ArcWatch: GIS News, Views, and Insights
June 2012
Businesses Steer toward Location-Based Decision Making
Esri Business Summit to Feature Keynote Speakers from Kohler and General Motors
More companies are tapping into data and turning to location-based decision making to better understand the local economies where they do business and make their goods and services stand out from the crowd.
Representatives from major companies offer their perspectives on how using geospatial technology makes good business sense.
The Esri Business Summit is the largest gathering of commercial organizations dedicated to demonstrating how a better understanding of spatial analysis and GIS can improve business effectiveness and efficiency. The summit will begin July 22 at the Omni San Diego Hotel in San Diego, California, and conclude July 24.
Simon Thompson, director of global commercial solutions at Esri, sees a marked increase in interest in the conference this year.
"We've recently seen enormous growth in location-based decision making," Thompson said. "Location analysis has proved itself to be an essential part of a successful organization's strategy to navigate in today's global economy. This conference is recognized as one of the best places to meet and collaborate with others with the same goals, learn what strategies work, and find the best path to implement them."
Attendees will hear firsthand how GIS is used in the world's leading commercial organizations, helping them thrive in today's economy and differentiate themselves from the competition.
Executives and business line managers from blue chip companies including 3M, General Motors (GM), Jones Lang LaSalle, and Kohler will keynote at the Esri Business Summit, explaining how they have championed the use of spatial technology. (Read about the featured speakers.)
Session presenters from companies including the major insurer Amica and social media companies such as Gnip will be there, too, discussing why GIS is important to their business.
Simon Thompson, director of global commerical solutions at Esri, talks about the importance of location-based decisonmaking at the Esri Business Summit.
Breakout sessions held throughout the three-day summit will focus on various topics related to new technology and data innovations from Esri, user presentations describing why GIS has been an important part of business operations, and a panel discussion by retail experts led by executives from Petco and Starbucks.
Esri will host a series of technical workshops such as Esri Location Analytics: Adding Spatial to Your Enterprise Business Systems The session will describe Esri's investment into its location analytics portfolio of solutions to complement and enhance enterprise business systems including business intelligence, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), and office productivity.
The Esri Business Summit is sponsored by Microsoft (Gold level), AccuWeather, CloudTrigger, i-cubed, Nokia, and TomTom. Attendees will have an opportunity to meet the sponsors during the Sponsor Lightning Talk session and at the evening social on July 22.
Register today for the Esri Business Summit, which includes access to the GIS Solutions EXPO and social, which will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Omni, and the Esri International User Conference on July 23 and 24. User Conference attendees interested in this event are encouraged to add the Business Summit to their registration for an additional $150.
