HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England - Pitney Bowes Software - a global leader in customer data, analytics, communication software and services - has announced the appointment of James Brayshaw to lead its location intelligence (LI) and GIS division, as Director and GM, EMEA. James was previously a main board director at Ordnance Survey.

As many businesses opt for cloud-based LI solutions to meet increasing demands for ‘real-time’ location data information and for more mobile ways of working, James will be responsible for leading the MapInfo enterprise GIS software portfolio. He will also lead the adoption of Pitney Bowes LI solutions to meet the increasing customer demand for location enabled data management across all sectors.

According to Gary Roberts, Executive Vice President, EMEA, Pitney Bowes Software, "This appointment reflects our commitment to continue to invest in the legendary MapInfo brand. James will develop the strategy to drive this business forward to support our customers throughout EMEA."

"We live in a ‘Big Data’ age and there are huge opportunities for those enterprises that take advantage of these powerful new insights that location provides," adds James, who has nearly 30 years’ experience in enterprise software and data solutions including GIS and CAD. "The economic climate and rise in global competition means organisations are increasingly reliant on leveraging location-based data to provide the unique insight that helps them identify growth opportunities, reduce risk, increase efficiency and deliver better customer services".

Many enterprises are still not fully aware of the benefits location data can offer to address many of the issues being faced by different sectors. In the public sector, for example, where many organisations are facing austerity measure cut backs, GIS and location enabled solutions can dramatically improve planning decisions, resource allocation and services delivery. More sophisticated use of data can help save time and costs, and provide better services such as efficient school routes or better ways to communicate with the public.

"I am thrilled to be working with Pitney Bowes Software and the MapInfo Brand, a company that continues to find new ways to harness location data and solve real business issues for its customers. In addition PBS’ complementary customer intelligence and analytics enterprise solutions provide us with clear differentiators in the market and support the shift from traditional GIS to enterprise location data solutions," adds James.