Location Intelligence Belongs at the Strategy Table | Waypoint 33

Location intelligence belongs at the strategy table. For telecom leaders, that means using GIS and to connect demand, service quality, potential risk, and operational costs in the places you build and serve. A shared, location-aware view helps teams decide faster, access and spend funds smarter, and provide outcomes customers can feel.

Throughout my career, I’ve seen leaders face a simple test every quarter and struggle unnecessarily. The struggle? They ability to point to a map, explain where the next returns will come from and why, and show how the plan helps real people in real places? Companies who bring location aware workflows to their meetings move fast and spend capital with fiscal discipline. The organizsations who don't, experience meetings filled with too many people with well-meant reports and the work drifts while profits and customer satisfaction stagnate. The difference between the two scenarios is not more data. The difference is leveraging GIS and location intelligence that is readily available to everyone at the table when you plan, decide, and execute.

Bring location intelligence to the strategy table: leaders align the plan, the people, and the places they serve.

Across the industry, revenue is growing, but not by much. Costs are stubborn and can feel inflexible, while expectations from customers, investors, and regulators keep climbing. For instance, PwC’s most recent outlook shows global telecom revenues growing at a compound rate below three percent through 2028. That creates pressure to back every decision with a clear line to intended outcomes and cash flow.

Location intelligence helps you do that. Think of it as the connective tissue between your strategy deck and the daily work your teams perform. It is not just a layer of dots on a screen. It is a way to see demand, service, risk, cost, and capacity together, in the places where you build and serve. When that view is part of the leadership rhythm, you decide faster, fund smarter, and can explain your choices with confidence.

What leaders are missing

Most companies do not lack information, they lack shared context. Throughout the world, network teams track capacity and faults, product teams track demand and churn, finance tracks cash and payback, and the field tracks delays and hazards. All of it is true, but it lives in different tools and different heads, and leaders have to stitch it together in the moment. This is why meetings run long and still end with weak commitments and failed outcomes.

I’ve seen firsthand how a shared, location-aware view, solves that problem because it grounds every conversation around the same source of truth and teams see the same picture. You see where people live and work. You see who is served and who is not. You see what the network can carry and what it will cost to change. Furthermore, your teams can also see risk next to opportunity, which is how good plans survive contact with the real world.

This is the job of a modern geographic information system. Esri’s ArcGIS is the standard most telecom operators use because it acts as a comprehensive and purpose-built platform designed to unite seemingly disparate data together, using location. The means same view that guides an executive decision can guide a planner, a supervisor, and a field tech without rework.

Bring location intelligence into any room

Treat location intelligence like finance and people operations and give it a standing seat at the strategy table. This mindset and tactic does not mean more reports. Instead, it means a short, repeatable rhythm that always starts with the same view and always ends with clear decisions.

Picture any weekly operating review. The first ten minutes are a shared map and a short list of outcomes. The map blends demand, coverage, quality, and risk for your priority regions. The outcomes clarify what you are trying to achieve this month and this quarter. With those two assets in view, the rest of the meeting becomes a real strategy session. You talk about choices and tradeoffs, not data ownership, version control, and other distracting points that lead to unnecessary work.

“Bring location into any room: a quick GIS view on a tablet gives everyone the same picture for faster, better decisions.

This is where TM Forum’s Digital Maturity Model is a helpful companion here. Service providers through the world leverage TM Forum assets to organize and provide improvement across strategy, customers, operations, technology, culture, and data. Use it to choose a few capabilities to strengthen resource availability and use GIS to analyze, communicate, and expose where those capabilities will change results first. That keeps the work focused and makes progress visible to your board and your frontline at the same time.

What “at the table” looks like in practice

When location intelligence is part of leadership cadence, your screen is simple. A single pane of glass with a comprehensive view shows where customers need better service and where you can grow. It shows the work sorted by the impact it will have on people and on the business, and a single scorecard shows the few measures that matter most.

With that setup, you can handle most debates in minutes. Should we extend service in this rural cluster or upgrade capacity for this enterprise zone? Should we allocate crews to a risky build or clear a backlog that is hurting install times? The shared map and the shared list reduce opinion-based fights because everyone is looking at the same grounded truth. The conversation shifts from “what is going on” to “what will we do.”

ArcGIS is built for this type of work. It publishes web maps and dashboards that anyone on your team can open on a laptop, tablet, or phone from anywhere. Executives can review the plan, planners can refine it, supervisors can mark a delay or a safety issue, and field teams can capture photos and notes that update the map within minutes. The loop tightens without a heavy process.

Three plays to run this quarter

I firmly believe you do not need a big transformation program to start seeing successes. You need a few plays that prove value and build a habit within your organization. Each play below starts with one or two paragraphs to set the stage, then a short list to make the move clear. After you run a play, make sure to talk about what you learned and adjust to the next one. This is crucial for transformational change in an organization.

Three plays to run this quarter: put one map in every review, prioritize by outcome, and close the field to planning loop

Play 1: One map, one truth

The fastest way to cut confusion is to replace multiple versions of reality with a single executive view. Build one map that blends demand, service quality, network capacity, risk, and cost to serve for a priority region. Use that map to open in every weekly ops review for two months. Small teams can assemble this in ArcGIS with layers you already own, and if you are new to ArcGIS, these can be done rather quickly. The first week will surface and highlight mismatches in data and definitions. That is a necessary feature for your team, not a bug. Now, fix the top few and keep moving.

• Inputs to include: coverage and performance, customer density and demand signals, install backlog and permit status, known hazards, crew availability, and unit cost.

• Decision to make: where to spend the next dollar and where to wait.

  
  

Then, close the loop with a short note after each review. Publish a snapshot of the map and list the two or three shifts the team agreed to. Over time the picture gets cleaner, and the room spends energy on choices that matter, and less time deliberating.

Play 2: Prioritize by outcome, not activity

As service providers grow their networks, many plans still rank work by passings, miles, or hours. That rewards forward motion, not progress. Build a simple scoring model that ranks jobs by the outcome they create. Favor projects that cut install time for many homes, protect critical customers, improve equity in coverage, or unlock faster payback. When you look at these scores on the map, priorities often change. A small job can leap ahead of other work because it removes a choke point or helps a vital facility.

• Inputs to include: outcome score for each project or job, estimated payback period, and any regulatory or community obligations.

• Decision to make: which ten jobs should the team move on this month and which ten to defer.

  
  

After the ranking, run a short review with finance so they see the same evidence you saw. That builds trust and helps you get funding approved faster. It also sets up better reporting because the argument for each job is clear from day one.

Play 3: Close the loop from field to planning

Field teams discover the truth first. A pole is unsafe, a trench runs into rock, a permit is delayed by a local event, or the slice case overhangs a dangerous stretch of the road. Capture that learning inside the same system that leaders use to decide and do it within minutes. Supervisors can use mobile apps to take a photo, tag a location, and leave a short note. Planning can update the design and the schedule in near real-time. Then, maps reflect the new reality and the list of risks stays current.

• Inputs to include: photos, notes, as-builts, inspection findings, and reasons for delay linked to the right location.

• Decision to make: what to change in design, permits, and schedule before others waste time and resources.

  
  

Close the feedback loop with a quick message to the field teams about what changed because of their input. When people see that their notes shape the plan, they keep sharing. Rework falls. First-time-right improves. Morale improves because teams feel heard.

How you prove it is working

Executives should not have to guess whether this approach is paying off. Pick a small set of measures that tie directly to customer and employee experience and cashflow. Start with a couple of paragraphs that explain what each one means and why it matters. Keep the list short so people can remember it.

• Time to decision for capital and network changes

• First-time-right percentage for builds and repairs

• Rework rate and average days lost to avoidable issues

• Net adds per dollar of capital in priority areas

• Complaint rate by segment and time to resolution

  
  

Follow each of the bullets with one paragraph that tells the story in plain language. If time to decision is falling and first-time-right is rising, your operating system is getting healthier. If net adds per dollar climbs where you invested, your demand and capacity model is working. If rework drops and complaints fall in targeted segments, the loop between planning and field is tight and trusted.

Why this matters now

Looking forward, the market is not going to get easier. Growth will remain modest, and investors will keep asking for proof that big programs will turn into cash, not just activity. PwC’s analysis of the market points to steady but limited revenue expansion over the next few years. That creates a clear mandate for leaders to pick bets with better paybacks and to show their work.

At the same time, your customers do not care about your internal charts. They care about whether the service works when they need it, communities care about fairness and transparency, and regulators care about evidence. A location-aware operating rhythm helps you meet all three. You can show coverage, quality, investment, and risk on the same map. Simply put, you can explain what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how it will be measured.

Why this matters now: when front-line teams can see service and coverage by location, they resolve issues faster and earn customer trust

A 30-minute exercise you can run on Monday

You can feel the shift in one short meeting if you prepare well. In this exercise, choose one region. Bring one GIS map that blends demand, network, risk, and cost. Bring a short list of ten jobs from the backlog and bring last week’s field notes and photos.

Open the meeting by asking the team to read the map together and identify what the two or three areas that matter most this month. Then move to the list of jobs and score each one by impact on service, equity, and payback. Finally, review the field notes and mark what changes in the plan. Assign owners and write down the decision in the notes of the map so the story travels with the work.

Close with a one-paragraph summary and send it to the broader team, also share the updated view. Share the list of jobs that you moved, and the one risk you are watching and how you will update it next week. When people see decisions tied to a clear view of place, the organization starts to trust the rhythm and rallies around location-intelligence.

What good looks like in 90 days

Three months is enough time to know if this is working. Your meetings should start on time because the first ten minutes are the same every week. The map comes up, the outcomes come up, discussions and choices follow. Arguments should shift away from opinions and align around options because everyone is looking at the same big picture.

Finance will approve funding faster because the case for each job sits in the same view you use to make decisions. Field teams will proactively report issues once and see the plan change. Communities and regulators will hear consistent answers about where you are building and why. Most of all, you should feel momentum, experience fewer surprises, and  see fewer status changes. Bottom line: More progress.

If you do not see those signs, reduce scope. Use fewer layers. Track fewer metrics. Run fewer meetings with more focus. The point is not a grand program, the point is a reliable way to decide and deliver for your team.

Where to start if GIS is new

If GIS feels unfamiliar, you can start small. Pick one county or one metro area and connect a few high-value layers in ArcGIS. This might be a demand heat map, a maps with current coverage and quality of experience, known risks like flood or fire, the work order backlog and permits, or crew work zones and travel times. Publish a web map to the teams who make decisions and ask them to use it for six weeks.

What is very helpful for new GIS users, is that Esri offers telecom templates and solutions that can speed the start. They include data models and apps for planning and for field capture. You do not need to configure much to see value, you can simply take the out of the box solution and run with it. The goal is not a perfect model to start, the goal is a shared picture that helps you make better choices next week than you made last week.

Common worries and how to handle them

Leaders raise three worries when they first adopt this approach. The first is data quality, and that worry is fair. Use the pilot to find the biggest gaps in your data quality and work to fix the top three. You do not need to not try to clean everything before you start. Momentum beats perfection, and your team will improve quality as you go.

The second worry is change fatigue, as your teams are already quite busy. The cure for this is a small win in the first two weeks. If a supervisor can snap a photo, tag a location, and update the map from a phone, you will save time within days. People lean in when the tool saves them time and more work.

The third worry is cost. Rest assured though, you do not need a large budget to begin this transformation. You need a small, real problem that the map can help solve. You also need a leader who will run the room with it and be your champion. The results will fund the next steps you want to take. When you pick the right scope, the proof comes fast.

The leadership imperative

I cannot stress this next point enough. This is not an IT project, it’s a leadership imperative. As a leader, you choose what gets screen time in the room where decisions are made. When location intelligence has a seat at the strategy table, your company decides faster, spends smarter, and delivers more of what customers want. Trust goes up because people see the same picture. Risk goes down because facts travel faster than opinions.

The leadership imperative: give location intelligence a seat at the table. One map, a short scorecard, and clear outcomes so decisions stick

The next edge in telecom will go to companies that build this habit into the fabric of their organization. A clear map. A clear list of outcomes. A short scorecard. A steady rhythm. When you lead this way, the work or customer location stops being an afterthought and becomes the frame that holds your story together.

Waypoint 33’s point of view

At Waypoint 33 we help leaders operationalize this shift. We start with one region, one shared map, and build one leadership rhythm. We weave ArcGIS to the sources you already have, then coach your team through the first decisions and the first month of reporting. We help you track the few measures that matter and build a repeatable loop from field to planning. We do not sell tools, we help you lead the work in a way that people feel and see the numbers prove.

If you want a hand, we can help you run your first session and set up the views, so your team has a clean starting point. Try the Monday exercise and then hold two weekly reviews that start with the same map and the same list. Watch what changes.

Every journey starts with a conversation. If you’d like to explore how these ideas could fit your strategy, I’d love to connect. You can reach me directly at randall@waypoint33.com.

— Randall René Founder & Chief Consultant, Waypoint 33

Content Referenced:

• Esri, GIS for Telecommunications. How ArcGIS supports strategy, planning, field ops, and reporting in one platform. Esri

• TM Forum, Digital Maturity Model. A structure to guide improvement across teams and partners. TM Forum

• PwC, Global Telecoms Outlook. Growth context and investor expectations through 2028. PwC