From Location Intelligence to Business Intelligence

By Ed Wrazen, Vice President, Product Marketing, Harte-Hanks Trillium Software

In my last blog on geocoding, I spoke about the increasing adoption of geocodes in a wide variety of consumer and business applications.  I mentioned how geocoding helps to enhance “Location Intelligence,” so, thought it would make sense to talk a little more about what I mean by Location Intelligence and why it’s increasingly becoming important.  

Check out the Wikipedia definition of Location Intelligence.  It is defined as “the capacity to organize and understand complex phenomena through the use of geographic relationships inherent in all information. By combining geographic- and location-related data with other business data, organizations can gain critical insights, make better decisions and optimize important processes and applications, and streamline business processes and customer relationships.”

I like this definition a lot.  It says so much about the value of information and how it can be applied with geographical elements, namely geocodes, to enhance business value and decision-making. With better insight into location relevant information, organizations can identify opportunities which otherwise may not be obvious.  There are many industry examples in which location intelligence is important.

For Insurance risk management, Insurers need to know precisely where properties are located in proximity to a flood zone or crime area or other potential catastrophe-prone region, or otherwise, suffer revenue and underwriting consequences.  In the retail industry, understanding property and population densities and demographics within commuting distances will help determine new store locations which could improve customer service and experiences.   Telecommunication suppliers also need location data to optimize cell mast positioning and maximum network coverage. 

We are also likely to see Location Intelligence play more of a role in Business Intelligence. As organizations mine and analyze their data to enable them to make better, more-informed decisions, visualization and mapping tools incorporating location data will increasingly be used. This will help identify location-specific market and business opportunities, and localized marketing and sales strategies.

Is your organization using geocoding and location intelligence in some innovative way to drive business efficiencies and improvements?  Send along your company success stories around geocoding.