I would like to share a video I watched over on Google’s Official Enterprise Blog about the new Google Maps Engine Pro. It’s always interesting to see where Google is headed, as their Developer API’s always seems a step ahead of everyone elses.
They have introduced the Google Maps Engine Pro as one of their Business Services. Google Maps Engine Pro was built as an application on top of the Google Maps Engine platform, which provides businesses with cloud based technology to help them organize large datasets and create more complex maps.
View the Full Blog Article with Video:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2013/10/introducing-google-maps-engine-pro.html
Google Maps Engine Pro Requires Data Import?
During the Video, you’ll notice they map several dozen data points of information (Accounts) for Pure Fix Cycles. It’s amazingly similar to what we’ve done with the JJWDesign Google Maps Package for SugarCRM. They don’t use Map Clustering, but I imagine it will be added soon. They also note that a spreadsheet of data can be imported and mapped, acting as if this is a positive feature. I tend to disagree, as now you must migrate the data from your CRM to Google Maps Engine Pro. Having to import your data each time you want to Map data, is what most companies are trying to get away from. I’m sure they have an API to help migrate data, but it’s not the best approach. By having Google Maps integrated with a CRM, such as SugarCRM, there is no need to to migrate or import the data. The current data is already available and can easily be placed into the Google Map. This is one of the most important benefits of integrating the Google Maps API within SugarCRM.
Map Areas – Regions
Another thing I noticed during the video was the use of Map Areas. I believe that the Map Areas (or Polygons) are a key component to help maintain and administer a successful CRM. These Map Areas usually represent Sales Regions or Marketing Areas. For SugarCRM, I’ve already had request to automatically assign Leads to Users based on Map Areas. An Add-On (Logic Hook) was developed for this purpose.
An additional relationship between Leads and Map Areas can make the Leads searchable (SugarCRM – Advanced Search) from the Leads listing view. The Leads could then be Added to Target Lists manually or maintained by a scheduled task. The possibilities of using map areas to maintain a CRM are only left up to your imagination. It’s an exciting time to be using Google Maps and SugarCRM!