Improving the customer experience is a critical piece of staying ahead in today’s highly competitive landscape, especially in the hospitality industry. Superb guest experience (GX) isn't just a nice-to-have, but a must-have. In fact, studies show that companies who successfully implement a customer experience strategy achieve higher customer satisfaction rates, reduced customer churn and increased revenue.

While it may seem like all fun and games, major sports teams are a business organization first and foremost. The North America sports market alone is expected to reach $78.53 billion per year by 2021. That number is based on a compilation of gate revenues, media rights, sponsorships and merchandising.

August 3rd, 2018 was the 10th annual International Beer Day and also National IPA day. To celebrate this important day, Skyhook used location data and foot traffic analysis to uncover what the top three craft breweries and brewpubs are in a few of the cities and their greater metro areas that are known for having some of the best craft beer. We analyzed the foot traffic on a daily basis from Saturday, June 16th to Sunday, July 15th to get a sense of both the hottest craft breweries this summer and the most popular day of the week that people go to them.

This post originally appeared on IoT Agenda. 

Location has fast become a must-have element for most connected solutions in order to wring as much value from the technology as possible. Adding location to your IoT product provides numerous — and sometimes surprising — advantages and capabilities. But creating a device that is able to find its own location or provide enough signal information to be located remotely is not necessarily a slam-dunk. With technology evolving constantly, there are details to consider before becoming connected — and the knowledge will help guide your path to success.

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, the largest outdoor festival in North America, took place this year from June 7th-10th in Manchester, TN. With headliners such as Muse, Eminem and The Killers, it’s no surprise the festival attracted over 50,000 attendees this year.

In today’s digital age, the customer journey is typically considered to be the path to purchase that consumers take online. Their digital footprints, however, don’t tell the whole story of who they are and what they care about. While brands have tons of data around how consumers interact with them directly both physically and digitally, they don’t have a great grasp on where else they go and what else they care about.

Detroit has come a long way in the past decade. It is now being listed as a top city in the country to visit, live, and to start a business in. Detroit has another claim to fame: with the recent move of the Pistons from Auburn Hills, it is now the only city in the US that has all four major sports franchises’ home stadiums in the city’s center -- and they are all within a mile of each other! Along with new office buildings, restaurants, apartments, condos and public transportation, this development is creating a very exciting district right in the heart of Detroit.

It is all about location, location, location and deciding where to place your next brick and mortar store is no different. With so many conditions to evaluate when deciding on a new store location, it’s critical you do all your research first. Seasonality trends, zoning restrictions, demographics and competitors’ locations are just some of the conditions that you need to analyze.

The Internet of Things has evolved from a mere buzzword to a new reality - one that’s approaching faster and at a larger scale than we thought possible. IDC forecasts worldwide spending on the Internet of Things to reach $772.5 billion in 2018 alone. But IoT is complex and harnessing it is easier said than done. While companies may be aware of IoT, they face the common struggles of understanding the use cases that apply to them, what the market opportunities are, and how to correctly implement it into their overall strategy. When it’s done right though, companies can exploit IoT and reap numerous benefits.