International Geocoding - with Enterprise Location Intelligence to more effective decisions

International Geocoding A consistent approach to Location Intelligence leads to more effective decisions across country lines W H I T E PA P E R : E N T E R P R I S E LO CAT I O N I N T E L L I G E N C E Uwe Rupp • Product Manager International Geocoding Pitney Bowes Business Insight W H I T E PA P E R : E N T E R P R I S E L O C AT I O N I N T E L L I G E N C E International Geocoding A consistent approach to Location Intelligence leads to more effective decisions across country lines 2 A B S T R ACT GEOGRAPHIC-BASED DATA DRIVES SOCIAL POLICY, NETWORK PLANNING AND MARKET ANALYSIS. IN BUSINESS, INSIGHTS DERIVED FROM LOCATION INTELLIGENCE ARE ESSENTIAL FOR RISK MANAGEMENT, REGULATORY COMPLIANCE, PRICING AND STRATEGIC PLANNING. THAT’S WHY SO MANY ORGANISATIONS EMPLOY GEOCODING. GEOCODES TRANSLATE COMMON REFERENCE POINTS, SUCH AS CUSTOMER ADDRESSES, INTO LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES THAT MAKE IT EASIER TO ANALYSE DATA. MULTI-NATIONAL ORGANISATIONS FACE SEVERAL CHALLENGES BECAUSE THE ACCURACY AND QUALITY OF GEOCODING —AND CORRESPONDING DECISIONS— CAN BE DIFFICULT TO ASSESS FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY. INCREASINGLY, ORGANISATIONS ARE LOOKING TO APPLY STANDARDS ACROSS MARKETS, SO THAT THE MAKE-OR-BREAK DECISIONS MADE EVERY DAY WILL ALWAYS BE BASED ON THE SAME, ACCURATE, TIME-SENSITIVE INFORMATION. BUSINESS-STRENGTH GEOCODING SOLUTIONS ARE MEANT FOR PROBLEM SOLVING. SO TODAY, GLOBAL ORGANISATIONS ARE TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH A POOR OR INCONSISTENT APPROACH TO LOCATION INTELLIGENCE. WHAT THEY HAVE FOUND IS THAT IMPROVED ACCURACY, DATA FLEXIBILITY, EASE OF INTEGRATION AND AN ABILITY TO HANDLE EXCEPTION PROCESSING CAN BE APPLIED CONSISTENTLY ACROSS AN ENTERPRISE—WHICH MAKES IT EASIER TO ACT WITH CONFIDENCE. www.pbinsight.com BEFORE YOU CAN ANALYSE, EXTRAPOLATE OR PROFIT FROM LOCATION DATA, YOU NEED TO ASSOCIATE EACH RECORD WITH AN ACCURATE LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATE. Your most critical decisions rely on • Network investments. The placement and management of 3 location data. strategic assets such as power plants, cell towers, ATMs, commercial facilities or retail branches often require Most every new consumer gadget includes a location-based multi-million dollar investments—with long-term component. Whether it’s GPS or smart phones, “where” has implications. become the new in-demand application. • Portfolio management. On a macro-level, organisations In the business community, however, the “intelligence” must understand exposure beyond traditional boundaries required from Location Intelligence goes well beyond and across location-based factors such as economic colourful maps, driving directions and find-the-nearest conditions, weather, tax jurisdictions and market calculations. Every day, multi-national organisations make demographics. thousands of critical business decisions based on location data—decisions that impact virtually every aspect of an When an organisation does business in a single country, enterprise: ensuring that location data is up-to-date, accurate and accessible can be a challenge. For global companies, these • Market analysis. Population trends in key geographies, challenges multiply to the point where it may be difficult for including incomes, demographics and purchasing executives to judge with confidence how geo-based analyses behaviours, can make or break a new product launch. compare across markets. • Risk assessment. The ability to pinpoint the distance between a property and a fault line, for example, can help ensure that a deal is underwritten at the proper price. • Effective targeting. Finding hidden pockets of opportunity in neighbourhoods—including consumers who will pay more for convenience—can turn poor performers into market leaders. W H I T E PA P E R : E N T E R P R I S E L O C AT I O N I N T E L L I G E N C E International Geocoding A consistent approach to Location Intelligence leads to more effective decisions across country lines INCONSISTENT PROCESSES CREATE RISK, ADD COST AND LEAD TO POOR DECISIONS. 4 Corporate decision makers are constantly requires dealing with different geocoding methods, which weighing alternatives. can result in inconsistent data that increases operational overhead. From an administrative perspective, each contract Hundreds of business propositions or initiatives may be requires specs and requirements, legal teams, product worthwhile on paper, but only so many can be approved, management review and IT set-ups. More development funded and prioritised. Unfortunately, when organisations resources and geocoding expertise are needed up front, rely on disconnected data, inconsistent standards and one- while expenses for ongoing data maintenance are incurred off processes, it is impossible to make an apples-to-apples for each market. comparison. Organisations can better compete in today’s economy by Increasingly, corporations have pursued international sourcing a more complete solution that is simple to use, standards, common systems and consistent operating scales globally and offers high-quality standards that remove procedures as a way to get everyone—and every decision— the complexity and inconsistencies of local market factors. on the same page. This is particularly relevant in the realm of International Geocoding. AREN’T ALL ADDRESSES THE SAME? Market leaders are moving to a common geocoding platform Some executives take it for granted that physical addresses exist and always provide the same level of across lines of business. However, other organisations still information in every country— but that is incorrect. rely on outdated methods that deliver inconsistent—and In some countries physical addresses and postal codes sometimes inaccurate—results: may not even exist. Other countries don’t follow the concept of continuous house numbers. In many Ignoring the “where”. geographies it is difficult to ascertain how two locations Some legacy systems ignore the “where” component of data. relate to one another based on address information— While other data dimensions are considered, the vast pool and difficult to automate workflows around of intelligence around location data remains untapped; and location-sensitive decisions. For example: this results in poor business decisions. • In Japan, the world’s second largest market for insurance, house numbers are allocated to houses in Manual processes limit growth. the order of when each house was built within a Some organisations rely on the local knowledge of their in- certain area instead of following a continuous country teams, which means they cannot apply the same sequence along street segments. standards or business rules across markets.