Everyone and everything is more connected today than ever before. From umbrellas that know if it’s going to rain to cars that can make navigation decisions based on the colour of an upcoming traffic light.
These connections are made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT) – the idea that as things connect to the internet we can use the continuous stream of data to drive new possibilities.
With an incredible 16 billion wirelessly connected things today the amount of data being generated is enormous and presents significant opportunity to understand the interactions and relationships between people and devices. The push now is to show how this can deliver real value to your business – enter the Analytics of Things (AoT).
If you’re storing the data but not analysing it you’re wasting money. The shopper’s journey is a connected one and the AoT provides plenty of opportunity for us to not only connect with customers but to create better experiences.
Understanding the relationship between an individual and a billboard, crowd behaviour and weather, or a shopper and her path around your store are all possible through understanding the common links between all of these things – or their location. Location-based analysis lets you understand the activation rate for a poster site or the reasons why shoppers move through your store in different ways.
Clearly, being in the geography business, I’m biased, but I just want to take a moment to explain why I have that bias and why I passionately believe that location-based analytics can provide you with a competitive edge.
Traditional business analytics tools certainly have a place – but with the sheer volume of data being driven into the analytics pipeline – analysts need something more than charts and tables to connect these many and varied data sources together.
Enter geography and the map … a natural and universal way of connecting and presenting your data sources. Geography is the one true constant that will allow you to bring together these data sets to expose patterns and trends not seen in tables and maps… providing true insight.
Location-based analysis is at the core of an analytics program that is designed to not only deal with, but take advantage of the volume of data created by the Internet of Things. The only way organisations can deliver real value from their investment is in capturing, collating, storing and analysing this data.
Geography and the IoT help answer questions such as, “Which of my bus stop ads is working the best?”, “How should I adjust staffing based on the weather forecast?” or “Which window displays are most effective?”
And the good news is this doesn’t require a rocket scientist (or even a data scientist), the map does the heavy lifting – exposing the patterns and relationships so that you can make the right decisions at the right time.
To find out more about how location technology for competitive advantage, call 1800 870 750 or send us an email.
