The Executive’s Playbook on Earth Observation
The precision and scale of Earth Observation (EO) technologies are improving rapidly, with growing potential for applications across various sectors. New commercial EO providers are tailoring data solutions to organizational contexts, while government EO sources continue to expand access to large-scale open datasets. Despite these advancements, most EO value remains untapped due to low adoption rates. This paper seeks to address this challenge by laying out a strategic framework to help organizations fully leverage EO.
The precision and scale of Earth Observation (EO) technologies are improving rapidly, with growing potential for applications across various sectors. New commercial EO providers are tailoring data solutions to organizational contexts, while government EO sources continue to expand access to large-scale open datasets. Despite these advancements, most EO value remains untapped due to low adoption rates. This paper seeks to address this challenge by laying out a strategic framework to help organizations fully leverage EO.
By aligning EO applications with their goals, organizations can identify high-value use cases, and adopt nuanced implementation strategies. Key steps include: articulating value, by highlighting EO’s unique benefits, focusing on challenges like large-scale spatial analysis, trend identification and ecosystem-wide insights; bolstering strategic alignment, by tying EO initiatives to overarching organizational priorities for broader impact and return on investment; and executing strategically, by tailoring implementation and blending EO with proprietary data to accelerate technical readiness.