Over 80% of the data captured within an enterprise has some location attribute, so finding an opportunity for mapping / geo is fairly easy. Either the customer will need to be prompted to evaluate maps as an opportunity or the customer will specifically ask for their options to accomplish integrating maps/geo into a BI initiative:
For customers who don’t know they need maps
Question: What is your team currently using for mapping / geographic analysis?
ANSWER: I don’t know or nothing:
This is a great opportunity to pitch the exploration of using maps within the BI initiative. Most customers still don’t know that this is even possible, so the idea of injecting a Google-like experience right within business dashboards. This alone is is enough to get the conversation started for IT or business stakeholders.
ANSWER: We use ESRI or XYZ tool:
Many organizations currently use GIS tools somewhere in their organization (typically ESRI). However, the access and availability of these tools to the business is not possible because they are too confusing and complicated or don’t directly integrate. Like SAP, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is a specialized skillset which is usually disconnected from the business intelligence initiative.
For customers who ask for maps
If a customer is already asking for Geo or maps, they have established some level of value in representing business metrics visually within a geographic view. The popularity of location intelligence is exploding so it is likely that customers will increasingly ask for maps rather than you having to prompt them.
Questions to Qualify a Real Opportunity with CMaps Analytics
The following is a typical survey that we use for customers to understand current needs, existing investments, and will ultimately dictate how we will quote the project and license. These questions are covered in our sales playbook.
1. What version of BusinessObjects are you running?
This will indicate how we will approach and support the customer. With the CMaps Plugin release, we only support modern versions of SAP Dashboards (BI4 SP04 and later). For customers running earlier versions of SAPBusinessObjects XI3.1, there is at least one option.
ARTICLE: CMaps Plugin with XI3.1
2. Â How many Dashboard developers (Xcelsius) will be building dashboards with maps included?
The answer for this will partially indicate the size of the initiative and what bundle suits the customer.
3. Are you and/or your developers working in a virtualized environment i.e. Citrix?
Virtualized / server environments like Citrix allow a team of developers to create dashboards on one server. While these deployments are technically supported, we automatically require the top tier bundle because of it’s support for up to 100 developers and removed license key restrictions.
4. Do you already have Google Maps for Business API licensing in place at your organization?
This can help for Webi, Mobile, and newer CMaps Analytics Designer integrations.
5. How many users will view the dashboards / reports? (approximate)
This is an important question that will help you scale the size of the opportunity. A small user group under 100 will typically require the small or mid-tier bundle (depending on mobility needs). As a benchmark we take the the number of users and multiply it by 270 to determine a ballpark page view count (assumes at worst case average that every user will open the dashboard once a day.
ADDITIONAL READING: Sizing a CMaps Plugin opportunity
6. Approximately how many dashboard page views will be needed?
Please use this calculator to determine http://gmapsplugin.com/templates/xcelsius/pageview.swf. You can also forward this to customers to play with.
This will let the customer determine their utilization.
7. Is mobile access a requirement? If yes, for how many devices/users?
If yes, you will automatically need to move them from the small bundle to a mid or large bundle based on the number of mobile users.
8. Are you currently running SAP Mobile in production?
This will help you determine the maturity of their mobile deployment and if we need to include mobile at this time. For many customers mobile is a requirement mid-long term but not a lot of customers are running production mobile BI yet.
9. Would you be interested in viewing indoor maps?
With a pending CMaps Analytics for iOS in Q1 2014, indoor maps will be available. This is a huge opportunity to expand BI in new ways. If the answer is yes, you can work with the Centigon Solutions sales team to arm you with further materials and possibly assist in POCs
And, to better understand more about your project – please let me know:
The following questions help you further qualify the opportunity and how to approach the customer. You can customize these questions based on where your organization is in a sales cycle. We use these questions for net-new opportunities.
10. What are your geo-dashboard initiative/reporting requirements?
The following questions may have been addressed during your standard sales cycle procedures based on the products /services you are already offering. Understanding any specific requirements will help your team identify specific features or examples that we can present at a future date based on requirements. You have your Centigon partner manager at your disposal to help you match the right canned content with customer requirements.
11. Other Questions
You may already have the following answers based on the primary products /services you are offering to a customer.