Having had the opportunity to spend 21 years delivering technology solutions to businesses across Europe, Australia and the United States, the one thing that has always struck me as interesting is that business goals don’t really change much however, the activity and the approach taken does. I have seen huge changes in technology from the way a process is followed to the way work patterns have changed.
Change is inevitable
The big change has obviously been technology from email and the first mobile phones to now being 24/7 connected around the globe through our smart devices. The world might seem like it just got smaller, but it didn’t, our potential as business providers just got bigger and so did our markets!
Looking back 30 years many businesses only worked in a given region or location, but now most can trade across the border without being or having representation in that area.
If you look at the types of businesses that now only work locally, most are trade and repair based companies… why? Because you want to hire your local builder or your local electrician. But we’re now also happy to buy a product from around the world. Aggregators like Amazon and Google who have a trusted service brand make this possible.
Better connectivity drives growth
From the birth of the internet the vision was clear that we would soon all be connected, but the advances in technology and communication has probably already exceeded expectation of what could be possible. Here in the UK it has only been about 20 years since broadband began to replace dial up connections and become a reality. My first broadband connection was 500k which might make you smile but that was 10 x faster than my dial up. Now I have 300 mb at home and at the office and I don’t think twice about the internet not being there. My kids have even grown up believing that the internet connection is just another utility like water or electricity.
But this rapid growth in 3G, 4G and Fibre access has led to a different way of working, the day of 9 to 5 in the office are becoming a thing reserved for the last decade.
Positive Outcomes
There may be days you feel that all the technology you have access to is not a positive outcome for your lifestyle, but I think it is easy to forget how business used to operate. I remember my Dad being away 3 or 4 nights a week due to sales meetings the following day, having various accidents through driving 30 to 40 thousand miles a year and being generally tired most of the time. These days it is rare that you would spend a week in the car driving from meeting to meeting and although we all just accept that these great enhancements like video meetings are now pretty much free, that we can access data pretty much from anywhere and we have all the computing power we need, we still look for more to improve our day to day and gain even better outcomes.
It really is all about Data!
Our technology world is driven by data. Data drives decisions and outcomes. We consume data about our customers, read content and share ideas, but in our online world its all data. The big companies like Google, Amazon and Business providers like Salesforce and Microsoft understood this early on and the term “Big Data” was first used in about 2005. Most businesses don’t even consider it right now, mainly due to cost, but they are not of scale to use the data in an effective way.
Most smaller businesses just sell services and product and grow slowly, but that is ok as anything that is new is always adopted by the top players first and then it moves down to smaller businesses later. Now is the time when business intelligence and location intelligence is making a breakthrough in the mid-market and more businesses find a need to utilise data more effectively by understanding metrics and being able to focus effort more strategically.
Next on the Horizon!
While the large, mid-market sized businesses start to adopt location and business intelligence with tools like Mapsimise there are new technologies being adopted like AI and machine learning, which means more data crunching and understanding how those outcomes can be effective in business. But the change and adoption of technology to work with these ever-growing data sets does not slow and it is a very exciting time to be in business right now. The clock does not stop ticking and as business owners we just keep adopting the changes.
How does Geospatial and Location help your Business?
Well at the start of this post I covered how business has changed and how the world seems to have gotten smaller but in truth it is our markets that have grown and our ability to connect with anyone at any time, in any country has given us all the ability to grow and prosper. Geospatial and mapping tools help you to understand those markets, where your customers are and to tailor messages and products that are suitable for markets and those individuals that are buying. It really does not matter what your product or service is but being able to build relationships around customers with additional data and insight helps deliver your service and focuses your effort and messages.
Geospatial tools are not like normal database systems, they give a visual representation of data by location, they let you understand data by region and by location, build effective territory, plan events and communicate with customers.
Related Information
I’m all for reading, learning and gaining knowledge, not just in business but as an individual. The more we learn the faster we can make effective decisions. I recently read a couple of related articles about technology and geo, along with how we approach data privacy and as individuals share data.
You can catch these articles on Geospatial World
· In this article, Aditya Chaturvedi looks at the future of Data Privacy, and you can read more HERE
· In this further article Ed Parsons covers the topic of why there is a bit of GEO in everything you can read more HERE
So how can we help you get your data by location?
If you would like to find out more about how Mapsimise and geospatial can help drive your business forward and help you define location-based outcomes for your team, connect with us or visit our website Mapsimise.com
How to get started with Mapsimise
If you are ready to get started, it's so easy! Start visualising your data on one or more maps by signing up to your own Mapsimise account and get started. Follow the steps below:
- Firstly, visit our website Mapsimise.com
- Click Get Started
- Select the package that suites your organisation
- Fill in the registration form
- Validate and log in to your Mapsimise account (by email)
- Add your billing information and select the connectors or upgrade from your Go Package
If you get stuck, you can sign into the Help Desk and raise a ticket with Mapsimise Support OR click here.
We look forward to working with you and helping you visualise your data, gaining location intelligence.
