Why every business needs a geospatial strategy
By: Matt Lewin
Tags: GIS, Digital, Technology, Analytics, Strategy

source: unsplash.com

“Why do we need a geospatial strategy?” — a skeptical CIO.

It’s a fair question, but no matter how often I’m asked, I find I’m caught slightly off guard. Because if what they mean is: Why does this geospatial stuff matter? Why is it worthy of a strategy? then it means the importance of “geo” at the executive level is still unclear.

Which may be why the question is asked with a tone of skepticism, implying a geospatial strategy really isn’t important. Not on the level of a marketing strategy or a talent strategy, or a matter of national security like a climate strategy. These strategies address issues of critical importance. Obviously, a strategy is needed!

As someone who helps organizations devise geospatial strategies, I’ve often responded to this question without addressing the deeper concern — what makes a geospatial strategy actually strategic? What problem does it solve? What advantage does it create?

In articles and in-person, I’ve talked about the mechanics of a geospatial strategy. I’ve talked about best practices. Essentially, I’ve focused on the how of strategy and not the why.

Let’s right that wrong.

Here are five reasons why organizations need a geospatial strategy.

One: To unlock new sources of value

Organizations exist to create value. Value for customers through quality products and services. Value for shareholders through robust financial returns. Value for employees through satisfying work. Value for society through active corporate citizenship. It’s all about value.

Location intelligence (the product of a geospatial strategy) empowers organizations to look at value creation in a different light — to discover new routes to value by considering “where.”

When equipped with location intelligence, organizations can flip conventional business problems on their heads. How? By reframing them as problems of location.

This can be game-changing.

For instance, take financial services company USAA. As an insurer, USAA protects the assets of military members and their families. In 2018, the Woolsey Fires in California damaged thousands of homes and properties owned by USAA members. Processing this many claims can take months and requires extensive manual effort to verify the validity of claims.

At least it would if you followed conventional thinking. Instead, USAA looked to geospatial analysis for help.

Using drones, USAA captured high-resolution imagery of areas impacted by the fire. Then, they used deep learning AI to scour the imagery and spatially verify damaged vs. undamaged properties. A process that used to take weeks took hours.

By thinking geospatially, USAA unlocked new value for stakeholders. Faster claims for customers. Greater efficiency for claims adjusters. Stability for communities.

On its own merits, this is a strong example. But the big payoff comes from driving this kind of geospatial innovation continuously. Taking it from a one-off project to a core capability of the business. That’s why a geospatial strategy is so important — it creates the enduring ability to unlock new sources of value.

Two: To strengthen a digital strategy

As digital technology and business models transform industries, organizations are scrambling to respond with their own digital strategies. Results vary considerably.

According to a McKinsey survey, eight in ten organizations have established a digital strategy, but just 14 percent have realized major performance improvements. Even fewer have been able to sustain these improvements.

Organizations that report success point to several key factors; chief among them: their focus on implementing solutions that make information more accessible.

This is where a geospatial strategy makes its mark.

The majority of data is geospatial. Some have indicated 60% to 80% of data is georeferenced in some way. In spite of this, many digitalization efforts fall short when it comes to the geospatial dimension. That’s because even though the raw data may be accessible, the tools and know-how needed to get at the insights locked away in the geo-dimension are not.

To bolster a digital strategy, organizations need a geospatial strategy to ensure the avalanche of geospatial information generated can be leveraged.

BP recognized this in their digital transformation program. A major goal of their strategy was to open up data access across the organization — to the extent that they adopted an official open-by-default mandate. This made ~95% of geospatial data available to users.

That said, they also recognized that geospatial data on its own is only so useful. They also ensured users had the right tools to exploit this data and were encouraged to become “citizen developers.” To the point that BP saw an explosion in maps, geospatial apps, and dashboards across the organization.

Clearly, digital transformation is challenging. Having a complementary geospatial strategy to implement the right mix of specialized tools and capabilities can help to accelerate a digital vision.

Three: To enrich the customer experience

Transforming the customer experience is among the top priorities for modern CEOs. In fact, an amazing 89% of organizations indicate they compete primarily based on customer experience. It’s not just what you sell anymore but how customers engage with your products and services that sets you apart.

The primary goal of improving customer experience is enhancing the customer journey. This involves mapping out all the ways a customer engages with your business and identifying the interactions that drive customer satisfaction. Organizations monitor these interactions and adapt their products and services to improve customer experience.

The opportunity for organizations is to innovate new ways of connecting with customers at crucial points along the customer journey.

Enter geospatial technology and the concept of “hyper-localization” — customer experiences personalized to your location.

For utility providers, a customer’s experience during a power outage is a significant driver of overall satisfaction. Creating a personalized experience, from the time of an outage to when power is restored, is a strategic focus for all providers. In fact, during a severe weather event, the experience often begins before the outage occurs.

Many utility providers are using geospatial technology to deliver localized outage communications before, during, and after an outage.

Before an outage, publically available outage maps and notification systems alert customers of potential severe weather events affecting their homes or businesses. These alerts aren’t broadcast blindly. They are sent where the impact is most likely.

During an outage, customers can see the status of their property and neighboring areas, as well as the estimated time to restore on mobile devices. They are provided guidance on navigating the outage.

Once power is restored, customers are notified of restoration and provided channels for feedback.

A geospatial strategy that enables precision localization enriches and deepens the customer experience. It’s like adding rocket fuel to the customer journey.

Four: To establish a shared data foundation

Geospatial data is ubiquitous. Often we don’t even realize we are using it. From logistics to customer analytics to health & safety management. Geospatial data is an essential part of most organization’s knowledge base.

The problem is many organizations haven’t adjusted how they collect, manage, or share geospatial data. Data is still primarily acquired and maintained through projects or by a specific department. Duplicate data purchases are common. Disconnected datasets and poor integration are rampant.

It isn’t considered a strategic asset.

Without a common geospatial data foundation, organizations struggle to support a business environment that increasingly requires collaboration across the enterprise.

The vision of the Government of Norway’s national geospatial strategy is to address this precise issue. As part of its national Digital Agenda, the country is advancing a national knowledge base of geospatial information. This knowledge base collates data from many government sectors and industry partners. For Norway, a common geospatial data infrastructure is vital to addressing societal challenges such as climate change, international trade, emergency planning, and urbanization.

In the digital world, data is king. A shared foundation of geospatial data is fundamental to this new reality.

Five: Because the IT strategy missed it

While many organizations don’t have a geospatial strategy, they likely have an IT strategy. So why another strategy? Isn’t the IT strategy good enough?

In my experience — no, it’s not good enough. Not because it’s not a solid piece of work, but because usually, an IT strategy glosses over the geospatial function. It’s not the focus.

It’s not uncommon to see the geospatial discipline relegated to a single line item in an annual budget. The IT strategy promotes a vertical, technology-centric view of geospatial; as opposed to a horizontal, capability-centric view.

To do great things with “geo” on an organizational scale, it needs to be treated as an organizational capability. And building a capability requires a strategy.

This is why, in a broad sense, you need a geospatial strategy — to define how your organization wins with location intelligence. Not as an afterthought of an IT strategy, but as a primary focus of your business.