So, you’re a geospatial subject matter expert and strategist….
Invites a challenge - does this organisation need (or do we already have) a geospatial strategy? Strategies address issues of critical import that add value to the enterprise right? Does or could a geospatial strategy add value to my enterprise? What does being locationally intelligent give me? New data and new forms of analysis help you stay competitive. Look at challenges through a new lens - by considering where; create new routes to value by reframing around location. When you do, this can be transformational.
hone risk analysis
upgrade asset management
enhance predictive maintenance
refine customer segmentation
ensure supply chain compliance
improve logistics scheduling
accelerate site selection
gain granular portfolio insights
identify incremental operational gains
Value everywhere; that data, your data, is an asset - harness it.
the board game Brass - Lancashire in the Industrial Revolution
As the recent national geospatial strategy launch indicates the UK public sector and UK plc more widely is having not just a geospatial moment but has geospatial momentum. Location data and tools are positioned as vital ingredients to underpin economic recovery and growth and to inform the reshaping of that economy in the wake of Covid-19 and in response to Brexit. Yet 63% of companies have no geospatial strategy!
GIS has been with us over 50 years, OS began large scale digital map production in 1971 and the first Landsat went up in 1972. This new geospatial age has been a long time coming!
The climate and health emergencies - through visualisation, the data science, the representation of patterns, of change, of impact, of linkages - have opened more eyes on and interest in the power of place for leaders everywhere. Location provides a framework for shared understanding.
Data-driven, or data-enabled, insight and the need for a credible evidence base for both decision making and communication have become common-place exemplars of the contribution that location makes to engagement. Static systems of record are unable to leverage dynamic location data at scale; evolving new systems of engagement that harness the array of data, technology and talent can bring this to the enterprise. How do you unravel the right mix for your organisation, identify the commercial imperative that makes it strategic, to determine if location intelligence is what I get what am I going to do with it?
Location Data and your Digital Journey
These days pretty much all data has some form of locational attribution. Embrace it. In your digital transformation journey, data must be your friend, as much of it as you can handle, integrated into and redefining your business processes. Your data is a strategic asset, your licensing and access with other data providers are strategic relationships, the talent you acquire, the know-how you build and the tools you deploy are strategic choices that enable your organisation to translate all that data into information and insight for the enterprise (or not).
The Personal Touch - Citizens and Customers
It's subliminal and it's been coming for years - first it was bespoke, then it was custom, now it is personal, it is predictive and it is becoming local. That's B2C - harvesting the data tsunami for behavioural surplus to drive better commercial outcomes for the platforms or not. Location data is intrinsic to that surplus and the enabler of hyper-contextual curation of content and experience. For the rest of the digital economy, the "customer" and their satisfaction, be they internal, external or partner, is or should also be the obsession. Systems of engagement record the customer journey, inform their experience and underpin their choices. A modern location intelligent enterprise would know who was and who wasn't being flooded (or at risk) or that your power supply was affected by a fallen tree and communicate with you for the duration of the event and ask you about it afterwards. You might not like the event but how your service providers interact with you will affect your appetite to renew.
Value
"Where is the value"?! Use the power of place to achieve new critical insights, to develop new products and build new services for the right people, in the right place at the right time - when customers like (value) them, shareholders and stakeholders will. The way an organisation approaches location data and its digital journey reflect their priorities and focus on driving successful outcomes.
A strategy does not require a big bang. Demonstration of the art of the possible, for example incremental, evidential gains from stand alone innovation initiatives can pave the way for wider adoption. Location data is ubiquitous, make it so - a C-suite dashboard, an emergency response "hack", enterprise-wide data publishing and API exposure, hyper-local marketing campaigns, using location enabled case studies for tender differentiation......
The Geospatial Commission talks about unlocking upto £11bn in value from better harnessing the complexities of location data. It pays to have a strategy for that. You've all gone digital, transformation is an on-going process, you're deluged with data, most of it location tagged in some way - why wouldn't you treat it as an asset, invest in it, leverage it, use it to strengthen your digital journey...let's start a conversation.