Geoblink Offers Retailers Secure Geospatial Business Intelligence with Vonage

A vibrant city, renowned worldwide for its art, culture, food, and football, Madrid has long been the center of Spain’s financial and business concerns. However, in recent years, the metropolis has also been “discovered” by high-tech companies—both start-ups and established global enterprises—that are looking for a great urban environment to find talented employees plus affordable office space and a reasonable cost-of-living. One such company in Madrid—with unique expertise on where best to grow or expand a business—is a high-tech start-up called Geoblink. In fact, identifying the demographic and geographic assets of a region is at the core of Geoblink’s business.

Established in 2015, Geoblink is a SaaS company that offers a tool for companies who need to access intelligence regarding a specific geographical area in a city or country. Users can investigate potential locations for a new business, or ideal places to expand an existing enterprise. Information such as median age, income, and preferences of the people who populate a certain vicinity, as well as insights regarding competitive businesses in that area, are of great value to those making strategic decisions for their businesses. It enables retailers to understand the external variables that may influence their store network, find the best sites for new stores and improve their marketing campaigns.

According to Miguel Ángel Fajardo, CTO at Geoblink, a retail business may have several brick and mortar locations that are successful, but one or two locations that are not doing well. “Our tool will provide them with an understanding of why this may be the case. In addition to demographic information, we also offer economic information, along with data on other variables that may have an impact on business such as weather conditions, public transportation, foot and car traffic in the area, etc.”

Recently, the 40-employee company was named by Bloomberg as one of “The 50 Best Global Startups of 2017,” quite an honor for a fledgling company. Geoblink now has thousands of B2B customers, which is impressive for a relatively new offering. They range from one of the largest banks in France to lesser-known SMBs. “We intentionally wanted the tool to be very versatile; something of value for both multinational companies and very small companies, alike,” said Fajardo.

Vonage: An Essential Part of the Geoblink Process

The infrastructure that supports the Geoblink application is a complex system that allows the company to obtain and process data used to compile the statistics they provide for their customers. “Vonage's role in this a very important,” said Fajardo. The Verify API provides the security for our users when they log in, and when they authenticate. We are currently using Vonage to send the SMS that activates the process—a two-factor authentication.”

In addition to entering a password, Geoblink users are required to register another device to where a code can be sent every time they log in. If a user’s password is compromised, this provides a second barrier to prevent unregistered users from using the tool. Since logging into Geoblink gives access to customized, confidential information, this level of security for customers is essential.

Vonage's International Reach and Capabilities

Geoblink customers span the globe. They currently access the tool from the UK and France, and by the end of this year, Geoblink will expand. “From a logistical point of view having to send an SMS message to people in different countries can be rather complex,” said Fajardo. “The simplicity of integrating Vonage into our system was impressive. From the moment a customer registers a number, an international code is issued and the system adapts to the country and the language of the user. I don’t have to worry about where this is or where it’s working from. The Vonage API technology figures out these things automatically.”

Geoblink is very satisfied with the results they’ve seen since implementing the Vonage APIs, and Fajardo is an enthusiastic advocate: “When we decided that we wanted two-factor authentication for our tool, I did a lot of research and found a variety of options. But Vonage stood out from the pack with their ability to explain how easily the Verify API could be integrated, the extent of its capabilities, and Vonage's clear recommendations for developers. We are extremely pleased that we made the decision to use Vonage.”

"The simplicity of integrating Vonage into our system was impressive. From the moment a customer registers a number, an international code is issued and the system adapts to the country and the language of the user. I don’t have to worry about wherethis is or where it’s working from. The Vonage API technology figures out these things automatically."

Miguel Ángel Fajardo, CTO | Geoblink