If organizations can address the digital-physical divide on data, they will reap more than they can imagine. But first, why should organizations bridge this gap?
Organizations are well aware of the effects of data silos and manual consolidation of data. The digital-physical divide on data causes virtual data silos and inconsistencies among operational processes that many organizations fail to address. Now that organizations are progressing toward digitalization; it has become indispensable for them to seal the leaks to become a competent business. Enterprises willing to scale up their presence should integrate all the bits and pieces of their data from multiple data sources to a single platform that is easily accessible across the organization, avoiding data silos. The data visibility will help enterprises carefully plan their stocks, launch new products, plan marketing activities, etc.
A recent study by BCG reports that 95% of executives say mapping and geospatial data are essential to achieve the required business outcomes today, and 91% believe it will be unavoidable in the next three to five years. Leveraging emerging AI, robotics, and IoT technologies can facilitate a leak-proof data environment driving better decision making.
Among the critical factors contributing to the digital-physical divide on data, location is one of the tops. Let us dig deeper and determine how data engineering can be the solution provider.
Table of Contents
The digital-physical divide on data by location
The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed the customer’s foot traffic patterns. Enterprises are seeing a significant change in customer behavior and are rethinking and redesigning their products and services. One thing is evident: customer behavior keeps changing, and enterprises should find ways to increase their customers’ satisfaction to retain them for an extended period. For businesses aiming to improve their customer retention and satisfaction, location is one valuable resource they should emphasize.
Importance of Location:
In this fast-moving world, if companies can bring their products to where their customers are, they are increasing their probability of success. Location data serves as an incredible source in helping organizations in decision-making. We use location intelligence for mapping and to match geospatial data with a company’s internal customer data. This helps organizations improve customer experience by providing a more personalized experience for the customers. The way a company maps the geospatial data with the company’s strategy impacts the business outcome. BCG reports that few location attributes are closely related to the business’s success.
Location intelligence is the game-changer in bridging the gap:
Location intelligence makes way for an array of opportunities in different areas. Here are they,
Geo-marketing in advertising:
Advertising both online and offline helps enterprises to get all on their table. Advertisers are looking to drive more people to the offline store or adopt influencing models like buy-online-pickup-instore, order ahead, or click to collect. Insights from foot traffic data can help marketers gain a better understanding of their customer’s journey. Geo-marketing includes:
- Sending customized messages to the customers based on their location.
- Highlighting nearby stores and their services and offers.
- Sending more personalized messages referring to their history of purchase.
Geo-marketing is used chiefly across e-commerce, tourism, retail, travel, and financial services to enhance the digital customer experience, thereby bridging the digital divide.
Foresee trends and patterns:
Foot traffic patterns can help organizations forecast trends and outperform the competitive market. Before drafting their investment strategies, organizations should utilize geospatial and historical data to identify the trends better and capitalize on improving their efficiency and reducing waste.
Better shopping experience:
Location intelligence helps retailers provide a customized experience by providing the nearby store details to customers and optimizing their store layout for customers to access the products easily.
Digital divide by time:
A recent study says 58% of organizations admit that they rely on outdated data to make business decisions. Organizations can bridge this gap by using data engineering technologies, which can help them get insights from real-time data, thereby improving the overall efficiency of their business performance. Data engineering technologies help you collect, store, organize, analyze, and get insights from your data effectively. With a strategic approach and the right technology partner, small to medium-scale businesses can seamlessly adopt data engineering technologies.
The digital and physical gap continues to blur, with consumers interacting in both spaces effortlessly and forcing the companies to do the same.
Digital Twin – Bridging the digital and physical
The digital twin is the virtual representation of a system or an object throughout its lifecycle using real-time data. The digital twin helps to reduce the gap between the digital and physical world with the help of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) to improve the understanding, learning, and analyzing abilities of a human. Today, NASA uses digital twin technology to mirror and find the issues in orbit and make facility decisions. It monitors the entire space with this technology.
Organizations can use the digital twin at any stage of product development, like designing, manufacturing, and operation. At each stage, it helps to maintain the quality and the efficiency of the product or the system. In the operation stage, where the product or the system acts, the data starts flowing and makes room for data analysis to extract insights. By leveraging this value, Organizations can now create new business opportunities, improve products and services, and analyze their operational data.
Value of digital twin:
Digital twin helps businesses use real-time data and forecast business trends and patterns, avoiding the need to depend on past data. Organizations can virtually create any process or product with continuous real-time data streams. Manufacturers will be able to build products with better quality, improved efficiency, and detect any issue sooner. The digital twin will help organizations improve their overall performance and build effective lifecycle models for any product or service.
As the technology evolves every day, more companies are trying to deploy digital twin technology to gain a competitive edge. Data engineering techniques can help organizations bridge the digital-physical divide on data. A simple data integration can solve the chaos and help them utilize data efficiently and be data-driven. Thereby improving the business performance and customer experience.
