Location technology is becoming the key differentiator to businesses to improve customer experience, drive revenue and increase operational efficiency.
Technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles and sensors are capturing information that has never been captured before, creating entirely new avenues for geospatial data collection. As a result, location-based analytics and platforms that can process and detect trends and provide intelligence are becoming more popular.
For example, better understanding of traffic patterns might provide insights about where to place sensors within a smart city. Or, identifying pockets of residential areas with repeated weather damage might help insurers make decisions about where to test out their latest drone surveillance technology.
Adding a layer of intelligence about where they could have the greatest impact could help protect that investment and increase rates of adoption.
The use and popularity of location technology depends on how much it becomes embedded with enterprise computing. Without it, organizations are blind to the impact location has on business. From insurance to banking to retail, every business is now a consumer and a creator of location-based data. Those that learn to think spatially, win.
Location intelligence gives that extra edge on business intelligence. Kawalpreet Singh, Director of marketing, JILL India says at GeoSmart 2019, “Like in the field of transportation, it helps to plan better. It helps immensely in space planning and employees’ experience.”
Shivalik Prasad, Executive Director, MapmyIndia fFurther says, “All of us use maps on a daily basis. After Search, Maps are the most used in the world. Now maps are democratized. A very good example of this is when you order items from Amazon, they use maps for routing. Interestingly, in January 2019 Swiggie and Zomato did 71 million food deliveries. Maps being integral part of their business model and location intelligence being the core, necessary location data can be used to make their business flourish.”
Wallets, fraud detection, loan verification, behavioral outputs are few more examples where the technology has made its mark in abundance,” says Prasad.
Privacy laws boon or bane?
Every app today is using location. “What is required is that the customers need to opt rather than we being overbearing. A fine line needs to be drawn, that is what GDPR caters to,” adds Singh.
Giving a new perspective, Prasad says, “In India we do not have issues with policy. There is a lot of information already floating on the Internet. I think they are enough safe guards. A legislation like GDPR is a great concept but with bad implantation. While the big companies have found the way to adhere to the legislation, it is the small companies who are bearing the brunt in Europe. However, in India it is little different. We stay in very close quarters and hence the concept of privacy is little odd here.”
Also Read: Need for a dynamic geospatial policy
