When your company has a global presence with employees and assets in remote locations and on the move, you need to know where they are at the best of times. Of course, we all know the world isn’t always at its best. So, when life or nature takes an unexpected turn, LocationSmart’s location-based services can help you manage assets and employees your business relies on and help keep them safe and better informed. It can even help keep your customers safe.
What Disasters Can LocationSmart Help With?
Disasters can happen locally, regionally, or even on a global scale – whether it’s a natural disaster, like a severe winter storm, earthquake, or hurricane, or a manmade disaster, such as a terrorist attack or a biohazard or nuclear event. These events will ultimately impact your assets, employees, and customers. Even something as far-reaching as a viral outbreak, like we’re seeing right now with the coronavirus that originated in China, can cause disruptions in movement for the people and assets integral to your business.
LocationSmart Helping Customers
People travel for many different reasons. Vacations, work, school, and family obligations are just a few. There are many types of companies that play a part in an individual’s travel plans, from the travel company to the airline to the tour operator to the travel insurance company. When it comes to students studying abroad, particularly if they are exchange students, schools and other organizations working with students must stay connected with them. Volunteer organizations, such as the Red Cross, are connected with the people they have on the ground.
LocationSmart’s location-based services allow these companies and organizations to stay abreast of the whereabouts of their resources in times of disaster and can help them communicate the information they need to remain safe and-up to-date. Using the current coronavirus outbreak as an example, people traveling in affected areas can easily be notified about:
- Updates on the situation
- Alternative travel options
- Safe places to stay
- Cities and regions to avoid
- The location of the nearest embassy
- Other critical information that will help ensure they remain safe
Best of all, it is easy for developers to integrate LocationSmart’s services to suit the unique needs of their organization and the people they serve via its cloud-based API platform.
LocationSmart Helping Employees
When disasters happen, companies may have workers on the ground in affected areas. During times like these, it is important to have a view of the big picture. First and foremost, location awareness will provide you with the whereabouts of employees you have out there. This will let you know if they are in a location that puts them in harm’s way or to dispatch them based on their proximity to places requiring additional personnel.
When employees need help during a disaster, companies can use location awareness to provide more relevant and timely information or direction to complete their work effectively. Through LocationSmart’s web services APIs, developers can incorporate location awareness into their systems to better communicate information such as:
- Alternative office locations
- Rendezvous points to conduct business off-site if needed
- The location of the nearest embassy
- The location of nearby hospitals
- Travel arrangements for when evacuation is required
- Information on lodgings and other essential services
- Updated information on local developments
This information can help employees get out of affected areas quickly and help them find safe harbor and local resources when they can’t get out. In addition, companies can provide employees with enhanced capabilities to access company resources when they can’t make it into the office.
LocationSmart Managing Assets
With LocationSmart’s location-based services, you can ensure your company is prepared when you have assets in the field. By knowing where your assets are, you can better implement maintenance and service procedures to protect them. These assets might include things like:
- Vehicles and heavy machinery
- Shipping containers and packages
- Merchandise
- Monitoring and control systems on machinery and infrastructure
In the midst of a disaster, a delivery truck’s route can get blocked or disrupted. Delays may damage goods in cargo containers or cause further downstream disruptions. Once again, using the current coronavirus crisis as an example, this all too real scenario provides a prime example of what can happen when a supply chain is disrupted.
China is home to 28% of the world’s manufacturing output, which is the largest share of any country in the world. In addition, the most impacted regions in China are home to 90% of the active businesses in the country. A large number of those businesses are subsidiaries or key suppliers of foreign companies, such as Google, Apple, Tesla, and Amazon. These businesses supply much-needed inventory for consumers and companies around the globe, yet many of them have been closed for an extended period of time requiring alternate sources or delivery arrangements to be utilized.
As for China’s shipping industry, it nearly came to a halt over the past few weeks. Many shipments were canceled or left Chinese ports filled only to 10% of their total capacity. Others were turned away from foreign ports and rerouted due to fears that the virus would be transmitted via the cargo and contact with the people in China. North, a leading global marine insurer, has an extensive list of information on the impact the coronavirus outbreak in China has had on the shipping industry.
In these and other disaster situations, real-time location insights from LocationSmart’s l services can allow you to do things like:
- See where assets are in real-time, anywhere in the world
- See whether assets are stationary or on the move
- Know when shipments are being rerouted or delayed so you can easily follow and manage those assets and supply chain processes
- Communicate alternate routes or destinations for shipments
- Communicate alternative pickup and/or drop off locations for local shipments – something that is especially important when local regions are relying on the continued delivery of goods and supplies in an emergency situation
All of this offers peace of mind when tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of assets are on the line.
How LocationSmart Location Services Work
LocationSmart helps developers create platforms and processes for organizations to enhance communications with customers and employees and track the location of assets without the need to download software or apps. Customers and their users have full control over LocationSmart’s services and can turn location awareness on and off as desired. In addition, shipments and vehicles equipped with mobile technology can be accounted for without dedicated tracking devices installed.
LocationSmart uses multiple means to keep track of assets and devices. Global Site ID (GSID) services are available in more than 200 countries. GSID enables location for any GSM, Wi-Fi, LTE, CDMA, or WCDMA device capable of reporting a few network and cell site parameters, making it possible to get an accurate location in real-time, even when a device is roaming.
Lastly, with LocationSmart’s SmartZone geofencing services, enterprise application developers can configure specific virtual perimeters and geospatial zones and determine when devices and other assets are located within those areas. These virtual boundaries can be drawn around something as small as a single building or as large as a city, state, or country. This helps companies verify fleet movement and monitor and manage asset distribution to see when they are in high-risk areas, such as quarantined cities, storm impact areas or active earthquake zones.
About LocationSmart
LocationSmart is the world’s largest IaaS provider, offering cloud-based location services to many customers, from Fortune 500 companies to startups. Their location-based services work across networks, platforms, and device types for a global reach of more than 200 countries. For more information or to speak with someone at LocationSmart about their services, please visit http://www.locationsmart.com.
