The GeoMarketing approach according to Blue BI

GeoMarketing is the integration of geographical intelligence into various aspects of marketing. It allows the development of Business Intelligence systems that use the geographic parameters to make a more effective decision making and supporting the marketing activities of strategy definition, communication, sales, distribution and so on.

But why the Geolocation is useful? What kind of solutions can be deployed and with which functionalities ?

Accordingly with several experiences made in the latest years, Blue BI may answer these questions as next described.

Why Business Intelligence with Geolocation ?

The usage of geo-referenced data belongs to evolution path of Business Intelligence & Analytics systems:

In fact Geolocation enables  to add:

Value to the data:

• Sales, Visits, Credit collection, Demographic data or external sources, with any KPI
• Data integration and correlation from heterogeneous sources
• Geolocation support with Gegraphical Information Systems (GIS)

Value to the processes:

• Customer name creation/modification requests, for prospects as example
• Real time creation/modification of sales objectives, customer visits, ……
• Suport and improvement of the marketing strategy definition
• Sales organization review and simulation

Value to the operations:

• Visits plan download on GPS sytems
• Geolocation services integration(e.g.: Google Maps/Earth, Street View, Itinerario, ecc..)
• Web services integration: searches, information sharing, data banks, etc..

Which solutions can be adopted ?

Accordingly with the requirements, it is necessary to consider the right approach with the right solution.

Limited requirements can be achieved starting from simple analysis based only on Geo-referenced data, up to adopting a GIS (Geographical Information System) for more complex requirements, which are proper Business Intelligence environments for GeoMarketing, able to correlate digital maps with business contents.

If the first case can be brought back as an extension of the already existing BI, the second one consists instead in a BI system, with its own DB and a collection of specific functions, as an example:

• algorithm developments to correlate quantitative data with cartographic data, taking advantage of the functional power of those Databases supporting the geographical dimension
• isochronous  functions (e.g. by selecting a point on the map and given a travel time, the accessible area is mapped)
• route calculation and GPS system integration
• area of influence determination (e.g. demographic basin linked to sales analysis or sales forecast or market shares etc.)
• drawing of polygons (e.g. by interpolation of external points for customers in catalogue by area manager, sales rep or other sales organisation units)
• integration with legacy systems, such as CRM or order management, for address validation

Blue BI supports you in the choice and deployment of the most effective solution, coherently with the business requirements.

In order to semplify the choice of project altenatives and to facilitate the selection of the proper tool, Blue BI has also developed a predefined solution called BBI x GeoMarketing. Learn more.