Experts have called on Ghanaian businesses to employ Location Intelligence (LI) as a tool to drive business growth and widen customer base.
Both Location Intelligence (LI) and Business Intelligence (BI) are being utilized globally to make sound business decisions and increase revenue streams while keeping pace with competitors.
This call was made at the 25th MTN Business World Executive Breakfast meeting held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra under the theme, Location Intelligence: The Driver For Business Success.
Speaking at the meeting, Amerley Ampofo Senior Manager, Customer Analytics, MTN said BI looks at situations from a business perspective while LI allows information insight out of the business into the business.
She adds that LI is a form of BI but the differentiator is the location or geographical analysis component.
“I see Location Intelligence and Business Intelligence as a customer-centric tool. It was easier about 10 years ago when MTN had about 7 million subscriber base, it was simple to look at trends and give solutions but as our subscriber base increased, it became more challenging for us to understand the customer within their space.”
“So our integration of business intelligence then, at that time was basic desktop mappings solution which enabled us to understand from an external view what the opportunities are, which targets to set and so on,” she added.
From a business viewpoint, the CEO of Vokakom, Nana Osei Kwasi Afrifa juxtapose LI to business and increasing revenue streams.
“Where do I put what business to make the most impact or make the most money? So if I know where to put it then definitely I’ll have the most impact or make the most money.” Adding that, “If you get the location right, the rest will follow… if you get it wrong everything else falls.”
He advocated for retail businesses to merge BI and LI to increased revenue growth.
Kwasi Afrifa demonstrated how his company is employing LI to enable businesses authenticate the exact location of customers further hinting on a Navigation product to launch on the market soon.
Karthik Raman, IBM Executive, Telco and Media, explained that LI is the collaboration of people, data and technology.
Alluding to the Five Ws, (Who, When, Where, What and Why), he noted that being able to build an eco-system, being able to enrich the eco-system and trying to get data is paramount to businesses.
“All enterprises should take a fast track approach by creating a roadmap, putting product and services on the platform and getting partners and ecosystems on the platform.”
“Start small, start quick, fail fast…don’t invest too much money and time…the principle should be to create a roadmap that embraces everything,” he averred.
According to Femi Osinubi, Partner and Leader PwC West Market, LI is a methodology of using location data and geospatial data to derive business outcomes.
He indicated that about 60 to 70 percent of businesses are being impacted globally by LI with an expected revenue boost.
“Location intelligence is part of businesses going forward and should be adopted when setting up strategies at the beginning of each year,” he advised.
The event hosted a panel of experts including Karthik Raman, an IBM Executive, Telco and Media Amerley Ampofo, Senior Manager Customers Analytics at MTN, Nana Osei Kwasi Afrifa, Chief Executive Officer of Vokacom and Femi Osinube, Partner and Leader, Analytics and innovation Infocomms, PwC West Market.
The Executive Breakfast series organised by MTN and Business World Ghana is in its eighth year and has served as a leadership and networking platform drawing in top business executives and entrepreneurs.
Pamela Ofori- Boateng/Business World Ghana