With all the data a company handles it couldn’t be more clear that location data should be centralised. For many companies, the lines between business data and location data are converging.
There are many reasons for this: organisations are increasingly realising that the crossovers between these datasets are crucial to benefiting both consumers and businesses alike. From expansion to new locations, reduction of shipping costs, optimizing workloads or attracting new customers, it is becoming apparent that accurate spatial data helps companies to enrich their existing customer information.
However, these datasets are often kept in separate “silos” within an organisation. While there can be good reasons for storing things like transactional data separate from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data, problems arise when separate data systems fail to integrate correctly. This can cause data accuracy issues across several departments, thereby defeating the purpose of collating data in the first place.
Why centralized location intelligence matters
Spatial data is integral to many departments. Location-based marketing, retail network planning, location planning, web design and financial planning teams all collect, store and use spatial data in different ways, which unless managed properly can lead to issues with consistency.
Using separate data silos all-too-often results in factual inaccuracies, poor analytics, inefficient use of time and potential security challenges within businesses. Managing your data within a cloud-based system will go a long way to overcoming a lot of these potential issues and will facilitate a consistent view and analysis of your data across departments and applications. Put simply: if your marketing team is working with out-of-date location data, your customer insight strategy could fall flat!
When data is spread across multiple servers, it can be difficult to combine different datasets unless each separate database is mapped out accurately using the same specifics. In addition to this, if one system is damaged or wiped out, this can impact your ability to accurately combine and use data stored elsewhere. In short, the use of silos is inefficient, and puts businesses in a more vulnerable position when ensuring data is managed effectively.
The solution is to ensure you migrate everything into one simple cloud-based system. If you wish, you can also archive and separate datasets at specific stages. This allows businesses to diverge datasets, while utilising a “master” set of location and business data for analysis and insight. Organisations can use this to power everything from marketing to estate planning.
To gain more insights into:
- how to end data isolation
- location intelligence, retail destinations and revenue prediction
- and how to find a useful market penetration example that will indicate how your business can benefit from data isolation,
Download our white paper here.
Overall, the consolidation of business and location data allows companies to create a more efficient, reliable marketing operation. Data monitoring is easier, security is better and each department is singing from the same sheet. The beauty of Periscope™ is that the unification of data no longer needs to be an expensive or time-consuming task – and once disparate data systems are all under central control, the payoff is palpable.
Without location intelligence, retail network planning can be an arduous, time-consuming, and potentially fruitless task. Time is of the essence when it comes to implementing an effective penetration strategy, and without spatial AI, you could run the risk of falling behind your competitors. It is, therefore, crucial to act now, to avoid losing out in the near future.