The big picture benefits
Once a business has adopted GBI, it can deliver value far beyond original expectations.
This is because some 80% of business data has a location element.
Customer addresses, property assets, operational areas, delivery and access routes... Using GBI, these locations become the context for organisation-wide analysis, and to help tackle more strategic issues of risk management and environmental impact.
In his 1985 best-seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Michael Porter first introduced the now well-established idea of a value chain. Porter analysed hundreds of organisations to establish where value is added, and distinguished between primary value activities such as Logistics, Service and Marketing & Sales.
By putting geography at the heart of business intelligence, it enables truly joined-up analysis of business performance, reducing risk and environmental impact and ultimately driving forward business strategy.
Figure 1: The Geographic Business Intelligence Value Chain. Putting geography at the heart of the value chain adds value across the business and gives fresh insight into each area.
Next...
- Learn more about Geographic Information Systems
- Find out why geography is the missing link in BI
