
Introduction
Businesses can leverage geographic data to improve decision-making. Location intelligence is an innovative technology that enables companies to access spatial data. Businesses that use location intelligence report improved operational efficiency by 25% and reduced costs by 20%.
Today, organizations are facing increased pressure to optimize their operations, better understand their customers, and remain competitive. Leveraging location intelligence will give organizations a distinct competitive advantage. Examining where events occur can reveal patterns and uncover business opportunities that traditional analytics might miss.
LocationsCloud helps organizations use geographic data and gain insights from it, even with little to no technical skills. Whether a company operates in retail, healthcare, real estate, or logistics, location intelligence can deliver tangible benefits.
The guide will give you many examples of how location intelligence can benefit your business by providing location-related information across various industries.
What is Location Intelligence and Why Does It Matter?
Location Intelligence is a step-by-step approach to extracting insights from geographic information, enabling businesses to make better-informed decisions. Combining location data and business analytics reveals valuable patterns, trends, and opportunities for organizations that may not otherwise exist. About 80% of business intelligence (BI) data includes location information. It makes Location Intelligence (LI) vital for modern businesses.
With LocationsCloud, companies have the tools to leverage geographic data more effectively. By leveraging Location Intelligence, businesses can improve their processes, understand customer behavior, and gain an edge over competitors across industries.
How Does Location Intelligence Work?
Location intelligence platforms collect information from many sources (such as GPS coordinates, physical addresses, demographic data, and real-time spatial data) and compile it into a single point-based system that is very specific to each physical location. The technology behind this process is geographic information systems (GIS), map-based technologies, and advanced analytical technologies. Using these three key technologies together enables the location intelligence platform to analyze the data and visualize how the business operates in the given market.
When using a location intelligence platform, there are three steps to follow to achieve the desired result. The first step in using a location intelligence platform is gathering information from various sources. After all three types of information are collected, a consolidated, organized version is created through a data cleansing process. Next, utilizing the location intelligence platform’s complex algorithmic design, you will receive actionable insights.
What Are the Key Benefits of Location Intelligence?
The use of location intelligence has provided enterprises with valuable insights that enhance their business capabilities.
Location Intelligence Use Cases:
- Decision Making: The way they visualize their data with geographic information allows them to make better, faster, and more accurate business decisions. By providing greater clarity around the visual representation of data used to make strategic decisions, this reduces any uncertainty associated therewith.
- Reduced Costs: Businesses can save money by using their transportation resources more efficiently. This approach helps lower fuel costs and reduce operational waste. Research shows that using location intelligence can lower logistics costs by up to 20%.
- Improving customer experience: Customers have different expectations for how they want to interact with businesses. Providing services that meet individual needs is an effective way for companies to create meaningful interactions with customers. This approach to personalized customer engagement helps businesses build strong relationships with consumers.
- Competitive Advantage: Many businesses that use location intelligence have gained an edge over their competitors. They gather market insights, pinpoint underserved areas, and successfully tap into new opportunities in growing market segments.
Location Intelligence Use Cases in Retail
How Do Retailers Use Location Intelligence for Site Selection?
Retailers are using locational intelligence to identify optimal locations for retail stores. The LocationsCloud Platform uses foot traffic patterns, demographic characteristics, competitive location analysis, and accessibility analysis to determine optimal retail sites. These analyses minimize the risk of poor retail site selection, which costs retailers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Using information from LocationsCloud, major retailers can support their decisions on where new stores will succeed. Retailers evaluate trade-area characteristics (including population density, income levels, and consumer spending habits) before opening a new store. It helps retailers make expansion decisions based on factual data rather than gut feelings.
What Role Does Location Intelligence Play in Customer Analytics?
For successful retailing, understanding consumer behavior is vital. The way retailers use location intelligence data about where their customers live, shop, and travel ultimately helps them make marketing campaign adjustments, adjust inventory levels, or create personalized promotions.
LocationsCloud allows retailers to segment customers for targeted marketing. Segmenting customers in this way will enable retailers to market to their customers with a more localized approach. For example, a clothing retailer may maintain separate inventory for different geographical regions where it sells its products, as other areas may have different climates and cultural preferences.
How Does Location Intelligence Improve Supply Chain Efficiency?
Improving how products are distributed throughout the retail supply chain can be achieved by optimizing distribution center locations and enabling real-time shipment visibility. Retailers can improve performance by optimizing their transportation routes (e.g., lower transportation costs, faster delivery).
Through this process, retailers can predict product demand by examining sales of products in specific geographic locations. By doing so, this will help eliminate stockouts when the product is in demand and reduce product stock in low-demand areas.
Location Intelligence Applications in Healthcare
How Do Healthcare Providers Use Location Intelligence?
Healthcare facilities that use geolocation (location intelligence) in their operations, particularly hospitals, can provide better patient care, increase personnel productivity, and enhance operational efficiency. To do this, hospitals use LocationsCloud’s ability to analyze their patient demographic data, the prevalence of various diseases, and how they serve their community based on geographic coverage (service area).
Facilities will also look for underserved communities to strategically place additional resources and optimize ambulance routes to provide faster emergency response times. Using geolocation-optimized systems can help emergency services respond 15% faster.
What Are Location Intelligence Use Cases in Public Health?
Health Officials use Geographic Data and Location Intelligence to monitor disease outbreaks. They can determine clusters of infection, identify those at risk, and help guide the location of resources. This information is critical for both containing an outbreak during a healthcare crisis and coordinating the movement of healthcare workers.
Furthermore, Health Departments would use location-based information to design their vaccination campaigns and health education initiatives. Health departments can maximize the impact of their interventions by planning them based on the information in this database.
Location Intelligence in Real Estate
How Does Location Intelligence Support Property Development?
Real estate developers make site analysis and investment decisions based on location information.LocationsCloud provides developers with insight into various factors related to properties, such as property values, zoning regulations, development trends, and market demand.
For each of their developments, developers have a list of criteria to consider when evaluating potential locations, including proximity to transportation, schools, shopping centers, etc. These criteria help them conduct a comprehensive analysis to reduce their investment risk and increase their potential returns.
What Location Intelligence Tools Help Real Estate Agents?
Location intelligence helps real estate agents offer better service to their clients. They analyze neighborhood factors such as property value trends, recently sold homes, and other features that influence a buyer’s choice. Agents also create detailed Market Trends Reports. These reports include information about local amenities and the potential for future growth in the area.
With LocationsCloud’s interactive map platform, agents can visually display property-related data to their customers. Clients can then visualize the surrounding area of their potential new home, helping them make more informed buying decisions.
Location Intelligence for Financial Services
How Do Banks Use Location Intelligence for Branch Planning?
Using location analytics, banks and other financial institutions can improve their branch networks. By using LocationsCloud, financial institutions can identify areas with high concentrations of target customers and low competition, along with productive economic indicators.
Banking institutions also leverage location data to assess which branches should be closed or consolidated. It is a strategic move that helps reduce overhead while maintaining a bank’s market presence. Research shows that an institution that embraces a data-driven approach to optimizing branches will see a 12-18% increase in profitability.
What Are Location Intelligence Applications in Risk Management?
Using geographic data, financial services organizations measure the potential risk of credit or fraud. Location intelligence will generate information that can then identify specific patterns showing the probability of a fraudulent transaction. Examples include transactions made in unusual locations or in high-risk geographic areas.
Similarly, insurance organizations use geographic data as a factor in assessing property risks. One part of the process is to evaluate property based on its location in areas at risk of flooding, crime, or natural disasters. As a result, the insurance rate for a property can depend on that level of risk.
Location Intelligence in Transportation and Logistics
How Does Location Intelligence Optimize Fleet Management?
Using location data, transportation companies can monitor their fleets, refine their routing, and reduce fuel use. With LocationsCloud’s real-time visibility into fleet operations, managers can quickly respond to delays or urgent situations.
Route-optimizing algorithms consider traffic conditions and delivery windows at different times of day. They also take into account how much product can fit in the truck and how many deliveries are scheduled during that time. The result is that companies can make more deliveries with fewer resources. Logistics companies typically report a 10%-25% reduction in fuel costs after adopting location data solutions.
What Role Does Location Intelligence Play in Last-Mile Delivery?
With increased e-commerce activity, the complexity of last-mile deliveries has also increased. Using location intelligence will enable more efficient routing, more predictable delivery times, and improved communication between drivers and customers.
Using location intelligence to improve driver routing provides them with routes that reduce backtracking and avoid traffic congestion. Additionally, using real-time location data enables companies to provide customers with accurate estimated delivery windows. As a result, both components will lead to improved customer satisfaction and fewer failed deliveries.
Location Intelligence Use Cases in Telecommunications
How Do Telecom Companies Use Location Intelligence for Network Planning?
Telecommunication companies use geographic data location information as they develop their network systems. Locations Cloud (website) shows them where to focus their efforts by locating areas of high demand, poor coverage, and/or growth potential, allowing them to invest in better infrastructure efficiently.
Telecom companies assess population density, building heights, and geographic barriers in a given area when determining the optimal placement of towers to achieve maximum coverage while minimizing costs. They also use demographic trends to project the future demand/capacity for these towers.
What Location Intelligence Applications Improve Customer Service?
Telecom companies utilize location-based data analysis to identify service outages and deploy technicians quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, telecom companies can analyze customers’ physical locations to target market promotions and packages based on their locations.
Location-based marketing enables telecom companies to attract new customers based on their specific location. Telecom companies can identify areas where competitors have a more limited physical presence and focus their acquisition strategies on those areas.
Getting Started with Location Intelligence
What Should Businesses Consider When Implementing Location Intelligence?
Organizations that want to start using location intelligence need to identify a specific business challenge that they can solve with geographic data. LocationsCloud offers a variety of solutions that can grow as your business needs evolve.
When starting, define a clear use case with measurable objectives. Next, ensure the quality of your data by validating and standardizing all location data. Finally, provide training so your teams understand how to interpret and make decisions based on location intelligence insights.
How Can LocationsCloud Help Your Business?
LocationsCloud offers Location Intelligence technology at the enterprise level that does not require technical skills to use its product suite. With a simple mapping tool and useful analytics, you can gain valuable location insights and easily integrate with your existing company systems.
This platform provides essential information for site selection, customer analysis, and operational efficiency improvement. You’ll receive accurate, quick results that help you make location-based decisions with ease.
Location Intelligence in Manufacturing
How Do Manufacturers Use Location Intelligence for Supply Chain Optimization?
To help streamline and enhance supply chain operations, manufacturers leverage location intelligence through LocationsCloud to view supplier locations, assess transportation costs, and determine rush-delivery capabilities.
When choosing suppliers, manufacturers consider geographic risks, such as areas prone to natural disasters, as well as the quality of roads and bridges. It allows manufacturers to build a more reliable and resilient supply chain by accounting for these variables.
Location Intelligence in Marketing
How Does Location Intelligence Enhance Marketing Campaigns?
Targeted marketing campaigns with help from location intelligence. LocationsCloud takes all of your demographic and behavioral data and segments it geographically.
The result is a more efficient use of your marketing budget and a 30-40% increase in the return on investment for targeted versus untargeted campaigns.
Conclusion
Businesses in every industry utilize location data to increase efficiency and grow. Retailers, healthcare facilities, and logistics companies rely on geographic data to gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets. LocationsCloud can now lead organizations of all sizes in implementing this powerful technology.
As competition in the global economy continues to grow, the need for location intelligence in decision-making also increases. Businesses that leverage the geography of their operations to influence their decisions provide superior customer service while operating more efficiently than competitors. All industries are finding new uses for this form of location intelligence every day. Logistics networks, marketing campaigns, and real estate investments are just a few examples of how organizations are using geographical data to gain insights previously attainable only through traditional data analysis.
Are you interested in using location data to improve your operational efficiency? Visit LocationsCloud for more information about how we can assist you in implementing a location data solution for your business.