Editor’s note: The growth and adoption of Google Maps Platform over the past 15 years would not have been possible without innovations from our partners and partner ecosystem. We’ve asked a few of our partners to share their reflections on how they were able to embrace geospatial data to not only grow their businesses but also help their customers transform entire industries. Today’s post comes from Edrick Pirveysian, Director of Account Management at SADA Systems. SADA Systems is a Google Cloud Premier Partner with expertise in enterprise consulting, cloud platform migration, custom application development, managed services, user adoption and change management.
Google Maps Platform has been a significant part of SADA’s history over the past decade. We launched our maps business in 2013, and we were one of the first partners to go to market with Google Maps Platform. Ever since then, we have been helping our customers build new applications using Google Maps Platform APIs and/or integrate the APIs into their existing applications. These Google Maps Platform-powered applications have allowed our customers to improve operational efficiency, enhance end-user experiences, increase sales, and better visualize data, among many other things. We were proud to be named a Global Winner for Google Cloud Reseller Partner of the Year in 2018 and 2019 due to our excellence in helping customers leverage Google Maps Platform to achieve positive business outcomes.
As Google Maps Platform recently marked its 15th anniversary milestone, we’d like to highlight a few ways in which our customers rely on SADA’s expertise and solutions built with Google Maps Platform:
Enhancing the customer experience by shortening time-to-door metrics
Papa John's, a national restaurant brand, tapped us to help them build their customer-facing web and mobile apps with the Places API and Maps JavaScript API. When customers begin their delivery or takeout journey, they are able to leverage the intuitive Autocomplete API for accurate address entry, and then verify that address by displaying a Google map. Once the order is placed, Papa John's internal driver-dispatch application leverages the Geocoding API and Directions API for accurate order processing and delivery scheduling. By using the Directions API, which calculates travel times based on real-time and historic traffic conditions, Papa John's ensures that orders are processed, routed, and delivered in the most optimal way possible. Papa John's is always trying to shorten their 'time-to-door' metrics, and Google Maps Platform is the foundation of this.
Maximizing sales for efficiency
One of our customers, Geopointe (formerly Arrowpointe), is one of the top geospatial/mapping applications available on the Salesforce AppExchange. Geopointe uses Google Maps Platform to help salespeople more effectively connect with clients by automatically scheduling trips based on client proximity and optimizing routes based on historic and real-time traffic. Additionally, with Geopointe, salespeople don't have to worry about standardizing client address data; the Geocoding API does it for them. This saves salespeople a lot of time and frustration, especially those that service customers located in rural areas of the U.S. and/or international customers. Geopointe also allows organizations to plan geo-targeted marketing campaigns. Instead of piecing together different zip codes, a sales team can view everything in a specified metro area, add filters, view customer information on a map, and load that data into a marketing campaign.
Helping retailers meet consumer expectations during a pandemic
Today’s consumers are much more sophisticated and demanding than they were even a couple of years ago. For example, when today’s consumers order food, clothes, or other products, they are no longer satisfied with an approximate ETA. Not only do they want more accurate ETAs, but they also expect to be able to track their delivery in real time and see where their driver is on an interactive map.
On-demand delivery and “buy online pick up in store" shopping (BOPIS) were on the rise before COVID-19, but the pandemic greatly accelerated these two trends. Prior to the pandemic, consumers utilized on-demand delivery and BOPIS out of convenience, but now, these services have almost become necessities as shoppers were unable to spend a lot of time inside of stores. This was a significant shift for many traditional retailers who realized that to survive in today’s environment, they would need to offer more interactive and robust digital shopping experiences. Additionally, retailers need to keep their customers updated on store hour adjustments and policy changes as the nation’s response to COVID-19 continues to evolve.
As consumer needs dramatically shifted as a result of the pandemic , our team helped several retailers adjust to this “new normal.” I’ve always been impressed with our clients’ ability to keep up with their customers’ expectations, and throughout the pandemic, I’ve been even more impressed. Our customers were forced to reinvent themselves abruptly and on the fly, and Google Maps Platform enabled them to do that.
Enabling cities to visualize critical infrastructure projects
In addition to helping our customers develop applications, our company has developed two Google Maps Platform-powered applications, dotMaps and Atom, to help state and municipal governments manage critical infrastructure.
The dotMaps app was originally built for the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), which needed a way for multiple departments to visualize city projects, and collaborate to resolve conflicts and eliminate duplicative projects. By enabling CDOT to display city infrastructure visually, allowing employees to see and address conflicts at a glance, dotMaps revolutionized the city’s project management and coordination process and saved them over $100M since 2014.
The app was so successful and revolutionary, we decided to productize it. Now, dotMaps can be used by any organization for effective communication and accurate geolocation for ongoing projects and events, including critical infrastructure (transportation, public works, utility and gas) departments of Transportation (DOTs), as well as private-sector companies, such as construction firms. In its first year leveraging dotMaps, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) saved $7M from better coordination between projects and agencies.
After developing dotMaps, which manages projects, our team saw a need for an application to manage larger physical assets, such as bridges, streetlights, and road signs, as well as the employees and work tasked with maintaining them. So we developed Atom, which uses Google Maps Platform to let supervisors and dispatchers visualize location data across multiple departments and make real-time decisions on things like scheduling, routing, budget allocation, and asset viability and deterioration.
Next stop: everywhere!
Google Maps Platform has a starring role to play in today’s ever-changing business environment. As consumer preferences evolve and technology advances, global logistics will become even more streamlined and automated, and organizations will lean even more heavily on geospatial solutions and mapping services. What will our clients use Google Maps Platform to build next? We can’t wait to find out.
For more information on Google Maps Platform, visit our website.
