with those capabilities, What Location Intelligence deployed on mobile devices can alert dis- even more uses for location data surely will Can Do for You patchers when technicians approach, arrive at follow. or leave a work site; how long they stay there; If you aren’t already, you should think about Location Rollouts and whether they deviate from a specified adding location intelligence to your business Need Clear-Eyed route. That can result in lower operating costs landscape. Your competition likely is. Navigation and increased customer satisfaction. —Steve Benner
Mobile BI Apps Make Room for Location Data
5 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY STRATEGIES 3 Location Rollouts Need Clear-Eyed Navigation
The Truckee Donner Public Utility Dis- generate reports on the inspection work. Ad- Home trict in California faces stiff regulatory re- ditionally, the administrators can track how quirements that force it to inspect facilities, inspections affect the quality of electrical Editor’s Note overhead electrical wires and telephone poles service by looking for correlations between on an ongoing basis. But coordinating work inspection findings and incidents of power What Location Intelligence crews to get someone out to far-flung areas, outages. Can Do for You and then documenting inspections and report- Ian Fitzgerald, IT operations manager for ing on the results, proved to be a challenge. the utility, said the BI and location intelligence Location Rollouts Two years ago, utility executives found that system has helped eliminate about 90% of the Need Clear-Eyed they were falling behind on inspections. inspection-related paperwork that previously Navigation They responded by turning to a suite of busi- had to be done by hand. But getting the pieces ness intelligence (BI) and location intelligence in place presented some challenges, he said, Mobile BI Apps software tools that enabled them to combine adding that there are things other organizations Make Room for Location Data administrative data with information on the can do to help location intelligence implemen- locations of crews in order to more efficiently tations go smoothly. assign inspections. Using the software, administrators can see a visual map with information on what sites KEEPING IT SIMPLE have been inspected, what kind of work was Truckee Donner deployed a combination of done at each location, who did the work and BI tools and dashboards from Logi Analyt- what results were found. From there, they can ics and Esri geographic information system
6 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY STRATEGIES 3 (GIS) software. Fitzgerald said there are lots of having to spend too much time [handling that] ways that users can integrate the two kinds of on the IT side,” Fitzgerald said. systems, including writing their own GIS and XML code to customize the products. But the utility has a limited number of tech- A CHANGING LANDSCAPE nical staffers, so a heavy amount of custom Seattle-based Venuelabs uses analytics and Home coding wasn’t an option. Instead, Fitzgerald location intelligence software to track com- used sample code that he obtained through a ments, likes, check-ins and other online ac- Editor’s Note Logi user forum to streamline the Logi-Esri in- tions by social media users in order to monitor tegration process. Users can also look for inte- brand sentiment for its clients, mostly big-box What Location Intelligence gration support from their vendors. retailers or restaurant chains. The information Can Do for You Also, the system’s user interfaces were de- is correlated with location data to see how spe- signed with business users in mind, which cific retail or restaurant locations are perform- Location Rollouts means they needed to be simple and easy to ing. Venuelabs CEO Neil Crist said most of the Need Clear-Eyed navigate. The goal was to enable workers in software used by the company is homegrown, Navigation all departments to use the software to col- and the primary users are a group of data sci- lect, manage and analyze data and put together entists—so a lack of technical resources and a Mobile BI Apps reports. need to simplify the applications weren’t major Make Room for Location Data “Our philosophy is to put as much technol- concerns when the system was being set up. ogy in the hands of nontechnical people as But keeping abreast of the changing dynam- possible and let them collect the data without ics of social networking and ensuring that the
“Our philosophy is to put as much technology in the hands of nontechnical people as possible.” —ian fitzgerald, IT operations manager at Truckee Donner Public Utility District
7 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY STRATEGIES 3 system continues to provide the required data of information they’re interested in tracking are critical to the company’s success. can change. For example, Fitzgerald said the Venuelabs has to constantly tune in to new Truckee Donner utility district might become social media channels to see what users are satisfied that it’s doing enough site inspec- saying about corporate brands. For example, the tions in the future and want to place more of an photo-sharing site Instagram generates a lot emphasis on understanding how the results of Home of relevant data about the company’s clients, inspections vary by location. A flexible mind- but just 24 months ago that site had virtually set is called for in such cases to help ensure Editor’s Note no users. The evolving social media landscape that the location technology continues to meet means the data science team at Venuelabs reg- changing business needs. What Location Intelligence ularly has to adjust its algorithms for analyz- Can Do for You ing location-tagged information collected from sites, partly because of the differences in how PINPOINTING ITS USES Location Rollouts users interact with them. For example, a “like” Howard Dresner, chief research officer at Need Clear-Eyed on Facebook could have a different meaning Dresner Advisory Services in Nashua, N.H., Navigation than a photo of a restaurant meal uploaded to knows there’s a great deal of knowledge stored Instagram without any comment, and the sys- in location data. But businesses starting out on Mobile BI Apps tem has to take such variations into account. projects need to determine whether location Make Room for Location Data Other businesses looking to implement intelligence software is applicable throughout location intelligence software might not be their operations or only in certain departments. adding new content streams with the same According to Dresner, retail and sales opera- kind of frequency as Venuelabs, but the type tions are likely to be able to gain significant
A flexible mind-set is called for to help ensure that location technology continues to meet changing business needs.
8 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY STRATEGIES 3 knowledge from location intelligence applica- you need to analyze it. There’s signal within tions. For example, meteorological data can the noise, but it can be hard to find.” influence a retail store manager’s staffing de- Instead of collecting every piece of data that cisions. Finance departments, on the other has a location element attached to it, busi- hand, typically would benefit less from the nesses may be better off starting with more technology. targeted projects that capture specific infor- Home With a growing number of organizations mation, Dresner said. As location intelligence looking to reap the benefits of big data analyt- software continues to mature, it may become Editor’s Note ics applications, there’s a tendency nowadays feasible to crunch more data. But in the mean- to over-accumulate data. That can increase the time, he advised, a pragmatic approach is to fo- What Location Intelligence “noise-to-signal ratio” business users have to cus on analyzing data that can provide answers Can Do for You contend with, Dresner warned. “We can collect to a limited set of location-related questions. untold volumes of data these days, but then —Ed Burns Location Rollouts Need Clear-Eyed Navigation
Mobile BI Apps Make Room for Location Data
9 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY TECHNOLOGY 4 Mobile BI Apps Make Room for Location Data
Companies increasingly are looking to refineries to be worth making a deal for the Home take analytics out of the office. And in many drilling rights. That research previously had to cases, they’re combining mobile business in- be done by employees back at the office, wast- Editor’s Note telligence software with tools that can analyze ing valuable time in evaluating properties and location data to add a geographic component to opening negotiations with landowners, said What Location Intelligence BI applications. Hickman, who declined to identify the gas Can Do for You For example, Chris Hickman, a principal company. consultant at Decision First Technologies Inc., Location Rollouts said he recently helped a natural gas company Need Clear-Eyed implement a location intelligence system that Companies are looking to take ana- Navigation agents inspecting possible gas production sites lytics out of the office, often com- can use to help decide whether to make rights- bining mobile business intelligence Mobile BI Apps purchase offers to the property owners while Make Room for software with tools that can analyze Location Data they’re in the field. location data to add a geographic When a landowner calls the company offer- component to BI applications. ing to sell the rights to gas deposits found on a property, dispatchers can see in the system which agents are in the area. The nearest rep- “Because they can talk with the ranch owners resentative can then be sent to the property and immediately look at the maps on the mo- and can check from a mobile device to see if bile devices, they’re able to respond a lot more it’s close enough to existing pipelines and quickly than the competition,” he said, adding
10 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY TECHNOLOGY 4 that the rapid-response capabilities increase occurred. Strawn said the information helps the odds that the property owner will agree to adjusters decide whether claims should be paid a sale. or investigated further. But the confluence of mobile BI and loca- Location intelligence systems can do many tion-based analysis presents some challenges things, Strawn said. But, he added, companies for IT and BI teams that should be taken into should always stick to the capabilities that are Home account before embarking on a mobile location most important to meeting business needs— intelligence initiative. particularly on mobile applications that have Editor’s Note to run on devices with small keyboards and reduced screen real estate. What Location Intelligence STICK TO THE PLAN “Sit down and clearly define what it is you Can Do for You Hugh Strawn, vice president of catastrophe want the product to look like when you’re services at the Property Loss Research Bureau done,” he said. “What is it supposed to do? The Location Rollouts (PLRB), an insurance industry resource group in clarity and direction is crucial.” Need Clear-Eyed Downers Grove, Ill., said an organization might User interface design is a crucial element of Navigation start a project with a clear set of objectives in any BI or location intelligence application, but mind but then make changes to the plan mid- that’s especially true for mobile apps because Mobile BI Apps stream—a move that could send the deploy- of the screen size limitations. Simply pushing Make Room for Location Data ment astray. desktop versions of applications onto mobile With the help of geographic information sys- devices is big mistake, warned Howard Dresner, tem software vendor Esri, the PLRB recently an analyst at Dresner Advisory Services. “You released a mobile version of an application it can’t take an existing desktop dashboard that offers to member organizations that enables you use in the office and dump it on some- claims adjusters to analyze weather data and one’s device,” he said. “You’ve got to design for predict down to specific street addresses where the device, design for the role, design for the severe weather incidents are likely to have activity.”
11 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY TECHNOLOGY 4 WATCH OUT FOR DESIGN TRAPS interactive elements. Still, Hickman said some In mobile location intelligence implementa- HTML5 features currently aren’t supported by tions, it’s an easy trap for programmers to load mobile operating systems. Programmers need up maps with numerous data points in an ef- to understand what the devices being used in fort to deliver as much information as possible their organizations will and won’t support be- to the user. But that typically leads to informa- fore designing location-based applications for Home tion overload and an application so cluttered it mobile users, he said. can be impossible to use, Dresner said. Hickman also cited connections to corporate Editor’s Note Another factor that can complicate the servers. The typical way for mobile users to design of mobile location intelligence appli- remotely connect to secure servers is through What Location Intelligence cations is the use of Adobe Flash plug-ins. a virtual private network. But he said some of Can Do for You Hickman pointed out that many mobile de- the business users he has worked with thought vices, in particular the iPad and iPhone, don’t VPN connections were overly complicated to Location Rollouts support Flash; in fact, Adobe has stopped de- establish and didn’t want to bother with them. Need Clear-Eyed veloping new versions of Flash Player for mo- Instead of a VPN client, Hickman recom- Navigation bile platforms. But many multimedia elements, mends using a reverse proxy connection that including interactive maps showing location allows users to access a secure URL through an Mobile BI Apps data, typically are designed using the Adobe SSL certificate, a process that he said should Make Room for Location Data technology. feel familiar to most people regardless of their Application developers may be able to get comfort level with technology. “It’s easier to around that issue by using other methods. For push the technical implementations back into example, various BI vendors now allow devel- the IT department rather than having, say, your opers to build mobile applications in HTML5, CFO having to implement a VPN,” Hickman a markup language that can be used to create said. —Ed Burns
12 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY ABOUT THE AUTHORS STEVE BENNER is founder of The Location Intelligence Institute, which provides information resources on the use of geospatial technology to improve business pro- cesses and decision making. Benner also manages BI alliances at Esri, a vendor of geographic information system software. Email him at [email protected]. Mapping Out an Effective Location Intelligence Strategy is a SearchBusinessAnalytics.com e-publication. Home Scot Petersen | Editorial Director ED BURNS is the site editor of SearchBusinessAnalyt- Editor’s Note ics.com; in that position, he covers business intelligence, Jason Sparapani | Managing Editor, E-Publications analytics and data visualization technologies and top- Joe Hebert | Associate Managing Editor What Location ics. He previously was a news writer for TechTarget’s Intelligence SearchHealthIT.com website, and he has also written Craig Stedman | Executive Editor Can Do for You for a variety of daily and weekly newspapers in eastern Melanie Luna | Managing Editor
Massachusetts. Email him at [email protected]. Linda Koury | Director of Online Design Location Rollouts Need Clear-Eyed Doug Olender | Publisher Navigation [email protected]
Annie Matthews | Director of Sales Mobile BI Apps [email protected] Make Room for TechTarget Location Data 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466 www.techtarget.com
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13 MAPPING OUT AN EFFECTIVE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY