Smart businesses are constantly on the lookout for new technologies that can increase efficiency and provide a wealth of information. In this age of big data, it can be difficult to not just harness large amounts of data, but to analyze it and present it in a useful format. Netclearance has tackled this challenge, and presents the mBeacon3 - the future of offline analytics.

The mBeacon3 is a new smart beacon technology that, paired with Netclearance's wi-fi analytics engine, can provide businesses with a wealth of new customer data. The mBeacon3's small size and low power requirement means that it can easily be integrated into any building or storefront. Customers do not need any special technology or smartphone application in order to interface with the mBeacon3; any customer with a wi-fi enabled smartphone will automatically be picked up by the beacon.

So how does it work? You have one or more beacons set up in your storefront, customers walk in, their smartphone connects to the internet, the beacon passively collects this wifi traffic, and the data is analyzed by the Netclearance analytics engine. It's that simple.

As mentioned earlier, the real benefit of this solution lies in the data extracted thanks to the real-time analytics engine. So what can this solution show you?

• Time-based Heatmap. This shows you how many customers are visiting your business per day and per hour.
• Dwell time. You can see the average, maximum, and minimum amount of time customers spend in your business. You can additionally see location-based dwell time, allowing you to compare the foot traffic at different sites.
• Visit frequency. Data showing the number of unique visits or repeat visits.
• Client location. Reveal where clients spend their time per hour, day, or week.

Given this wealth of information, how can you then utilize it to build your business? The data from this analytics engine can allow you to:

• Correlate sales data with foot traffic
• Optimize the scheduling of your work force
• Optimize promotion and marketing
• Reduce queuing times
• Perform customer trend analyses

With decreased wait times and optimized promotion and marketing, it is easy to see how this technology can increase margins and improve client satisfaction. In one case study that used 4 mBeacon3 units measuring customer foot traffic at an airport, where the analytics data was used to deploy wi-fi marketing campaigns and a mobile web engagement app, clients saw sales increases of over 20%. 

Additionally, the mBeacon3 technology is not just limited to retail. The ability to track objects in real-time is an incredibly agile tool that can be applied to a variety of institutions. In Canada, a steel coil manufacturer tracked coils in real time, allowing them to reduce search times by salespersons and to reduce quoting errors. And in Arizona, this device was used to track forklift utilization, reducing "overleasing" of the forklifts as well as collecting information on employee dwell time in each warehouse location.

If you have any questions on how the mBeacon3 and Netclearance Wi-Fi analytics engine can enhance your business, or for any information on mobile customer engagement, business intelligence, or workplace management solutions, contact us at Netclearance.