Top intangible business benefit of geographic information: providing context.
ESRI has a webpage about business benefits and return on investment of GIS: http://roi.esri.com, and the discussion is largely platform agnostic.
That page and an associated book, "Business Benefits of GIS" authored by David Maguire (ESRI), Victoria Kouyoumjian (ESRI), and Ross Smith (PA Consulting), identify the following benefits:
- Saving Time;
- Increasing Efficiency;
- Increasing Accuracy;
- Increasing Productivity;
- Automating/Improving Workflow;
- Reducing Costs/Saving Money;
- Managing Resources Better to Improve
Existing Operations;
- Improving Quality, Efficiency and
Service;
- Reducing Costs and Increasing Direct
Marketing Precision;
- Supporting Informed Decision-making;
and
- Increasing Communication and
Collaboration.
The following pdf document (in this doc, written in regard to public organizations and utilities) offers brief sketch use cases on how these objectives might be accomplished:
http://downloads2.esri.com/ROI/docs/ChapterTwo_ToolsTemplates/Benefits_Table_Examples.pdf