If you’re not already in the location analytics loop, when you think about analyzing data on maps, you may think of merely plotting points and zooming into a specific area. Perhaps something like this: AND THAT’S ABOUT IT. For many businesses, their location analysis consists of evaluating one data point’s geographic relationship to another data point. There is a complete lack of sophisticated analysis. So for some of you, your response to location analytics may be … Others may be a bit more overwhelmed… Guess what? You’re not alone. A recent study found that location analytics was only ranked 12th out of 25 technology priorities. But Howard Dresner, the founder and chief research officer at Dresner Advisory Services (the survey conductors), isn’t surprised by this. Currently, location intelligence prioritization is dependent on the type of industry you’re in. “If you’re doing things like sales operational planning, you have to use location intelligence to do that. Otherwise, you’re not going to understand how to allocate resources appropriately,” he said, according to a TechTarget article. It won’t be that way for long Dresner expects interest in location intelligence to rise and encourages CIOs and IT leaders to get in front of the wave of interest and get the competitive advantage that location analytics has to offer. The reality is ALL industries can (and should) find business value hiding in their mapped data. However, a big obstacle is that they don’t know HOW to use location analysis beyond examining simple geographic relationships. Don’t worry, we can help you get started with these two tips: Do you want to know the trick to growing in your mapping analysis sophistication and drawing out that hidden business value we’ve been talking about? Understand the full capability of each feature and know the best practices for using its functionality within your location analytics tool. Check out this guide that explains mapping features and how to use them within a location analytics tool. Mix and match those features and functionality to find business solutions and create new workflows driven by your map. We have a few unexpected ways to use location analytics that we’ll post in the next few blogs (see below) that will hopefully help you a) get your creative juices flowing and b) think about how location intelligence technology can transform how you analyze your data. You can watch the full webinar to see all the features in action and get tips from QlikMaps product architect, Patrick Vinton, OR you can check out these blog posts that will spark your creativity for how to use location analytics to get business value. Spot A Problem – Take Instant Action (Instead of jumping from app to app, you can centralize your workflow to your map. Yes… We just rhymed there.) Crime Analysis (You may not be tracking criminals, but all businesses can use the functions they’re using to visualize data changes) Hospital Network Planning (The concepts can easily be applied to Market & Sales Territory Planning as well) 5 Unexpected Ways To Use Location Analytics from QlikMaps Talk With a Data Analytics Expert Key Takeaways Many businesses underutilize location analytics, limiting analysis to simple geographic plotting without extracting deeper insights. Location intelligence is not yet a top priority across industries, but interest is expected to grow as organizations recognize its strategic value. All industries can benefit from mapping data more effectively, especially in areas like resource planning and operational optimization. Most organizations lack understanding of how to fully use the features and functionality available in their location analytics tools. Two key tips to grow in location analytics sophistication are: understanding the tool’s full capabilities and combining features to build new workflows. Resources like guides, webinars, and use case blog posts offer practical ideas to help teams creatively apply location analytics to business challenges.
