Nicola Sandoli
Business Development Manager
ICONSULTING
Italy

Biography
Nicola Sandoli is a Business Development Executive specialising in data warehouse, business intelligence and performance management. He currently works at ICONSULTING, an internationally awarded company in the Business Intelligence sector. He has had broad client experience and has been responsible for delivering solutions across the Public and Private sectors. Nicola is currently responsible for the UK''s business development focus into the business analytics and location intelligence market.

Abstract
Geo-Spatial Business Analytics: Better Decisions for Retail Companies with Spatial Data

The majority of corporate data has a spatial connotation. Hence, Decision Support Systems and among all Business Intelligence platforms need to take into account the geographical dimension. There are many examples of mash-ups at a front end level that integrate maps visualizations and traditional BI, but spatial data usually resides on separate Geographical Information Systems. This leads to features and performances serious limitations. Iconsulting designed a Location Intelligence architecture based on data integration. The distinguishing factor is the Geo-Data Warehouse: a centralized repository that stores spatial and alphanumerical data tied together for analysis purposes. Spatial attributes can be leveraged both for visualizations and to gain insights on business data. Location Intelligence leads Vodafone Italy beyond the traditional Geomarketing by the analysis of Points of Sales performances and the territory potential. It compares the performances of similar PoS enriching the process with external data like Open Data from Ministries or Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT). The output is then visualized on dashboards that transparently integrate tables, charts and interactive maps. The demonstration also shows how retail companies use this platform to find the best spot for planning openings of new PoS. Through Location Intelligence for Retail, Indoor Analysis is also available: drill-down inside the PoS highlights which areas generate higher sales, or whether the presence of specific elements ''such as fan-coil or restroom'' increases or decreases attractiveness of sales locations. A user-friendly mechanism is integrated in the BI platform to upload Georaster Floor Layouts and to create/edit/move Features of Interest on top of them. Iconsulting Location Intelligence solutions are based on a JavaScript library which enables advanced analysis features, including interactive visualizations, what-if algorithms directly triggered by interacting with the map, Spatial Data Mining features and more. From a technology point of view, the framework design is enabled by the introduction of Spatial support in main Relational DataBase Management Systems like Oracle Spatial or Microsoft SQL Server, and the openness of web-based BI front-ends.