INDUSTRY

Global Study Reflects Benefits of Location Intelligence to Improve Business Processes; BusinessWeek Research Services and MapInfo survey business executives to determine emerging trends in Location Intelligence: According to an international survey conducted by MapInfo Corporation, the leading global provider of location intelligence solutions, and BusinessWeek Research Services, 64 percent of business executives believe that location intelligence can improve business processes, and a third of these already have solutions in the pipeline. 1,700 business executives participated in this global study to gauge the role that powerful, business-relevant location intelligence tool can play within leading organisations. The survey supports a new white paper, published by BusinessWeek Research, on emerging trends in enterprise wide location intelligence adoption. Location intelligence is a combination of software, data, services and expertise that enable an organisation to detect patterns, risk and opportunities that CRM, ERP and BI overlook; 80 percent of data that an organization uses to make key decisions to improve its efficiency, effectiveness and profitability has a location-based component. Optimising information such as a postcode, telephone number or address enables companies to answer critical questions such as: • Where can I find more of my best customers? • Where are competitors impacting my business? • Where is my newest product or service most valuable? A good example can be seen with MasterCard Worldwide, which relies on the MapInfo Envinsa location intelligence platform to power its worldwide ATM Locator service. Envinsa replaced MasterCard’s previous online and phone ATM Locator services with a more integrated platform for deploying location technology across the entire organisation. As a result, MasterCard was able to reduce costs and provide enhanced customer service to millions of customers. “A company’s ability to effectively predict and respond to opportunities and threats is dependent on its ability to know critical relationships between their assets, business processes and customers (where everything is at any time),” said Yankee Group Research Analyst Tara Pottebaum. “Location is a critical dimension that can define and describe sometimes unseen or implicit relationships in a business model. Location intelligence is knowing the ‘where’ and using that information for business decisions and customer-facing activities to improve business operations and profits.” “Location intelligence provides the foundation for companies such as MasterCard and others in virtually all industries to make sound business decisions that translate to increased revenues, reduced costs and improved efficiencies,” said Michael Hickey, COO of MapInfo. “Senior level executives in charge of making key technology decisions are becoming more aware of the benefits of adding the component of ‘where’ in order to compete more effectively. This survey underscores the vast benefits of location intelligence and it is our goal to work with organsations in all industries to make it a critical component in a decision maker’s tool box.” For a copy of a BusinessWeek Research Services white paper on emerging trends in location intelligence based on the survey results, please visit its Web site.